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THE 

"•""E^s-ry  Of  ,umo,s 
LIFE  AND  EPISTLES 

OF  THE 

APOSTLE  PAUL. 

BY  THE 

Rev.  W.  J.  CONYBEARE,  M.  A., 

LATE    FELLOW    OP    TRINITY    COLLEGE,  CAMBRILGEI 
AND  TEE 

Eev.  J.  S.  HOWSON,  M.A., 

DEAN  OF  CHESTER. 


NEW  YORK: 
PUBLISHED  BY  T.  Y.  CEOWELL. 

744  Broadway 


o*"  Wright  &  Potter  Printing  Compaay, 
79  Milk  Street,  Boston. 


PZ8 

imm  Of  THE 

7~  1934 
^^EBSITY  OF  ILLINO/S 


£ 

LIFE  AND  EPISTLES 

'  OF  THE 

^  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


885GG7 


"  It  is  very  meet,  right,  and  our  bounden  duty  that  we  should  at  all  times 
and  in  all  places  give  thanks  unto  thee,  0  Lord,  Holy  Father,  Almighty, 
Everlasting  God,  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  according  to  whose  most 
true  promise  the  Holy  Ghost  came  down  from  heaven,  lighting  upon  the 
apostles,  to  teach  them  and  to  lead  them  to  all  truth ;  giving  them  boldness 
with  fervent  zeal  constantly  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  nations;  whereby  we 
have  been  brought  out  of  darkness  and  error,  into  the  clear  light  and  true 
knowledge  of  thee,  and  of  thy  Son  Jesus  Christ." — Proper  Preface  to  the 
Trisagium  for  Whitsunday, 

"'A^evre?  Tovs  ciAAovs  airavTaq,  HavXov  TrpocTrjawjae^a  fxovov  Tov  Xoyov  (rvvtcTopa, 
Kav  TOVTU)  ■&e«iprjcro)iJ,€v  olov  iaTi.  r^vx'^v  €7ri/ixeAeta.  'fls  av  6e  p^ara  touto  YvoiTj/xev,  tl 
Uav\o^  auToj  Trept  IlavAov  <j>r)(Tiv  clkovcuu^v.  .  .  .  No/io^eret  fiovAoi?  Koi  fieo"7rdTat?, 
apxovai  Koi  apxofxivoi^f  avSpdcri.  koX  yvvai^ii/,  <TO<^ia  koX  ayioBit^'  ndvTUiV  virepixaxet 
wdvTUiv  vTT€pev\eTai*  .  -  .  K^pvf  e^vwv,  'lovBaitay  iTpo<rraTy)t»" — GbEG.  Naz.  Oratio 
Apologetica» 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I.—Great  Men  of  Great  Periods — Period  of  Christ's 
Apostles. — Jews,  Greeks  and  Romans. — Religious  Civilization  of 

the  Jews  Their  History  and  its  Relation  to  that  of  the  World. — 

Heathen  Preparation  for  the  Gospel. — Character  and  Language 
of  the  Greeks. — Alexander. — Antioch  and  Alexandria. — Growth 
and  Government  of  the  Roman  Empire. — Misery  of  Italy  and  the 
Provinces. — Preparation  in  the  Empire  for  Christianity. — Disper- 
sion of  the  Jews,  in  Asia,  Africa,  and  Europe. — Proselytes. — Pro- 
vinces of  Cilicia  and  Judaea. — Their  Geography  and  History. — 
Cilicia  under  the  Romans. — Tarsus — Cicero. — Political  Changes  in 
Judsea. — Herod  and  his  Family. — The  Roman  Governors  Con- 
clusion  

CHAPTER  II.— Jewish  Origin  of  the  Church.— Sects  and  Parties 
of  the  Jews. — Pharisees  and  Sadducees. — Paul  a  Pharisee. — Hellen- 
ists and  Aramaeans. — Paul's  Family  Hellenistic  but  not  Hellenizing. 

— His  Infancy  at  Tarsus. — The  Tribe  of  Benjamin  His  Father's 

Citizenship  Sceneiy  of  the  Place. — His  Childhood. — He  is  sent 

to  Jerusalem. — State  of  Judaea  and  Jerusalem. — Rabbinical  Schools. 
— Gamaliel. — Mode  of  Teaching. — Synagogues. — Student-Life  of 

Paul  His    Early   Manhood. — First  Aspect  of  the  Church. — 

Stephen. — The  Sanhedrin. — Stephen  the  Forerunner  of  Paul. — 
His  Martyrdom  and  Prayer  

Note  on  the  Libertines  and  the  Citizenship  of  Faulf 

CHAPTER  III. — Funeral  of  Stephen. — Saul's  continued  Persecu- 
tion.— Flight  of  the  Christians. — Philip  and  the  Samaritans. — Saul's 
Journey  to  Damascus  Aretas,  King  of  Petra  — Roads  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Damascus. — Neapolis. — History  and  Description  of  Da- 
mascus.— The  Narratives  of  the  Miracle. — It  was  a  real  Vision  of 
Jesus  Christ — Three  Days  in  Damascus. — Ananias. — Baptism  and 
First  Preaching  of  Saul. — He  retires  into  Arabia. — Meaning  of  the 

term  Arabia. — Petra  and  the  Desert. — Conspiracy  at  Damascus.  

Escape  to  Jerusalem. — Barnabas. — Fortnight  with  Peter.  Conspi- 
racy— Vision  in  the  Temple. — Saul  withdraws  to  Syria  and  Cilicia. 

6 


6 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV.— -Wider  Diffusion  of  Christianity.— .Antioch.  Chro- 
nology of  the  Acts. — Reign  of  Caligula. — Claudius  and  Herod 
Agrippa  I. — The  Year  44. — Conversion  of  the  Gentiles. — Peter  and 
Cornelius. — Joppa  and  Csesarea. — Peter's  Vision. — Baptism  of  Cor- 
nelius.— Intelligence  from  Antioch. — Mission  of  Barnabas. — Saul 
with  Barnabas  at  Antioch. — The  Name  '*  Christian." — Description 
and  History  of  Antioch. — Character  of  its  Inhabitants. — Earth- 
quakes— Famine — Barnabas  and  Saul  at  Jerusalem. — Death  of 

James  and  of  Herod  Agrippa  Return  with  Mark  to  Antioch.— 

Providential  Preparation  of  Paul. — Results  of  his  Mission  to  Jeru- 
salem lOG 

CHAPTER  v.— Second  Part  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.— Revelation 
at  Antioch. — Public  Devotions. — Departure  of  Barnabas  and  Saul. 
— The  Orontes. — History  and  Description  of  Seleucia. — Voyage  to 
Cyprus. — Salamis. — Roman  Provincial  System. — Proconsuls  and 

Propraetors. — Sergius  Paulus  Oriental  Imposters  at  Rome  and  in 

the  Provinces. — Elymas  Barjesus. — History  of  Jewish  Names. — 
Saul  and  Paul  125 

CHAPTER  VI.— Old  and  New  Paphos.— Departure  from  Cyprus  

Coast  of  Pamphylia. — Perga. — Mark's  Return  to  Jerusalem.— 
Mountain  Scenery  of  Pisidia. — Situation  of  Antioch. — The  Syna- 
gogue.— Address  to  the  Jews. — Preaching  to  the  Gentiles. — Perse- 
cution by  the  Jews. — History  and  Description  of  Iconium. — Lyca- 

onia  Derbe  and  Lystra. — Healing  of  the  Cripple. — Idolatrous 

Worship  offered  to  Paul  and  Barnabas  Address  to  the  Gentiles. — 

Paul  stoned. — Timotheus. — The  Apostles  retrace  their  Journey.— 
Perga  and  Attaleia. — Return  to  Syria.       .....  143 

CHAPTER  VII. — Controversy  in  the  Church. — Separation  of  Jews 
and  Gentiles. — Obstacles  to  Union,  both  Social  and  Religious. — 
Difficulty  in  the  Narrative. — Scruples  connected  with  the  Conver- 
sion of  Cornelius. — Lingering  Discontent. — Feeling  excited  by  the 
Conduct  and  Success  of  Paul. — Especially  at  Jerusalem. — Intrigues 
of  the  Judaizers  at  Antioch. — Consequent  Anxiety  and  Perplexity.— 
Mission  of  Paul  and  Bacnabas  to  Jerusalem. — Divine  Revelation  to 
Paul. — Titus. — Journey  through  Phoenice  and  Samaria. — The 
Pharisees  — Private  Conferences. — Public  Meeting. — Speech  of 
Peter. — Narrative  of  Barnabas  and  Paul. — Speech  of  James. — The 
Decree. — Charitable  Nature  of  its  Provisions. — It  involves  the  Abo- 
lition of  Judaism. — Public  Recognition  of  Paul's  Mission  to  the 
Heathen. — John. — Return  to  Antioch  with  Judas,  Silas  and  Mark. — 
Reading  of  the  Letter. — Weak  Conduct  of  Peter  at  Antioch. — He 
is  Rebuked  by  Paul. — Personal  Appearance  of  the  two  Apostles. — 
Their  Reconciliation  176 


CONTENTS. 


7 


Note  on  the  CJirpnology  of  Gal.  ii  197 

CHAPTER  Vlll.—Political  Division  of  Asia  Minor—Difficulties 
of  the  Subject — Provinces  in  the  deigns  of  Claudius  and  Nero. — 
I.  Asia —II.  Bithynia. — III.  Pamphylia. — IV.  Galatia. — V.  Pon- 
rus. — VI.  Cappadocia. — VII.  Cilicia. — Visitation  of  the  Churches 
Proposed. — Quarrel  and  Separation  of  Paul  and  Barnabas. — Paul 
and  Silas  in  Cilicia. — They  cross  the  Taurus. — Lystra — Timothy. — 

His  Circumcision  Journey  through  Phrygia. — Sickness  of  Paul. — 

His  Reception  at  Galatia. — ^Journey  to  the  iEgean. — Alexandria 
Troas. — Paul's  Vision  200 

CHAPTER  IX.— Voyage  by  Samothrace  to  Neapolis— Philippi.— 
Constitution  of  a  Colony. — Lydia. — The  Demoniac  Slave. — Paul 
and  Silas  Arrested  The  Prison  and  the  Jailer. — The  Magis- 
trates— Departure  from  Philippi.  Luke. — Macedonia  Described. 
— Its  Condition  as  a  Province. — The  Via  Egnatia. — Paul's  Journey 
through  Amphipolis  and  Appollonia. — Thes.salonica. — The  Syna- 
gogue.— Subjects  of  Paul's  Preaching. — Persecution,  Tumult  and 
Flight. — The  Jews  at  Beroea. — Paul  again  persecuted. — Proceeds 
to  Athens  ,       .       .  243 

CHAPTER  X. — Arrival  on  the  Coast  of  Attica. — Scenery  around 
Athens. — The  Piraeus  and  the  «  Long- Walls." — The  Agora. — The 

Acropolis  The  "Painted    Porch    "and  the  "Garden." — The 

Apostle  ah^ne  in  Athens. — Greek  Religion. — The  Unknown  God  

Greek  Philosophy. — The  Stoics  and  Epicureans. — Later  Period  of 
the  Schools. — Paul  in  the  Agora. — The  Areopagus. — Speech  of 
Paul,    Departure  from  Athens.       .       .       .       .       .       ,  285 

CHAPTER.  XI. — Letters  from  Thessalonica  written  fro:n  Corinth. — 
Expulsion  of  the  Jews  from  Rome. — Aquila  and  Priscilla. — Paul's 
Labors.  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians. — Continued  Resi- 
dence in  Corinth  316 

Note  on  the  Movements  of  Silas  and  Timotheus  334 

CHAPTER  XII.— The  Isthmus.— Early  History  of  Corinth.— Its 
Trade  and  "Wealth. — Corinth  under  the  Romans. — Province  of 
Achaia. — Gallio  the  Governor. — Tumult  at  Corinth. — Cenchrese. — 
Voyage  by  Ephesus  to  Caesarea. — Visit  to  Jerusalem. — Antioch.  337 

CHAPTER  XIII.— The  Spiritual  Gifts,  Constitution,  Ordinances, 
Divisions  and  Heiesies  of  the  Primitive  Church  in  the  Lifetime  of 
Paul  350 

Note  on  the  Origin  of  the  Heresies  of  the  later  Apostolic  Age.       .  378 


8 


CONTENTS. 


CHATTER  XIV.— Journey  through   Phrygia  and  ..Galatia— Ap- 

ollos  at  Ephesus  and  Corinth. — Arrival  of  Paul  at  Ephesus  

Disciples  of  John  the  Baptist. — The  Synagogue. — The  School  of 
Tyrannus. — Miracles. — Ephesian  Magic. — The  Exorcists. — Burning 
the  Books  382 

CHAPTER  XV.— Paul  pays  a  short  visit  to  Corinth.— Returns  to  Eph- 
esus.— Writes  a  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  which  is  now  lost. — They 
reply,  desiring  farther  Explanations. — State  of  the  Corinthian 
Church. — Paul  writes  Ihe  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,       ,  396 

CHAPTER  XVI.— Description  of  Ephesus.— Temple  of  Diana— 
Her  Image  and  Worship. — Political  Constitution  of  Ephesus. — 
The  Asiarchs. — Demetrius  and  the  Silversmiths. — Tumult  in  the 
Theatre. — Speech  of  the  Town-Clerk — PauPs  Departure.       .  427 

CHAPTER  XVII.— Paul  at  Troas— He  passes  over  to  Macedonia.— 
Causes  of  his  Dejection. — He  meets  Titus  at  Philippi. — Writes  The 
Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, — Collection  for  the  poor  Christ- 
ians in  Judaea. — ^Journey  by  Illyricum  to  Greece.       .       ,       .  441 

CHAPTER  XVIII  Paul's  Feelings  on    approaching  Corinth.— 

Contrast  with  his  first  Visit. — Bad  news  from  Galatia. — He  writes 
Tfie  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  470 

CHAPTER  XIX  Paul  at  Corinth.— Punishment  of  Contumacious 

Offenders. — Subsequent  Character  of  the  Corinthian  Church. — Com- 
pletion of  the  Collection. — Phoebe's  Journey  to  Rome — She  bears 
The  Epistle  to  the  Romam  484 

CHAPTER  XX.— Corinth.— Isthmian  Games— Voyage  from  Phil- 
ippi.— Sunday  at  Troas. — Assos. — Voyage  by  Mitylene  and  Trogyl- 
lium  to  Miletus. — Speech  to  the  Ephesian  Fresbyters, — Voyage  by 
Cos  and  Rhodes  to  Patara. — Thence  to  Phoenicia. — Christians  at 
Tyre. — Ptolemais. — Events  at  Caesarea. — Arrival  at  Jerusalem.      .  515 

CHAPTER  XXL— Reception  at  Jerusalem.— Assembling  of  the 
Presbytery. — Advice  given  to  Paul. — The  four  Nazarites. — Paul 
seized  at  the  festival. — The  Temple  and  the  Ganison. — Hebrew 
Speech  on  the  Stairs, — The  Centurion  and  the  chief  Captain. — 
Paul  before  the  Sanhedrin. — The  Pharisees  and  Sadducees. — 
Vision  in  the  Castle. — Conspiracy. — Paul's  Nephew. — Letter  of 
Claudius  Lysias  to  Felix — Night  Journey  to  Antipatris. — Caesarea.  540 

CHAPTER  XXII  History  of  Judsea  Resumed.— Roman  Govern- 

ors. — Felix. — Troops  quartered  in  Palestine. — Description  of  Coesar- 
ea — Paul  accused  there. — Speech  before  Felix. — Continued  Impris- 


CONTENTS. 


9 


onment. — Accession  of  Festus. — Appeal  to  the  Emperor. — Speech 

before  Agrippa.  566 

CHAPTER  XXIIl. — Ships  and  Navigation  of  the  Ancients— Roman 
Commerce  in  the  Mediterranean. — Corn  Trade  between  Alexandria 
and  Puteoli. — Travellers  by  Sea. — Paul's  voyage  from  Csesarea,  by 
Sidon,  to  Myra. — From  Myra,  by  Cnidus  and  Cape  Salmone,  to  Fair 
Havens. — Phoenice. — The  Storm. — Seamanship  during  the  Gale. — 
Paul's  Vision. — Anchoring  in  the  Night. — Shipwreck. — Proof  that 
it  took  place  in  Malta. — Winter  in  the  Island. — Objections  Consid- 
ered.— Voyage  by  Syracuse  and  Rhegium,  to  Puteoli.       .       .  585 

CHAPTER  XXIV.— The  Appian  Way.— Appii  Forum  and  the  Three 
Taverns. — Entrance  into  Rome. — The  Praetorian  Prefect. — Descrip- 
tion of  the  City. — Its  Population  — The  Jews  in  Rome. — The 
Roman  Church. — Paul's  Interview  with  the  Jews. — His  Residence 


in  Rome.       ..........  621 

CHAPTER  XXV  Delay  of  Paul's  Trial— His  Occupation  and 

Companions  during  his  imprisonment. — He  writes  The  Epistle  to 
Philemon^  The  Epistle  to  the  ColossianSy  and  The  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians,  {so  called)  637 

CHAPTER  XXVI— The  Prcetorium  and  the  Palatine.  Arrival  of 
Epaphroditus. — Political  Events  at  Rome. — Octavia  and  Poppaea.— 
Paul  writes  The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians. — He  makes  Converts  in 
the  Imperial  Household  664 


CHAPTER  XXVII.— Authorities  for  Paul's  Subsequent  History.— 
His  Appeal  is  Heard. — His  Acquittal. — He  goes  from  Rome  to 
Asia  Minor. — Thence  to  Spain,  where  he  resides  two  Years. — He 
returns  to  Asia  Minor  and  Macedonia. — Writes  The  First  Epistle 
to  Timotheus. — His  visit  to  Crete. — He  Wiites  The  Epistle  to  Titus, 
— He  winters  at  Nicopolis. — He  is  again  imprisoned  at  Rome. — 
Progress  of  his  Trial. — He  Writes  Ihe  Second  Epistle  to  limothe- 
us, — His  Condemnation  and  Death  678 

Note  on  certain  legends  connected  with  PauPs  death,       .        .  711 

CHAPTER  XXVIII.— T/^^  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews.-^lts  Inspiration 
not  affected  by  the  Doubts  concerning  its  Authorship. — Its  Original 
Readers. — Conflicting  Testimony  of  the  Primitive  Church  Concern- 
ing its  Author. — His  object  in  writing  it. — Translation  of  the 


Epistle.  714 

APPENDIX.— (9«  the  Date  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles,       .       .  737 

Chronological  Table,  with  notes  746 

Index.         .      .      •      -  753 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PAGB 

Salonica,  the  Ancient  Thessalonica  .      .      .  Frontispiece 

View  of  Jerusalem   60 

Wall,  of  Damascus   100 

Roman  Eoads  neapw  Lystra   164 

Market-Place  —  Ruins  of  Philippi   246 

Plan  of  Ancient  Athens   286 

The  Acropolis  restored   292 

The  Areopagus  .   308 

Ancient  Corinth   338 

Ancient  Ephesus   438 

Chart  of  Malta   608 

Plan  of  Rome                                                             .  626 

Mai>  of  Paul's  Journeys   752 


THE  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES 

OF  THE 

APOSTLE  PAUL. 


CHAPTER  I. 

GREAT  MEN  OF  GREAT  PERIODS. — PERIOD  OF  CHRIST^S  APOSTLES. 
— JEWS,  GREEKS,  AND  ROMANS. — RELIGIOUS  CIVILIZATION  OF 
THE  JEWS. — THEIR  HISTORY,  AND  ITS  RELATION  TO  THAT  OF 
THE  WORLD. — HEATHEN  PREPARATION  FOR  THE  GOSPEL. — 
CHARACTER  AND  LANGUAGE  OF  THE  GREEKS. — ALEXANDRIA.— 
ANTIOCH  AND  ALEXANDRIA. — GROWTH  AND  GOVERNMENT  OF 
THE  ROMAN  EMPIRE. — MISERY  OF  ITALY  AND  THE  PROVINCES. 
— PREPARATION  IN  THE  EMPIRE  FOR  CHRISTIANITY. — DIS- 
PERSION OF  THE  JEWS  IN  ASIA,  AFRICA,  AND  EUROPE. — PROSE- 
LYTES.— PROVINCES  OF  CILICIA  AND  JUD^A. — THEIR  GEOG- 
RAPHY AND  HISTORY. — CILICIA  UNDER  THE  ROMANS. — TARSUS. 
— CICERO. — POLITICAL  CHANGES  IN  JUD^A. — HEROD  AND  HIS 
FAMILY. — THE  ROMAN  GOVERNORS. — CONCLUSION. 

The  life  of  a  great  man,  in  a  great  period  of  the  world's  history, 
is  a  subject  to  command  the  attention  of  every  thoughtful  mind. 
Alexander  on  his  Eastern  expedition,  spreading  the  civilization 
of  Greece  over  the  Asiatic  and  African  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
Sea, — Julius  Caesar  contending  against  the  Gauls,  and  subduing 
the  barbarism  of  Western  Europe  to  the  order  and  discipline  of 
Roman  government, — Charlemagne  compressing  the  separating 
atoms  of  the  feudal  world,  and  reviving  for  a  time  the  image  of 
imperial  unity, — Columbus  sailing  westward  over  the  Atlantic  to 
discover  a  new  world  which  might  receive  the  arts  and  religion  of 
the  old, — Napoleon  on  his  rapid  campaigns,  shattering  the  ancient 

11 


12 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


system  of  European  states,  and  leaving  a  chasm  between  our  pres* 
ent  and  the  past, — ^these  are  the  colossal  figures  of  history,  which 
stamp  with  the  impress  of  their  personal  greatness  the  centuries 
in  which  they  lived. 

The  interest  with  which  we  look  upon  such  men  is  natural  and 
inevitable,  even  when  we  are  deeply  conscious  that,  in  their  cha- 
racter and  their  work,  evil  was  mixed  up  in  large  proportions  with 
the  good,  and  when  we  find  it  difficult  to  discover  the  providential 
design  which  drew  the  features  of  their  respective  epochs.  But 
this  natural  feeling  rises  into  something  higher  if  we  can  be  as- 
sured that  the  period  we  contemplate  was  designedly  prepared  for 
great  results,  that  the  work  we  admire  was  a  work  of  unmixed 
good,  and  the  man  whose  actions  we  follow  was  an  instrument 
specially  prepared  by  the  hands  of  God.  Such  a  period  was  that 
in  which  the  civilized  world  was  united  under  the  first  Eoman 
emperors ;  such  a  work  was  the  first  preaching  of  the  gospel;  and 
such  a  man  was  Paul  of  Tarsus. 

Before  we  enter  upon  the  particulars  of  his  life  and  the  history 
of  his  work,  it  is  desirable  to  say  something,  in  this  introductory 
chapter,  concerning  the  general  features  of  the  age  which  was  pre- 
pared for  him.  We  shall  not  attempt  any  minute  delineation  of 
the  institutions  and  social  habits  of  the  period.  Many  of  these 
will  be  brought  before  us  in  detail  in  the  course  of  the  present 
work.  We  shall  only  notice  here  those  circumstances  in  the  state 
of  the  world  which  seem  to  bear  the  traces  of  a  providential  pre- 
arrangement. 

Casting  this  general  view  on  the  age  of  the  first  Roman  em- 
perors, which  was  also  the  age  of  Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles, 
we  find  our  attention  arrested  by  three  great  varieties  of  national 
life.  The  Jew,  the  Greek,  and  the  Eoman  appear  to  divide  the 
world  between  them.  The  outward  condition  of  Jerusalem  itself, 
at  this  epoch,  might  be  taken  as  a  type  of  the  civilized  world. 
Herod  the  Great,  who  rebuilt  the  temple,  had  erected  for  Greek 
and  Roman  entertainments  a  theatre  within  the  same  walls  and 
an  amphitheatre  in  the  neighboring  plain.  His  coins,  and  those 
of  his  grandson  Agrippa,  bore  Greek  inscriptions :  that  piece  of 
money  which  was  brought  to  our  Saviour  (Matt.  xxii. ;  Mark 
xii. ;  Luke  xx.)  was  the  silver  denarius,  the  image"  was  that 
of  the  emperor,  the  "superscription''  was  in  Latin;  and  at  the 
same  time  when  the  common  currency  consisted  of  such  pieces  aa 


JEWS,  GREEKS,  AND  ROMANS. 


13 


these,  since  coins  with  the  images  of  men  or  with  heathen  symbols 
would  have  been  a  profanation  to  the  "  treasury/^  there  might  be 
found  on  the  tables  of  the  money-changers  in  the  temple  shekels 
and  half  shekels  with  Samaritan  letters,  minted  under  the  Macca- 
bees. Greek  and  Eoman  names  were  borne  by  multitudes  of  those 
Jews  who  came  up  to  worship  at  the  festivals.  Greek  and  Latin 
wwds  were  current  in  the  popular  "Hebrew"  of  the  day;  and 
while  this  Syro-Chaldaic  dialect  was  spoken  by  the  mass  of  the 
people  with  the  tenacious  affection  of  old  custom,  Greek  had  long 
been  well  known  among  the  upper  classes  in  the  larger  towns, 
and  Latin  was  used  in  the  courts  of  law  and  in  the  official  corre- 
spondence of  magistrates.  On  a  critical  occasion  of  Paul's  life 
(Acts  xxi.,  xxii),  when  he  was  standing  on  the  stair  between  the 
temple  and  the  fortress,  he  first  spoke  to  the  commander  of  the 
garrison  in  Greek,  and  then  turned  round  and  addressed  his  coun- 
trymen in  Hebrew;  while  the  letter  (Acts  xxiii.)  of  Claudius 
Lysias  was  written,  and  the  oration  (Acts  xxi  v.)  of  Tertullus 
spoken,  in  Latin.  We  are  told  by  the  historian  Josephus  that  on 
a  parapet  of  stone  in  the  temple  area,  where  a  flight  of  fourteen 
steps  led  up  from  the  outer  to  the  inner  court,  pillars  were  placed 
at  equal  distances  with  notices,  some  in  Greek  and  some  in  Latin, 
that  no  alien  should  enter  the  sacred  enclosure  of  the  Hebrews. 
And  we  are  told  by  two  of  the  evangelists  (Luke  xxiii.  38 ;  John 
xix.  20)  that  when  our  blessed  Saviour  was  crucified  "the  super- 
scription of  his  accusation  was  written  above  his  cross  "  in  letters 
of  Hebrew,  and  Greek,  and  Latin." 

The  condition  of  the  world  in  general  at  that  period  wears  a 
similar  appearance  to  a  Christian's  eye.  He  sees  the  Greek  and 
Roman  elements  brought  into  remarkable  union  with  the  older 
and  more  sacred  elements  of  Judaism.  He  sees  in  the  Hebrew 
nation  a  divinely-laid  foundation  for  the  superstructure  of  the 
Church,  and  in  the  dispersion  of  the  Jews  a  soil  made  ready  in 
fitting  places  for  the  seed  of  the  gospel.  He  sees  in  the  spread  of 
the  language  and  commerce  of  the  Greeks,  and  in  the  high  per- 
fection of  their  poetry  and  philosophy,  appropriate  means  for  the 
rapid  communication  of  Christian  ideas,  and  for  bringing  them 
into  close  connection  with  the  best  thoughts  of  unassisted  human- 
ity. And  he  sees  in  the  union  of  so  many  incoherent  provinces 
under  the  law  and  government  of  Rome  a  strong  framework  which 
might  keep  together  for  a  sufficient  period  those  masses  of  social 


14  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

life  which  the  gospel  was  intended  to  pervade.  The  city  of  God 
is  built  at  the  confluence  of  three  civilizations.  We  recognize  with 
gratitude  the  hand  of  God  in  the  history  of  his  world ;  and  we 
turn  with  devout  feelings  to  trace  the  course  of  these  three  streams 
of  civilized  life,  from  their  early  source  to  the  time  of  their  meet- 
ing in  the  apostolic  age. 

We  need  not  linger  about  the  fountains  of  the  national  life  of 
the  Jews.  We  know  that  they  gushed  forth  at  first,  and  flowed  in 
their  appointed  channels,  at  the  command  of  God.  The  call  of 
Abraham,  when  one  family  was  chosen  to  keep  and  hand  down  the 
deposit  of  divine  truth, — the  series  of  providences  which  brought 
the  ancestors  of  the  Jews  into  Egypt, — the  long  captivity  on  the 
banks  of  the  Nile, — the  work  of  Moses,  whereby  the  bondsmen 
were  made  into  a  nation, — all  these  things  are  represented  in  the 
Old  Testament  as  occurring  under  the  immediate  direction  of 
Almighty  power.  The  people  of  Israel  were  taken  out  of  the 
midst  of  an  idolatrous  world,  to  become  the  depositaries  of  a  purer 
knowledge  of  the  one  true  God  than  was  given  to  any  other  people. 
At  a  time  when  (humanly  speaking)  the  world  could  hardly  have 
preserved  a  spiritual  religion  in  its  highest  purity,  they  received  a 
divine  revelation  enshrined  in  symbols  and  ceremonies,  whereby  it 
might  be  safely  kept  till  the  time  of  its  development  in  a  purer 
and  more  heavenly  form. 

The  peculiarity  of  the  Hebrew  civilization  did  not  consist  in  the 
culture  of  the  imagination  and  intellect,  like  that  of  the  Greeks, 
nor  in  the  organization  of  government,  like  that  of  Eome,  but  its 
distinguishing  feature  was  Beligion,  To  say  nothing  of  the  Scrip- 
tures, the  prophets,  the  miracles  of  the  Jews, — their  frequent  festi- 
vals, their  constant  sacrifices, — everything  in  their  collective  and 
private  life  was  connected  with  a  revealed  religion;  their  wars, 
their  heroes,  their  poetry,  had  a  sacred  character, — their  national 
code  was  full  of  the  details  of  public  worship, — their  ordinary 
employments  were  touched  at  every  point  by  divinely-appointed 
and  significant  ceremonies.  Nor  was  this  religion,  as  were  the  re- 
ligions of  the  heathen  world,  a  creed  which  could  not  be  the 
common  property  of  the  instructed  and  the  ignorant.  It  was 
neither  a  recondite  philosophy  which  might  not  be  communicated 
to  the  masses  of  the  people,  nor  a  weak  superstition  controlling 
the  conduct  of  the  lower  classes  and  ridiculed  by  the  higher.  The 
religion  of  Moses  was  for  the  use  of  all  and  the  benefit  of  all.  The 


RELIGIOUS  CIVILIZATION  OF  THE  JEWS. 


15 


poorest  peasant  of  Galilee  had  the  same  part  in  it  as  the  wisest 
rabbi  of  Jerusalem.  The  children  of  all  families  were  taught  to 
claim  their  share  in  the  privileges  of  the  chosen  people. 

And  how  different  was  the  nature  of  this  religion  from  that  of 
the  contemporary  Gentiles !  The  pious  feelings  of  the  Jew  were 
not  dissipated  and  distracted  by  a  fantastic  mythology,  where  a 
thousand  different  objects  of  w^orship,  with  contradictory  attributes, 
might  claim  the  attention  of  the  devout  mind.  ^*  One  God,''  the 
Creator  and  Judge  of  the  world  and  the  Author  of  all  good,  was 
the  only  object  of  adoration.  And  there  was  nothing  of  that  wide 
separation  between  religion  and  morality  w^hich  among  other 
nations  was  the  road  to  all  impurity.  The  will  and  approbation 
of  Jehovah  were  the  motive  and  support  of  all  holiness ;  faith  in 
his  word  was  the  power  which  raised  men  above  their  natural 
weakness;  while  even  the  divinities  of  Greece  and  Eome  were 
often  the  personifications  of  human  passions,  and  the  example  and 
sanction  of  vice.  And  still  farther :  the  devotional  Scriptures  of 
the  Jews  express  that  heartfelt  sense  of  infirmity  and  sin,  that 
peculiar  spirit  of  prayer,  that  real  communion  with  God,  with 
which  the  Christian,  in  his  best  moments,  has  the  truest  sympatliy. 
So  that,  while  the  best  hymns  of  Greece  are  only  mythological 
pictures,  and  the  literature  of  heathen  Rome  hardly  produces 
anything  which  can  be  called  a  prayer,  the  Hebrew  psalms  have 
passed  into  the  devotions  of  the  Christian  Church.  There  is  a  light 
on  all  the  mountains  of  Judaea  which  never  shone  on  Olympus  or 
Parnassus;  and  the  "Hill  of  Zion,"  in  which  "it  pleased  God  to 
dwell,"  is  the  type  of  "the  joy  of  the  whole  earth"  (Ps. 
xlviii.  2;  Ixviii.  16),  while  the  seven  hills  of  Rome  are  the  symbol 
of  tyranny  and*  idolatry.  "  He  showed  his  word  unto  Jacob,  his 
statutes  and  ordinances  unto  Israel.  He  dealt  not  so  with  any 
nation ;  neither  had  the  heathen  knowledge  of  his  laws "  (Ps. 
cxlvii.  19,  20). 

But  not  only  was  a  holy  religion  the  characteristic  of  the  civili- 
zation of  the  Jews,  but  their  religious  feelings  were  directed  to 
something  in  the  future,  and  all  the  circumstances  of  their  national 
life  tended  to  fix  their  thoughts  on  One  that  was  to  come.  By 
types  and  by  promises  their  eyes  were  continually  turned  towards 
a  Messiah.  Their  history  was  a  continued  prophecy.  All  the 
great  stages  of  their  national  existence  were  accompanied  by 
effusions  of  prophetic  light.    Abraham  was  called  from  his  father's 


16  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

house,  and  it  was  revealed  that  in  him  "all  families  of  the  earth 
should  be  blessed."  Moses  formed  Abraham\s  descendants  into  a 
people  by  giving  them  a  law  and  national  institutions ;  but  while 
so  doing  he  spake  before  of  Him  who  was  hereafter  to  be  raised  up 
"  a  prophet  like  unto  himself."  David  reigned,  and  during  that 
reign,  which  made  so  deep  and  lasting  an  impression  on  the 
Jewish  mind,  psalms  were  written  which  spoke  of  the  future  King. 
And  with  the  approach  of  that  captivity,  the  pathetic  recollection 
of  which  became  perpetual,  the  prophecies  took  a  bolder  range, 
and  embraced  wdthin  their  widening  circle  the  redemption  both 
of  Jews  and  Gentiles.  Thus  the  pious  Hebrew  was  always,  as  it 
were,  in  the  attitude  of  expectation.  And  it  has  been  well  remarked 
that,  while  the  golden  age  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans  was  the  past, 
that  of  the  Jews  was  the  future.  While  other  nations  were  grow- 
ing weary  of  their  gods, — without  anything  in  their  mythology  or 
philosophy  to  satisfy  the  deep  cravings  of  their  nature, — with 
religion  operating  rather  as  a  barrier  than  a  link  between  the 
educated  and  the  ignorant, — with  morality  divorced  from  theology, 
— the  whole  Jewish  people  were  united  in  a  feeling  of  attachment 
to  their  sacred  institutions,  and  found  in  the  facts  of  their  past 
history  a  sure  pledge  of  the  fulfilment  of  their  national  hopes. 

It  is  true  that  the  Jewish  nation  again  and  again,  during  several 
centuries,  fell  into  idolatry.  It  is  true  that  their  superiority  to 
other  nations  consisted  in  the  light  which  they  possessed,  and  not 
in  the  use  which  they  made  of  it ;  and  that  a  carnal  life  con- 
tinually dragged  them  down  from  the  spiritual  eminence  on  which 
they  might  have  stood.  But  the  divine  purposes  were  not  frus- 
trated. The  chosen  people  was  subjected  to  the  chastisement  and 
discipline  of  severe  sufferings ;  and  they  were  fiUed  by  a  long 
training  for  the  accomplishment  of  that  work  to  the  conscious 
performance  of  which  they  did  not  willingly  rise.  They  were  hard 
l^ressed  in  their  own  country  by  the  incursions  of  their  idolatrous 
neighbors,  and  in  the  end  they  were  carried  into  a  distant 
captivity.  From  the  time  of  their  return  from  Babylon  they 
were  no  longer  idolaters.  They  presented  to  the  world  the 
example  of  a  pure  monotheism.  And  in  the  active  times  which 
preceded  and  followed  the  birth  of  Christ,  those  Greeks  or  Romans 
who  yisited  the  Jews  in  their  own  land  where  they  still  lingered 
at  the  portals  of  the  East,  and  those  vast  numbers  of  proselytes 
whom  the  dispersed  Jews  had  gathered  round  them  in  various 


THE  GEOGRAPHICAL  POSITION  OF  JUDiEA. 


17 


countries,  were  made  familiar  with  the  worship  of  one  God  and 
Father  of  all. 

The  influence  of  the  Jews  upon  the  heathen  world  was  exercised 
mainly  through  their  dispersion  ;  but  this  subject  must  be  deferred 
for  a  few  pages,  till  we  have  examined  some  of  the  developments 
of  the  Greek  and  Eoman  nationalities.  A  few  words,  however, 
may  be  allowed  in  passing  upon  the  consequences  of  the  geograph' 
teal  position  of  Judaea. 

The  situation  of  this  little  but  eventful  country  is  such  that  its 
inhabitants  were  brought  into  contact  successively  with  all  the 
civilized  nations  of  antiquity.  Not  to  dwell  upon  its  proximity  to 
Egypt  on  the  one  hand,  and  to  Assyria  on  the  other,  and  the  influ- 
ences which  those  ancient  kingdoms  may  thereby  have  exercised 
or  received,  Palestine  lay  in  the  road  of  Alexander's  Eastern  ex- 
pedition. The  Greek  conqueror  was  there  before  he  founded  hia 
mercantile  metropolis  in  Egypt,  and  then  went  to  India,  to  return 
and  die  at  Babylon.  And  again,  when  his  empire  was  divided, 
and  Greek  kingdoms  were  erected  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa, 
Palestine  lay  between  the  rival  monarchies  of  the  Ptolemies  at 
Alexandria  and  the  Seleucidse  at  Antioch, — too  near  to  both  to  be 
safe  from  the  invasion  of  their  arms  or  the  influence  of  their  cus- 
toms and  their  language.  And  finally,  when  the  time  came  for 
the  Romans  to  embrace  the  whole  of  the  Mediterranean  within  the 
circle  of  their  power,  the  coast-line  of  Judgea  was  the  last  remote 
portion  which  was  needed  to  complete  the  fated  circumference. 

The  full  effect  of  this  geographical  position  of  Judsea  can  only 
be  seen  by  following  the  course  of  Greek  and  Roman  life  till  they 
were  brought  so  remarkably  into  contact  with  each  other  and  with 
that  of  the  Jews;  and  we  return  to  those  other  two  nations  of 
antiquity,  the  steps  of  whose  progress  were  successive  stages  in 
what  is  called  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  (i.  10)  "the  dispen- 
sation of  the  fulness  of  time." 

If  we  think  of  the  civilization  of  the  Greeks,  we  have  no  diffi- 
culty in  fixing  on  its  chief  characteristics.  High  perfection  of 
the  intellect  and  imagination,  displaying  itself  in  all  the  various 
forms  of  art,  poetry,  literature,  and  philosophy — restless  activity 
of  mind  and  body,  finding  its  exercise  in  athletic  games  or  in 
subtle  disputations — love  of  the  beautiful — quick  perception — in- 
defatigable inquiry — all  these  enter  into  the  very  idea  of  the  Greek 
race.  This  is  not  the  place  to  inquire  how  far  these  qualities  were 
2 


18  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

due  to  an  innate  peculiarity,  or  how  far  they  grew  up,  by  gradual 
development,  amidst  the  natural  influences  of  their  native  country, 
— the  variety  of  their  hills  and  plains,  the  clear  lights  and  warm 
shadows  of  their  climate,  the  mingled  land  and  water  of  their 
coasts.  We  have  only  to  do  with  this  national  character  so  far  as, 
under  Divine  Providence,  it  was  made  subservient  to  the  spread  of 
the  gospel. 

We  shall  see  how  remarkably  it  subserved  this  purpose  if  we 
consider  the  tendency  of  the  Greeks  to  trade  and  colonization. 
Their  mental  activity  was  accompanied  with  great  physical  rest- 
lessness. This  clever  people  always  exhibited  a  disposition  to 
spread  themselves.  Without  aiming  at  universal  conquest,  they 
displayed  (if  we  may  use  the  word)  a  remarkable  catholicity  of 
character,  and  a  singular  power  of  adaptation  to  those  whom  they 
called  Barbarians.  In  this  respect  they  were  strongly  contrasted 
with  the  Egyptians,  whose  immemorial  civilization  was  confined 
to  the  long  valley  which  extends  from  the  Cataracts  to  the  mouths 
of  the  Nile.  The  Hellenic  tribes,  on  the  other  hand,  though  they 
despised  foreigners,  were  never  unwilling  to  visit  them  and  to  culti- 
vate their  acquaintance.  At  the  earliest  period  at  which  history 
enables  us  to  discover  them  we  see  them  moving  about  in  their  ships, 
on  the  shores,  and  among  the  islands  of  their  native  seas ;  and,  three 
or  four  centuries  before  the  Christian  era,  Asia  Minor,  beyond 
which  the  Persians  had  not  been  permitted  to  advance,  was  bor- 
dered by  a  fringe  of  Greek  colonies ;  and  Lower  Italy,  when  the 
Boman  republic  was  just  beginning  to  be  conscious  of  its  strength, 
had  received  the  name  of  Greece  itself.  To  all  these  places  they 
carried  their  arts  and  literature,  their  philosophy,  their  mythology, 
and  their  amusements.  They  carried  also  their  arms  and  their 
trade.  The  heroic  age  had  passed  away,  and  fabulous  voyages  had 
given  place  to  real  expeditions  against  Sicily  and  constant  traffic 
with  the  Black  Sea.  They  were  gradually  taking  the  place  of  the 
Phoenicians  in  the  empire  of  the  Mediterranean.  They  were, 
indeed,  less  exclusively  mercantile  than  those  old  discoverers. 
Their  voyages  were  not  so  long.  But  their  influence  on  general 
civilization  was  greater  and  more  permanent.  The  earliest  ideas 
of  scientific  navigation  and  geography  are  due  to  the  Greeks.  The 
later  Greek  travellers,  Pausanias  and  Strabo,  will  be  our  best  sources 
of  information  on  the  topography  of  Paul's  journeys. 

With  this  view  of  the  Hellenic  character  before  us,  we  are  per- 


ALEXANDRIA  AND  ANTIOCH. 


19 


pared  to  appreciate  the  vast  results  of  Alexander's  conquests.  He 
took  up  the  meshes  of  the  net  of  Greek  civilization  which  were  lying 
in  disorder  on  the  edges  of  the  Asiatic  shore,  and  spread  them  over 
all  the  countries  which  he  traversed  in  his  wonderful  campaigns. 
The  East  and  the  West  were  suddenly  brought  together.  Separated 
tribes  were  united  under  a  common  government.  New  cities  were 
built,  as  the  centres  of  political  life.  New  lines  of  communication 
were  opened,  as  the  channels  of  commercial  activity.  The  new 
culture  penetrated  the  mountain-ranges  of  Pisidia  and  Lycaonia. 
The  Tigris  and  Euphrates  became  Greek  rivers.  The  language  of 
Athens  was  heard  among  the  Jewish  colonies  of  Babylonia,  and 
a  Grecian  Babylon  was  built  by  the  conqueror  in  Egypt,  and  called 
by  his  name. 

The  empire  of  Alexander  was  divided,  but  the  effects  of  his 
campaigns  and  policy  did  not  cease.  The  influence  of  the  fresh 
elements  of  social  life  was  rather  increased  by  being  brought  into 
independent  action  within  the  spheres  of  distinct  kingdoms.  Our 
attention  is  particularly  called  to  two  of  the  monarchical  lines 
which  descended  from  Alexander's  generals, — the  Ptolemies,  or  the 
Greek  kings  of  Egypt,  and  the  Seleucidae,  or  the  Greek  kings  of 
Syria.  Their  respective  capitals,  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  became 
the  metropolitan  centres  of  commercial  and  civilized  life  in  the 
East.  They  rose  suddenly,  and  their  very  appearance  marked 
them  as  the  cities  of  a  new  epoch.  Like  Berlin  and  St.  Peters- 
burg, they  were  modern  cities  built  by  great  kings  at  a  definite 
time  and  for  a  definite  purpose.  Their  histories  are  no  unimport- 
ant chapters  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Both  of  them  were  con- 
nected with  Paul — one  indirectly,  as  the  birthplace  of  Apollos;  the 
other  directly,  as  the  scene  of  some  of  the  most  important  passages 
of  the  apostle's  own  life.  Both  abounded  in  Jews  from  their  first 
foundation.  Both  became  the  residences  of  Roman  governors,  and 
both  were  patriarchates  of  the  primitive  Church.  But  before  they 
had  received  either  the  Eoman  discipline  or  the  Christian  doctrine, 
they  had  served  their  appointed  purpose  of  spreading  the  Greek 
language  and  habits,  of  creating  new  lines  of  commercial  inter- 
course by  land  and  sea,  and  of  centralizing  in  themselves  the  mer- 
cantile life  of  the  Levant.  Even  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  remind 
us  of  the  traflSc  of  Antioch  with  Cyprus  and  the  neighboring 
coasts,  and  of  the  sailing  of  Alexandrian  corn-ships  to  the  more 
distant  harbors  of  Malta  and  Puteoli. 


20  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Of  all  the  Greek  elements  which  the  cities  of  Antioch  and 
Alexandria  were  the  means  of  circulating,  the  spread  of  the  lan- 
guage is  the  most  important.  Its  connection  with  the  whole  system 
of  Christian  doctrine — ^with  many  of  the  controversies  and  divisions 
of  the  Church — is  very  momentous.  That  language,  which  is  the 
richest  and  most  delicate  that  the  world  has  seen,  became  the  lan- 
guage of  theology.  The  Greek  tongue  became  to  the  Christian 
more  than  it  had  been  to  the  Eoman  or  the  Jew.  The  mother- 
tongue  of  Ignatius  at  Antioch  was  that  in  which  Philo  composed 
his  treatises  at  Alexandria,  and  which  Cicero  spoke  at  Athens. 
It  is  difficult  to  state  in  a  few  words  the  important  relation  which 
Alexandria  more  especially  was  destined  to  bear  to  the  whole  Chris- 
tian Church.  In  that  city,  the  representative  of  the  Greeks  of  the 
East,  where  the  most  remarkable  fusion  took  place  of  the  peculiari- 
ties of  Greek,  Jewish,  and  Oriental  life,  and  at  the  time  when  all 
these  had  been  brought  in  contact  with  the  mind  of  educated 
Romans,  a  theological  language  was  formed,  rich  in  the  phrases  of 
various  schools,  and  suited  to  convey  Christian  ideas  to  all  the 
world.  It  was  not  an  accident  that  the  New  Testament  was  written 
in  Greek,  the  language  which  can  best  express  the  highest  thoughts 
and  worthiest  feelings  of  the  intellect  and  heart,  and  which  is 
adapted  to  be  the  instrument  of  education  for  all  nations  ;  nor  was 
it  an  accident  that  the  composition  of  these  books  and  the  pro- 
mulgation of  the  gospel  were  delayed  till  the  instruction  of  our 
Lord  and  the  writings  of  his  apostles  could  be  expressed  in  the 
dialect  of  Alexandria.  This,  also,  must  be  ascribed  to  the  fore- 
knowledge of  Him  who  "  winked  at  the  times  of  ignorance,"  but 
who  "  made  of  one  blood  all  nations  of  men  for  to  dwell  on  all  the 
face  of  the  earth,  and  determined  the  times  before  appointed  and 
the  bounds  of  their  habitation"  (Acts  xvii.  30,  26). 

We  do  not  forget  that  the  social  condition  of  the  Greeks  had 
been  falling,  during  this  period,  into  the  lowest  corruption.  The 
disastrous  quarrels  of  Alexander's  generals  had  been  continued 
among  their  successors.  Political  integrity  was  lost.  The  Greeks 
spent  their  life  in  worthless  and  frivolous  amusements.  Their  re- 
ligion, though  beautiful  beyond  expression  as  giving  subjects  for 
art  and  poetry,  was  utterly  powerless,  and  worse  than  powerless, 
in  checking  their  bad  propensities.  Their  philosophers  were 
sophists ;  their  women  might  be  briefly  divided  into  two  classes — 
those  who  were  highly  educated  and  openly  profligate  on  the  one 


SPREAD  OF  THE  ROMAN  POWER. 


21 


Bide,  and  those  who  lived  in  domestic  and  ignorant  seclusion  on  the 
other.  And  it  cannot  be  denied  that  all  these  causes  of  degradation 
spread  with  the  diffusion  of  the  race  and  the  language ;  like  Sybaris 
and  Syracuse,  Antioch  and  Alexandria  became  almost  worse  than 
Athens  and  Corinth.  But  the  very  diffusion  and  development  of 
this  corruption  w^as  preparing  the  way,  because  it  showed  the  neces- 
sity, for  the  interposition  of  a  gospel.  The  disease  itself  seemed 
to  call  for  a  Healer,  And  if  the  prevailing  evils  of  the  Greek 
population  presented  obstacles,  on  a  large  scale,  to  the  progress  of 
Christianity,  yet  they  showed  to  all  future  time  the  weakness  of 
man's  highest  powers  if  unassisted  from  above;  and  there  must 
have  been  many  who  groaned  under  the  burden  of  a  corruption 
which  they  could  not  shake  off,  and  who  were  ready  to  welcome 
the  voice  of  Him  who  "  took  our  infirmities  and  bare  our  sick- 
nesses." The  Greeks"  who  are  mentioned  by  John  as  coming  to 
see  Jesus  at  the  feast  were,  we  trust,  the  types  of  a  large  class ; 
and  we  may  conceive  his  answer  to  Andrew  and  Philip  as  express- 
ing the  fulfilment  of  the  appointed  times  in  the  widest  sense,  "The 
hour  is  come  that  the  Son  of  man  should  be  glorified." 

Such  was  the  civilization  and  corruption  connected  with  the 
spread  of  the  Greek  language  when  the  Roman  power  approached 
to  the  eastern  parts  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  For  some  centu- 
ries this  irresistible  force  had  been  gathering  strength  on  the  west- 
ern side  of  the  Apennines.  Gradually,  but  surely  and  with  ever- 
increasing  rapidity,  it  made  to  itself  a  wider  space — northward  into 
Etruria,  southward  into  Campania.  It  passed  beyond  its  Italian 
boundaries.  And  six  hundred  years  after  the  building  of  the  city 
the  Eoman  eagle  had  seized  on  Africa  at  the  point  of  Carthage, 
and  Greece  at  the  Isthmus  of  Corinth,  and  had  turned  its  eye 
towards  the  East.  The  defenceless  prey  was  made  secure  by  craft 
or  by  war ;  and  before  the  birth  of  our  Saviour  all  those  coasts, 
from  Ephesus  to  Tarsus  and  Antioch,  and  round  by  the  Holy  Land 
to  Alexandria  and  Cyrene,  were  tributary  to  the  city  of  the  Tiber. 
We  have  to  describe  in  a  few  words  the  characteristics  of  this  new 
dominion,  and  to  point  out  its  providential  connection  with  the 
spread  and  consolidation  of  the  Church. 

In  the  first  place,  this  dominion  was  not  a  pervading  influence 
exerted  by  a  restless  and  intellectual  people,  but  it  was  the  grasping 
power  of  an  external  government.  The  idea  of  law  had  grown  up 
with  the  growth  of  the  Romans;  and  wherever  they  went  they 


22 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


carried  it  with  them.  Wherever  their  armies  were  marching  or 
encamping,  there  always  attended  them,  like  a  mysterious  presence, 
the  spirit  of  the  city  of  Eome.  Universal  conquest  and  perma- 
nent occupation  were  the  ends  at  which  they  aimed.  Strength 
and  organization  were  the  characteristics  of  their  sway.  We  have 
seen  how  the  Greek  science  and  commerce  were  wafted,  by  irregular 
winds,  from  coast  to  coast ;  and  now  we  follow  the  advance  of 
legions,  governors,  and  judges  along  the  Roman  roads,  which 
pursued  their  undeviating  course  over  plains  and  mountains,  and 
bound  the  city  to  the  farthest  extremities  of  the  provinces. 

There  is  no  better  way  of  obtaining  a  clear  view  of  the  features 
and  a  correct  idea  of  the  spirit  of  the  Eoman  age  than  by  con- 
sidering the  material  works  which  still  remain  as  its  imperishable 
monuments.  Whether  undertaken  by  the  hands  of  the  govern- 
ment or  for  the  ostentation  of  private  luxury,  they  were  marked 
by  vast  extent  and  accomplished  at  an  enormous  expenditure.  The 
gigantic  roads  of  the  empire  have  been  unrivalled  till  the  present 
century.  Solid  structures  of  all  kinds,  for  utility,  amusement,  and 
w^orship,  were  erected  in  Italy  and  the  provinces, — amphitheatres 
of  stone,  magnificent  harbors,  bridges,  sepulchres,  and  temples. 
The  decoration  of  wealthy  houses  was  celebrated  by  the  poets  of 
the  day.  The  pomp  of  buildings  in  the  cities  was  rivalled  by 
astonishing  villas  in  the  country.  The  enormous  baths  by  which 
travellers  are  surprised  belong  to  a  period  somewhat  later  than 
that  of  Paul ;  but  the  aqueducts  which  still  remain  ih  the  Cam- 
pagna  were  some  of  them  new  when  he  visited  Eome.  Of  the 
metropolis  itself  it  may  be  enough  to  say  that  his  life  is  exactly 
embraced  between  its  two  great  times  of  renovation — that  of  Au- 
gustus on  the  one  hand,  who  (to  use  his  own  expression)  having 
found  it  a  city  of  brick  left  it  a  city  of  marble,  and  that  of  Nero 
on  the  other,  when  the  great  conflagration  afforded  an  opportunity 
for  a  new  arrangement  of  its  streets  and  buildings. 

These  great  works  may  be  safely  taken  as  emblems  of  the  mag- 
nitude, strength,  grandeur,  and  solidity  of  the  empire;  but  they 
are  emblems,  no  less,  of  the  tyranny  and  cruelty  which  had  pre- 
sided over  its  formation,  and  of  the  general  suffering  which  per- 
vaded it.  The  statues  with  which  the  metropolis  and  the  Eoman 
houses  were  profusely  decorated  had  been  brought  from  plundered 
provinces,  and  many  of  them  had  swelled  the  triumphs  of  con- 
querors on  the  Capitol.   The  amphitheatres  were  built  for  shows 


MISERY  OF  ITALY  AND  THE  PROVINCES. 


23 


of  gladiators,  and  were  the  scenes  of  a  bloody  cruelty  which  had 
been  quite  unknown  in  the  licentious  exhibitions  of  the  Greek 
theatre.  The  roads,  baths,  harbors,  aqueducts,  had  been  con- 
structed by  slave  labor.  And  the  country  villas,  which  the  Italian 
traveller  lingered  to  admire,  were  themselves  vast  establishments 
of  slaves. 

It  is  easy  to  see  how  much  misery  followed  in  the  train  of  Rome's 
advancing  greatness.  Cruel  suffering  was  a  characteristic  feature 
of  the  close  of  the  republic.  Slave  wars,  civil  wars,  wars  of  con- 
quest, had  left  their  disastrous  results  behind  them.  No  country 
recovers  rapidly  from  the  effects  of  a  war  w^hich  has  been  conducted 
within  its  frontier ;  and  there  w^as  no  district  of  the  empire  which 
had  not  been  been  the  scene  of  some  recent  campaign.  None  had 
suffered  more  than  Italy  itself.  Its  old  stock  of  freemen,  w^ho  had 
cultivated  its  fair  plains  and  terraced  vineyards,  w^as  utterly  worn 
out.  The  general  depopulation  was  badly  compensated  by  the 
establishment  of  military  colonies.  Inordinate  wealth  and  slave- 
factories  were  the  prominent  features  of  the  desolate  prospect. 
The  words  of  the  great  historian  may  fill  up  the  picture :  "  As 
regards  the  manners  and  mode  of  life  of  the  Eomans,  their  great 
object  at  this  time  was  the  acquisition  and  possession  of  money. 
Their  moral  conduct,  which  had  been  corrupt  enough  before  the 
Social  War,  became  still  more  so  by  their  systematic  plunder  and 
rapine.  Immense  riches  were  accumulated  and  squandered  upon 
brutal  pleasures.  The  simplicity  of  the  old  manners  and  mode  of 
living  had  been  abandoned  for  Greek  luxuries  and  frivolities,  and 
the  whole  household  arrangements  had  become  altered.  The 
Roman  houses  had  formerly  been  quite  simple,  and  were  built 
either  of  brick  or  peperino,  but  in  most  cases  of  the  former  material; 
now,  on  the  other  hand,  every  one  would  live  in  a  splendid  house 
and  be  surrounded  by  luxuries.  The  condition  of  Italy  after  the 
Social  and  Civil  wars  was  indescribably  wretched.  Samnium  had 
become  almost  a  desert,  and  as  late  as  the  time  of  Strabo  (vi.  p. 
253)  there  was  scarcely  any  town  in  that  country  which  was  not 
in  ruins.    But  worse  things  were  yet  to  come." 

This  disastrous  condition  was  not  confined  to  Italy.  In  some 
respects  the  provinces  had  their  own  peculiar  sufferings.  To  take 
the  case  of  Asia  Minor.  It  had  been  plundered  and  ravaged  by 
successive  generals, — by  Scipio  in  the  war  against  Antiochus 
of  Syria, — by  Manlius  in  his  Galatian  campaign, — by  Pompey 


24 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


in  the  struggle  with  Mithridates.  The  rapacity  of  governors 
and  their  officials  followed  that  of  generals  and  their  armies. 
We  know  that  Cilicia  suffered  under  Dolabella  and  his  agent 
Verres ;  and  Cicero  reveals  to  us  the  oppression  of  his  predecessor 
Appius  in  the  same  province,  contrasted  with  his  own  boasted 
clemency.  Some  portions  of  this  beautiful  and  inexhaustible 
country  revived  under  the  emperors.  But  it  was  only  an  out- 
ward prosperity.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  improvement  in 
the  external  details  of  provincial  government,  we  cannot  believe 
that  governors  were  gentle  and  forbearing  when  Caligula  was  on 
the  throne  and  when  Nero  was  seeking  statues  for  his  Golden 
House.  The  contempt  in  which  the  Greek  provincials  themselves 
were  held  by  the  Eomans  may  be  learnt  from  the  later  correspond- 
ence of  the  emperor  Trajan  with  Pliny,  the  governor  of  Bithynia. 
We  need  not  hesitate  to  take  it  for  granted  that  those  who  were 
sent  from  Eome  to  dispense  justice  at  Ephesus  or  Tarsus  were 
more  frequently  like  Appius  and  Verres  than  Cicero  and  Flaccus, — 
more  like  Pilate  and  Felix  than  Gallio  or  Sergius  Paulus. 

It  would  be  a  delusion  to  imagine  that  when  the  world  was  re- 
duced under  one  sceptre,  any  real  principle  of  unity  held  its 
different  parts  together.  The  emperor  was  deified,  because  men 
were  enslaved.  There  was  no  true  peace  when  Augustus  closed 
the  temple  of  Janus.  The  empire  was  only  the  order  of  external 
government,  with  a  chaos  both  of  opinions  and  morals  within.  The 
writings  of  Tacitus  and  Juvenal  remain  to  attest  the  corruption 
which  festered  in  all  ranks,  alike  in  the  senate  and  the  family. 
The  old  severity  of  manners,  and  the  old  faith  in  the  better  part 
of  the  Roman  religion,  were  gone.  The  licentious  creeds  and 
practices  of  Greece  and  the  East  had  inundated  Italy  and  the 
West ;  and  the  Pantheon  was  only  the  monument  of  a  compromise 
among  a  multitude  of  effete  superstitions.  It  is  true  that  a  re- 
markable religious  toleration  was  produced  by  this  state  of  things; 
and  it  is  probable  that  for  some  short  time  Christianity  itself 
shared  the  advantage  of  it.  But  still,  the  temper  of  the  times  was 
essentially  both  cruel  and  profane ;  and  the  apostles  were  soon 
exposed  to  its  bitter  persecution.  The  Roman  empire  was  destitute 
of  that  unity  which  the  gospel  gives  to  mankind.  It  was  a 
kingdom  of  this  world ;  and  the  human  race  were  groaning  for 
the  better  peace  of  "  a  kingdom  not  of  this  world." 

Thus,  in  the  very  condition  of  the  Roman  empire  and  the  miser- 


GRECIAN  INFLUENCE  IN  ROME. 


26 


able  state  of  its  mixed  population  we  can  recognize  a  negative 
preparation  for  the  gospel  of  Christ.  This  tyranny  and  oppression 
called  for  a  Consoler,  as  much  as  the  moral  sickness  of  the  Greeks 
called  for  a  Healer  ;  a  Messiah  was  needed  by  the  whole  empire  as 
much  as  by  the  Jews,  though  not  looked  for  with  the  same  con- 
scious expectation.  But  we  have  no  difficulty  in  going  much 
farther  than  this,  and  we  cannot  hesitate  to  discover  in  the  cir- 
cumstances of  the  world  at  this  period  significant  traces  of  a 
positive  preparation  for  the  gospel. 

It  should  be  remembered,  in  the  first  place,  that  the  Eomans  had 
already  become  Greek  to  some  considerable  extent  before  they  were 
the  political  masters  of  those  Eastern  countries  where  the  language, 
mythology,  and  literature  of  Greece  had  become  more  or  less 
familiar.  How  early,  how  widely,  and  how  permanently  this 
Greek  influence  prevailed,  and  how  deeply  it  entered  into  the 
mind  of  educated  Romans,  we  know  from  their  surviving  writings 
and  from  the  biography  of  eminent  men.  Cicero,  who  was  gov- 
ernor of  Cilicia  about  half  a  century  before  the  birth  of  Paul, 
speaks  in  strong  terms  of  the  universal  spread  of  the  Greek  tongue 
among  the  instructed  classes ;  and  about  the  time  of  the  apostle's 
martyrdom  Agricola,  the  conqueror  of  Britain,  was  receiving  a 
Greek  education  at  Marseilles.  Is  it  too  much  to  say  that  the 
general  Latin  conquest  was  providentially  delayed  till  the  Eomans 
had  been  sufficiently  imbued  with  the  language  and  ideas  of  their 
predecessors,  and  had  incorporated  many  parts  of  that  civilization 
with  their  own  ? 

And  if  the  mysterious  wisdom  of  the  divine  pre-arrangements  is 
illustrated  by  the  period  of  the  spread  of  the  Greek  language,  it  is 
illustrated  no  less  by  that  of  the  completion  and  maturity  of  the 
Roman  government.  When  all  parts  of  the  civilized  world  were 
bound  together  in  one  empire, — when  one  common  organization 
pervaded  the  whole, — when  channels  of  communication  were 
everywhere  opened, — when  new  facilities  of  travelling  were  pro- 
vided,— ^then  was  "the  fulness  of  times"  (Gal.  iv.  4),  then  the 
Messiah  came.  The  Greek  language  had  already  been  prepared 
as  a  medium  for  preserving  and  transmitting  the  doctrine;  the 
Roman  government  was  now  prepared  to  help  the  progress  even 
of  that  religion  which  it  persecuted.  The  manner  in  which  it 
spread  through  the  provinces  is  well  exemplified  in  the  life  of 
Paul :  his  right  of  citizenship  rescued  him  in  Judaea  and  in  Mace- 


26 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


donia;  he  converted  one  governor  in  Cyprus,  was  protected  by 
another  in  Achaia,  and  was  sent  from  Jerusalem  to  Eome  by  a 
third.  The  time  was  indeed  approaching  when  all  the  compli- 
cated weight  of  the  central  tyranny  and  of  the  provincial  govern- 
ments was  to  fall  on  the  new  and  irresistible  religion.  But  before 
this  took  place  it  had  begun  to  grow  up  in  close  connection  with 
all  departments  of  the  empire.  When  the  supreme  government 
itself  became  Christian,  the  ecclesiastical  polity  was  permanently 
regulated  in  conformity  with  the  actual  constitution  of  the  state. 
Nor  was  the  empire  broken  up  till  the  separate  fragments,  which 
have  become  the  nations  of  modern  Europe,  were  themselves  por- 
tions of  the  Catholic  Church. 

But  in  all  that  we  have  said  of  the  condition  of  the  Eoman 
world  one  important  and  widely-diffused  element  of  its  population 
has  not  been  mentioned.  We  have  lost  sight  for  some  time  of  the 
Jews,  and  we  must  return  to  the  subject  of  their  dispersion,  which 
was  purposely  deferred  till  we  had  shown  how  the  intellectual 
civilization  of  the  Greeks  and  the  organizing  civilization  of  the 
Eomans  had,  through  a  long  series  of  remarkable  events,  been 
brought  in  contact  with  the  religious  civilization  of  the  Hebrews ; 
it  remains  that  we  point  out  that  one  peculiarity  of  the  Jewish 
people  which  made  this  contact  almost  universal  in  every  part  of 
the  empire. 

Their  dispersion  began  early,  though,  early  and  late,  their  attach- 
ment to  Judsea  has  always  been  the  same.  Like  the  Highlanders 
of  Switzerland  and  Scotland,  they  seem  to  have  combined  a  tend- 
ency to  foreign  setlements  with  the  most  passionate  love  of  their 
native  land.  The  first  scattering  of  the  Jews  was  compulsory,  and 
began  with  the  Assyrian  exile,  when,  about  the  time  of  the  building 
of  Eome,  natives  of  Galilee  and  Samaria  were  carried  away  by  the 
Eastern  monarchs ;  and  this  was  followed  by  the  Babylonian  exile, 
when  the  tribes  of  Judah  and  Benjamin  were  removed  at  different 
epochs — when  Daniel  was  brought  to  Babylon  and  Ezekiel  to  the 
river  Chebar.  That  this  earliest  dispersion  was  not  without  influ- 
ential results  may  be  inferred  from  these  facts:  that  about  the 
time  of  the  battles  of  Salamis  and  Marathon  a  Jew  was  the  min- 
ister, another  Jew  the  cupbearer,  and  a  Jewess  the  consort,  of  a 
Persian  monarch.  That  they  enjoyed  many  privileges  in  thia 
foreign  country,  and  that  their  condition  was  not  always  oppress- 
ive, may  be  gathered  from  this — that  when  Cyrus  gave  them  per- 


DISPEESION  OF  THE  JEWS. 


27 


mission  to  return,  the  majority  remained  in  their  new  home  in 
preference  to  their  native  land.  Thus  that  great  Jewish  colony 
began  in  Babylonia  the  existence  of  which  may  be  traced  in 
apostolic  times  (1  Pet.  v.  13),  and  which  retained  its  influence 
long  after  in  the  Talmudical  schools.  These  Hebrew  settlements 
may  be  followed  through  various  parts  of  the  continental  East,  to 
the  borders  of  the  Caspian,  and  even  to  China.  We,  however,  are 
more  concerned  with  the  coasts  and  islands  of  Western  Asia.  Jews 
had  settled  in  Syria  and  Phoenicia  before  the  time  of  Alexander 
the  Great.  But  in  treating  of  this  subject  the  great  stress  is  to  be 
laid  on  the  policy  of  Seleucus,  who  in  founding  Antioch  raised 
them  to  the  same  political  position  with  the  other  citizens.  One 
of  his  successors  on  the  throne,  Antiochus  the  Great,  established 
two  thousand  Jewish  families  in  Lydia  and  Phrygia.  From  hence 
they  would  spread  into  Pamphylia  and  Galatia,  and  along  the 
western  coasts  from  Ephesus  to  Troas.  And  the  ordinary  chan- 
nels of  communication,  in  conjunction  with  that  tendency  to  trade 
which  already  began  to  characterize  this  wonderful  people,  would 
easily  bring  them  to  the  islands,  such  as  the  Cyprus  and  Ehodes. 

Their  oldest  settlement  in  Africa  was  that  which  took  place 
after  the  murder  of  the  Babylonian  governor  of  Judaea,  and  which 
is  connected  with  the  name  of  the  prophet  Jeremiah.  But,  as  in 
the  case  of  Antioch,  our  chief  attention  is  called  to  the  great 
metropolis  of  the  period  of  the  Greek  kings.  The  Jewish  quarter 
of  Alexandria  is  well  known  in  history,  and  the  colony  of  Hel- 
lenistic Jews  in  Lower  Egypt  is  of  greater  importance  than  that 
of  their  Aramaic  brethren  in  Babylonia.  Alexander  himself 
brought  Jews  and  Samaritans  to  his  famous  city;  Ptolemy  Lagus 
brought  many  more;  and  many  betook  themselves  hither  of  their 
free  will,  that  they  might  escape  from  the  incessant  troubles  which 
disturbed  the  peace  of  their  fatherland.  Nor  was  their  influence 
confined  to  Egypt,  but  they  became  known  on  one  side  in  Ethi- 
opia, the  country  of  Queen  Candace,  and  spread  on  the  other  in 
great  numbers  to  the  "  parts  of  Libya  about  Cyrene." 

Under  what  circumstances  the  Jews  made  their  first  appearance 
in  Europe  is  unknown ;  but  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  those 
islands  of  the  Archipelago  which,  as  Humboldt  has  said,  were 
like  a  bridge  for  the  passage  of  civilization,  became  the  means  of 
the  advance  of  Judaism.  The  journey  of  the  proselyte  Lydia  from 
Thyatira  to  Philippi  (Acts  xvi.  14),  and  the  voyage  of  Aquila  and 


28 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Priscilla  from  Corinth  to  Ephesus  (Acts  xviii.  18),  are  only  speci- 
mens of  mercantile  excursions  which  must  have  begun  at  a  far 
earlier  period.  Philo  mentions  Jews  in  Thessaly,  Boeotia,  Mace- 
donia, ^tolia,  and  Attica,  in  Argos  and  Corinth,  in  the  other 
parts  of  Peloponnesus,  and  in  the  islands  of  Euboea  and  Crete; 
and  Luke,  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  speaks  of  them  in  Philippi, 
Thessalonica,  and  Beraea,  in  Athens,  in  Corinth,  and  in  Eome. 
The  first  Jews  came  to  Rome  to  decorate  a  triumph,  but  they 
were  soon  set  free  from  captivity,  and  gave  the  name  to  the 
"Synagogue  of  the  Libertines"  in  Jerusalem.  They  owed  to 
Julius  Caesar  those  privileges  in  the  Western  capital  which  they 
had  obtained  from  Alexander  in  the  Eastern.  They  became  influ- 
ential, and  made  proselytes.  They  spread  into  other  towns  of 
Italy ;  and  in  the  time  of  PauPs  boyhood  we  find  them  in  large 
numbers  in  the  island  of  Sardinia,  just  as  we  have  previously  seen 
them  established  in  that  of  Cyprus.  With  regard  to  Gaul,  we 
know  at  least  that  two  sons  of  Herod  were  banished  about  this 
same  period  to  the  banks  of  the  Ehone ;  and  if  Paul  ever  accom- 
plished that  journey  to  Spain  of  which  he  speaks  in  his  letters, 
it  is  probable  that  he  found  there  some  of  the  scattered  children 
of  his  own  people.  We  do  not  seek  to  pursue  them  farther,  but, 
after  a  few  words  on  the  proselytes,  we  must  return  to  the  earliest 
scenes  of  the  apostle^s  career. 

The  subject  of  the  proselytes  is  sufficiently  important  to  demand 
a  separate  notice.  Under  this  term  we  include  at  present  all  those 
who  were  attracted  in  various  degrees  of  intensity  towards  Juda- 
ism— from  those  who  by  circumcision  had  obtained  full  access  to 
all  the  privileges  of  the  temple-worship,  to  those  who  only  pro- 
fessed a  general  respect  for  the  Mosaic  religion  and  attended  as 
hearers  in  the  synagogues.  Many  proselytes  were  attached  to  the 
Jewish  communities  wherever  they  were  dispersed.  Even  in  their 
own  country  and  its  vicinity  the  number,  both  in  early  and  later 
times,  was  not  inconsiderable.  The  queen  of  Sheba,  in  the  Old 
Testament ;  Candace,  queen  of  Ethiopia,  in  the  New ;  and  King 
Izates,  with  his  mother  Helena,  mentioned  by  Josephus,  are  only 
royal  representatives  of  a  large  class.  During  the  time  of  the 
Maccabees  some  alien  tribes  were  forcibly  incorporated  with  the 
Jews.  This  was  the  case  with  the  Ituraeans,  and  probably  with 
the  Moabites,  and,  above  all,  with  the  Edomites,  with  whose  name 
that  of  the  Herodian  family  is  historically  connected.    How  far 


PROVINCES  OF  CILICIA  AND  JUD^A. 


29 


Judaism  extended  among  the  vague  collection  of  tribes  called 
Arabians  we  can  only  conjecture  from  the  curious  history  of  the 
Homerites,  and  from  the  actions  of  such  chieftains  as  Aretas  (2 
Cor.  xi.  32),  But  as  we  travel  towards  the  West  and  North,  into 
countries  better  known,  we  find  no  lack  of  evidence  of  the  moral 
effect  of  the  synagogues,  with  their  worship  of  Jehovah  and  their 
prophecies  of  the  Messiah.  "Nicolas  of  Antioch"  (Acts  vi.  5)  is 
only  one  of  that  "  vast  multitude  of  Greeks  "  who  were  attracted 
in  that  city  to  the  Jewish  doctrine  and  ritual.  In  Damascus  we 
are  even  told  by  the  same  authority  that  the  great  majority  of  the 
women  were  proselytes — a  fact  which  receives  a  remarkable  illus- 
tration from  what  happened  to  Paul  at  Iconium  (Acts  xiii.  50). 
But  all  further  details  may  be  postponed  till  we  follow  him  into 
the  synagogues,  where  he  so  often  addressed  a  mingled  audience 
of  "  Jews  of  the  dispersion and  "  devout "  strangers. 

This  chapter  may  be  suitably  concluded  by  some  notice  of  the 
provinces  of  Cilicia  and  Judcea.  This  will  serve  as  an  illustration 
of  what  has  been  said  above  concerning  the  state  of  the  Roman 
provinces  generally ;  it  will  exemplify  the  mixture  of  Jews, 
Greeks,  and  Eomans  in  the  east  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  it  will 
be  a  fit  introduction  to  what  must  immediately  succeed.  For 
these  are  the  two  provinces  which  require  our  attention  in  the 
early  life  of  the  apostle  Paul. 

Both  these  provinces  were  once  under  the  sceptre  of  the  line  of 
the  Seleucidse,  or  Greek  kings  of  Syria ;  and  both  of  them,  though 
originally  inhabited  by  a  "barbarous"  population,  received  more 
or  less  of  the  influence  of  Greek  civilization.  If  the  map  is  con- 
sulted, it  will  be  seen  that  Antioch,  the  capital  of  the  Greco-Syrian 
kings,  is  situated  nearly  in  the  angle  where  the  coast-line  of 
Cilicia,  running  eastward,  and  that  of  Judaea,  extended  north- 
ward, are  brought  to  an  abrupt  meeting.  It  will  be  seen  also 
that,  more  or  less  parallel  to  each  of  these  coasts,  there  is  a  line 
of  mountains  not  far  from  the  sea  which  are  brought  into  contact 
with  each  other  in  heavy  and  confused  forms  near  the  same 
angle ;  the  principal  break  in  the  continuity  of  either  of  them 
being  the  valley  of  the  Orontes,  which  passes  by  Antioch.  One 
of  these  mountain-lines  is  the  range  of  Mount  Taurus,  which  is  so 
often  mentioned  as  a  great  geographical  boundary  by  the  writers 
of  Greece  and  Rome;  and  Cilicia  extends  partly  over  Taurus 
itself,  and  partly  between  it  and  the  sea.    The  other  range  is  that 


30  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

of  Lebanon — a  name  made  sacred  by  the  Scriptures  and  poetry  of 
the  Jews ;  and  where  its  towering  eminences  subside  towards  the 
south  into  a  land  of  hills  and  valleys  and  level  plains,  there  is 
Judma,  once  the  country  of  promise  and  possession  to  the  chosen 
people,  but  a  Eoman  province  in  the  time  of  the  apostles. 

Cilicia,  in  the  sense  in  which  the  word  was  used  under  the  early 
Boman  emperors,  comprehended  two  districts  of  nearly  equal 
extent,  but  of  very  different  character.  The  western  portion,  or 
Bough  Cilicia  as  it  was  called,  was  a  collection  of  the  branches  of 
Mount  Taurus,  which  come  down  in  large  masses  to  the  sea  and 
form  that  projection  of  the  coast  which  divides  the  bay  of  Issus 
from  that  of  Pamphylia.  The  inhabitants  of  the  whole  of  this 
district  were  notorious  for  their  robberies,  the  northern  portion, 
under  the  name  of  Isauria,  providing  innumerable  strongholds  for 
marauders  by  land,  and  the  southern,  with  its  excellent  timber, 
its  cliffs,  and  small  harbors,  being  a  natural  home  for  pirates.  The 
Isaurians  maintained  their  independence  with  such  determined 
obstinacy  that  in  a  later  period  of  the  empire  the  Eomans  were 
willing  to  resign  all  appearance  of  subduing  them,  and  were  con- 
tent to  surround  them  with  a  cordon  of  forts.  The  natives  of  the 
coast  of  Eough  Cilicia  began  to  extend  their  piracies  as  the 
strength  of  the  kings  of  Syria  and  Egypt  declined.  They  found 
in  the  progress  of  the  Eoman  power,  for  some  time,  an  encourage- 
ment rather  than  a  hinderance;  for  they  were  actively  engaged  in 
an  extensive  and  abominable  slave-trade,  of  which  the  island  of 
Delos  was  the  great  market ;  and  the  opulent  families  of  Eome 
were  in  need  of  slaves,  and  were  not  more  scrupulous  than  some 
Christian  nations  of  modern  times  about  the  means  of  obtaining 
them.  But  the  expeditions  of  these  buccaneers  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean became  at  last  quite  intolerable;  their  fleets  seemed  innu- 
merable ;  their  connections  were  extended  far  beyond  their  own 
coasts ;  all  commerce  was  paralyzed ;  and  they  began  to  arouse  that 
attention  at  Eome  which  the  more  distant  pirates  of  the  Eastern 
Archipelago  are  beginning  to  excite  in  England.  A  vast  expedi- 
tion was  fitted  out  under  the  command  of  Pompey  the  Great; 
thousands  of  piratical  vessels  were  burnt  on  the  coast  of  Cilicia  and 
the  inhabitants  dispersed.  A  perpetual  service  was  thus  done  to 
the  cause  of  civilization,  and  the  Mediterranean  was  made  safe  for 
the  voyages  of  merchants  and  apostles.  The  town  of  Soli,  on  the 
borders  of  the  two  divisions  of  Cilicia,  received  the  name  of 


THE  CITY  OF  TARSUS. 


31 


Pompeiopolis,  in  honor  of  the  great  conqueror,  and  the  splendid 
remains  of  a  colonnade  which  led  from  the  harbor  to  the  city  may 
be  considered  a  monument  of  this  signal  destruction  of  the 
enemies  of  order  and  peace. 

The  Eastern,  or  Flat  Cilicia,  was  a  rich  and  extensive  plain. 
Its  prolific  vegetation  is  praised  both  by  the  earlier  and  later 
classical  writers,  and  even  under  the  neglectful  government  of  the 
Turks  is  still  noticed  by  modern  travellers.  From  this  circum- 
stance, and  still  more  from  its  peculiar  physical  configuration,  it 
was  a  possession  of  great  political  importance.  Walled  off  from 
the  neighboring  countries  by  a  high  barrier  of  mountains,  which 
sw^ecp  irregularly  round  it  from  Pompeiopolis  and  Eough  Cilicia 
to  the  Syrian  coast  on  the  north  of  Antioch, — with  one  pass 
leading  up  into  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor,  and  another  giving 
access  to  the  valley  of  the  Orontes, — it  w^as  naturally  the  high-road 
both  of  trading  caravans  and  of  military  expeditions.  Through 
this  country  Cyrus  marched  to  depose  his  brother  from  the  Persian 
throne.  It  was  here  that  the  decisive  victory  was  obtained  by 
Alexander  over  Darius.  This  plain  has  since  seen  the  hosts  of 
Western  Crusaders,  and  in  our  own  day  has  been  the  field  of 
operations  of  hostile  Mohammedan  armies,  Turkish  and  Egyptian. 
The  Greek  kings  of  Egypt  endeavored  long  ago  to  tear  it  from 
the  Greek  kings  of  Syria.  The  Romans  left  it  at  first  in  the  pos- 
session of  Antiochus,  but  the  line  of  Mount  Taurus  could  not 
permanently  arrest  them ;  and  the  letters  of  Cicero  are  among  the 
earliest  and  most  interesting  monuments  of  Roman  Cilicia. 

Situated  near  the  western  border  of  the  Cilician  plain,  where 
the  river  Cydnus  flows  in  a  cold  and  rapid  stream  from  the  snows 
of  Taurus  to  the  sea,  was  the  city  of  Tarsus,  the  capital  of  the 
whole  province,  and  **no  mean  city''  (Acts  xxi.  39)  in  the  history 
of  the  ancient  world.  Its  coins  reveal  to  us  its  greatness  through 
a  long  series  of  years — alike  in  the  period  which  intervened 
between  Xerxes  and  Alexander,  and  under  the  Roman  sway, 
when  it  exulted  in  the  name  of  Metropolis,  and  long  after  Hadrian 
had  rebuilt  it  and  issued  his  new  coinage  with  the  old  mythologi- 
cal types.  In  the  intermediate  period,  which  is  that  of  Paul,  we 
have  the  testimony  of  a  native  of  this  part  of  Asia  Minor,  from 
which  we  may  infer  that  Tarsus  was  in  the  eastern  basin  of  the 
Mediterranean  almost  what  Marseilles  w^as  in  the  western.  Strabo 
says  that  in  all  that  relates  to  philosophy  and  general  education 


32 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


it  was  even  more  illustrious  than  Athens  and  Alexandria.  From 
bis  description  it  is  evident  that  its  main  character  was  that  of  a 
Greek  city,  where  the  Greek  language  was  spoken  and  Greek 
literature  studiously  cultivated.  But  we  should  be  wrong  in  sup- 
posing that  the  general  population  of  the  province  was  of  Greek 
origin  or  spoke  the  Greek  tongue.  When  Cyrus  came  with  hid 
army  from  the  western  coast,  and  still  later,  when  Alexander 
penetrated  into  Cilicia,  they  found  the  inhabitants  ^'barbarians." 
jSTor  is  it  likely  that  the  old  race  would  be  destroyed  or  the  old 
language  obliterated,  especially  in  the  mountain-districts,  during 
the  reign  of  the  Seleucid  kings.  We  must  rather  conceive  of 
Tarsus  as  like  Brest  in  Brittany,  or  like  Toulon  in  Provence, 
a  city  where  the  language  of  refinement  is  spoken  and  written  in 
the  midst  of  a  ruder  population,  who  use  a  different  language  and 
possess  no  literature  of  their  own. 

If  we  turn  now  to  consider  the  position  of  this  province  and 
city  under  the  Eomans,  we  are  led  to  notice  two  different  systems 
of  policy  which  they  adopted  in  their  subject  dominions.  The 
purpose  of  Rome  was  to  make  the  world  subservient  to  herself ;  but 
this  might  be  accomplished  directly  or  indirectly.  A  governor  might 
be  sent  from  Rome  to  take  the  absolute  command  of  a  province,  or 
some  native  chief  might  have  a  kingdom,  an  ethnarchy,  or  a  tetrar- 
chy  assigned  to  him,  in  which  he  was  nominally  independent,  but 
really  subservient,  and  often  tributary.  Some  provipces  were  rich 
and  productive,  or  essentially  important  in  the  military  sense,  and 
these  were  committed  to  Romans  under  the  senate  or  the  emperor. 
Others  might  be  worthless  or  troublesome,  and  fit  only  to  reward 
the  services  of  a  useful  instrument  or  to  occupy  the  energies  of  a 
dangerous  ally.  Both  of  these  systems  were  adopted  in  the  East 
and  in  the  West.  We  have  examples  of  both  in  Spain  and  in 
Gaul  —  in  Cilicia  and  in  Judsea.  In  Asia  Minor  they  were  so 
irregularly  combined,  and  the  territories  of  the  independent 
sovereigns  were  so  capriciously  granted  or  removed,  extended  or 
curtailed,  that  it  is  often  difficult  to  ascertain  what  the  actual 
boundaries  of  the  provinces  Avere  at  a  given  epoch.  Not  to  enter 
into  any  minute  history  in  the  case  of  Cilicia,  it  will  be  enough  to 
say,  that  its  rich  and  level  plain  in  the  east  was  made  a  Roman 
province  by  Pompey,  and  so  remained,  while  certain  districts  in 
the  western  portion  were  assigned  at  different  periods  to  various  na- 
tive chieftains.    Thus  the  territories  of  Amyntas,  king  of  Galatia. 


CICERO  IN  CILICIA. 


33 


were  extended  in  this  direction  by  Antony  when  he  was  preparing 
for  his  great  struggle  with  Augustus— just  as  a  modern  rajah  may 
be  strengthened  on  the  banks  of  the  Indus  in  connection  with  our 
wars  against  Scinde  and  the  Sikhs.  For  some  time  the  whole  of 
Cilicia  was  a  consolidated  province  under  the  first  emperors ;  but 
again,  in  the  reign  of  Claudius,  we  find  a  portion  of  the  same 
western  district  assigned  to  a  king  called  Polemo  II.  It  is  need- 
less to  pursue  the  history  further.  In  Paul's  early  life  the  political 
state  of  the  inhabitants  of  Cilicia  would  be  that  of  subjects  of  a 
Roman  governor,  and  Roman  officials,  if  not  Roman  soldiers, 
would  be  a  familiar  sight  to  the  Jews  who  were  settled  in  larsus. 

We  shall  have  many  opportunities  of  describing  the  condition 
of  provinces  under  the  dominion  of  Rome,  but  it  may  be  interesting 
here  to  allude  to  the  information  which  may  be  gathered  from 
the  writings  of  that  distinguished  man  who  was  governor  of  Cilicia 
a  few  years  after  its  first  reduction  by  Pompey.  He  was  entrusted 
with  the  civil  and  military  superintendence  of  a  large  district  in 
this  corner  of  the  Mediterranean,  comprehending  not  only  Cilicia, 
but  Pamphylia,  Pisidia,  Lycaonia,  and  the  island  of  Cyprus ; 
and  he  has  left  a  record  of  all  the  details  of  his  policy  in  a  long 
series  of  letters,  which  are  a  curious  monument  of  the  Roman 
procedure  in  the  management  of  conquered  provinces,  and  which 
possess  a  double  interest  to  us  from  their  frequent  allusions  to  the 
same  places  which  Paul  refers  to  in  his  Epistles.  This  correspond- 
ence represents  to  us  the  governor  as  surrounded  by  the  adulation 
of  obsequious  Asiatic  Greeks.  He  travels  with  an  interpreter,  for 
Latin  is  the  official  language  ;  he  puts  down  banditti,  and  is  saluted 
by  the  title  of  imperator;  letters  are  written  on  various  subjects 
to  the  governors  of  various  provinces — for  instance,  Syria,  Asia, 
and  Bithynia;  ceremonious  communications  take  place  with  the 
independent  chieftains.  The  friendly  relations  of  Cicero  with 
Deiotarus,  king  of  Galatia,  and  his  son,  remind  us  of  the  interview 
of  Pilate  and  Herod  in  the  Gospel,  or  of  Festus  and  Agrippa  in  the 
Acts.  Cicero's  letters  are  rather  too  full  of  a  boastful  commenda- 
tion of  his  own  intregity ;  but  from  what  he  says  that  he  did  we 
may  infer  by  contrast  what  was  done  by  others  who  were  less  scru- 
pulous in  the  discharge  of  the  same  responsibilities.  He  allowed 
free  access  to  his  person ;  he  refused  expensive  monuments  in  his 
honor ;  he  declined  the  proffered  present  of  the  pauper  king  of 
Cappadocia ;  he  abstained  from  exacting  the  customary  expenses 


34  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


from  the  states  wliicli  he  traversed  on  his  march ;  he  remitted  to 
the  treasury  the  moneys  which  were  not  expended  on  his  province ; 
he  would  not  place  in  official  situations  those  who  were  engaged  in 
trade ;  he  treated  the  local  Greek  magistrates  with  due  considera- 
tion, and  contrived  at  the  same  time  to  give  satisfaction  to  the 
publicans.  From  all  this  it  may  be  easily  inferred  with  how  much 
corruption,  cruelty,  and  pride  the  Romans  usually  governed,  and 
how  miserable  must  have  been  the  condition  of  a  province  under 
a  Verres  or  an  Appius,  a  Pilate  or  a  Felix.  So  far  as  we  remember, 
the  Jews  are  not  mentioned  in  any  of  Cicero's  Cilician  letters ; 
but  if  we  may  draw  conclusions  from  a  speech  which  he  made  at 
Rome  in  defence  of  a  contemporary  governor  of  Asia,  he  regarded 
them  with  much  contempt,  and  would  be  likely  to  treat  them  with 
harshness  and  injustice. 

That  Polemo  II.  who  has  lately  been  mentioned  as  a  king  in 
Cilicia  was  one  of  those  curious  links  which  the  history  of  those 
times  exhibits  between  heathenism,  Judaism,  and  Christianity. 
He  became  a  Jew  to  marry  Berenice,  who  afterward  forsook  him, 
and  whose  name,  after  once  appearing  in  sacred  history  (Acts  xxv., 
xxvi.),  is  lastly  associated  with  that  of  Titus,  the  destroyer  of  Jeru- 
salem. The  name  of  Berenice  will  at  once  suggest  the  family  of 
the  Herods  and  transport  our  thoughts  to  Judaea. 

The  same  general  features  may  be  traced  in  this  province  as  in 
that  which  we  have  been  attempting  to  describe.  In  some  respects, 
indeed,  the  details  of  its  history  are  different.  When  Cilicia  was 
a  province  it  formed  a  separate  jurisdiction,  with  a  governor  of 
its  own  immediately  responsible  to  Rome;  but  Judsea,  in  its  pro- 
vincial period,  was  only  an  appendage  to  Syria.  It  has  been  said 
that  the  position  of  the  ruler  resident  at  Csesarea  in  connection 
with  the  supreme  authority  at  Antioch  may  be  best  understood  by 
comparing  it  with  that  of  the  governor  of  Madras  or  Bombay 
under  the  governor-general  who  resides  at  Calcutta.  The  com- 
parison is  very  just;  and  British  India  might  supply  a  further 
parallel.  We  might  say  that  when  Judsea  was  not  strictly  a  prov- 
ince, but  a  monarchy  under  the  protectorate  of  Rome,  it  bore  the 
same  relation  to  the  contiguous  province  of  Syria  which  the  terri- 
tories of  the  king  of  Oude  bear  to  the  presidency  of  Bengal. 
JudiDa  was  twice  a  monarchy,  and  thus  its  history  furnishes  illus- 
trations of  the  two  systems  pursued  by  the  Romans,  of  direct  and 
indirect  government. 


POLITICAL  CHANGES  IN  JUD^A. 


85 


Another  important  contrast  must  be  noticed  in  the  histories  of 
these  two  provinces.  In  the  Greek  period  of  Judaea  there  was  a 
time  of  noble  and  vigorous  independence.  Antiochus  Epiphanes, 
the  eighth  of  the  line  of  the  Seleucidse,  in  pursuance  of  a  general 
system  of  policy  by  which  he  sought  to  unite  all  his  different 
territories  through  the  Greek  religion,  endeavored  to  introduce  the 
w^orship  of  Jupiter  into  Jerusalem.  Such  an  attempt  might  have 
been  very  successful  in  Syria  or  Cilicia ;  but  in  Judaea  it  kindled  a 
flame  of  religious  indignation  which  did  not  cease  to  burn  till  the 
yoke  of  the  Seleucidse  was  entirely  thrown  off;  the  name  of  An- 
tiochus Epiphanes  was  ever  afterward  held  in  abhorrence  by  the 
Jews,  and  a  special  fast  was  kept  up  in  memory  of  the  time  when 
the  "abomination  of  desolation"  stood  in  the  holy  place.  The 
champions  of  the  independence  of  the  Jewish  nation  and  the 
purity  of  the  Jewish  religion  were  the  family  of  the  Maccabees  or 
Asmonseans ;  and  a  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Christ  the 
first  Hyrcanus  was  reigning  over  a  prosperous  and  independent 
kingdom.  But  in  the  time  of  the  second  Hyrcanus.  and  his 
brother  the  family  of  the  Maccabees  was  not  what  it  had  been, 
and  Judaea  was  ripening  for  the  dominion  of  Eome.  Pompey  the 
Great,  the  same  conqueror  who  had  already  subjected  Cilicia, 
appeared  in  Damascus,  and  there  judged  the  cause  of  the  two 
brothers.  All  the  country  was  full  of  his  fame.  In  the  spring  of 
the  year  63  he  came  down  by  the  valley  of  the  Jordan,  his  Roman 
soldiers  occupied  the  ford  where  Joshua  had  crossed  over,  and 
from  the  Mount  of  Olives  he  looked  down  upon  Jerusalem.  From 
that  day  Judaea  was  virtually  under  the  government  of  Eome.  It 
is  true  that  after  a  brief  support  given  to  the  reigning  family  a 
new  native  dynasty  was  raised  to  the  throne.  Antipater,  a  man  of 
Idumaean  birth,  had  been  minister  of  the  Maccabaean  kings ;  but 
they  were  the  Eois  Faineants  of  Palestine,  and  he  was  the  Maire 
du  Palais,  In  the  midst  of  the  confusion  of  the  great  civil  wars 
the  Herodian  family  succeeded  to  the  Asmonaean,  as  the  Carlo- 
vingian  line  in  France  succeeded  that  of  Clovis.  As  Pepin  was 
followed  by  Charlemagne,  so  Antipater  prepared  a  crown  for  his 
son  Herod. 

At  first  Herod  the  Great  espoused  the  cause  of  Antony,  but  he 
contrived  to  remedy  his  mistake  by  paying  a  prompt  visit  after  the 
battle  of  Actium  to  Augustus  in  the  island  of  Rhodes.  This  sin- 
gular interview  of  the  Jewish  prince  with  the  Roman  conqueror  in 


86 


LIFE  AND  EP1STJ.es  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


a  Greek  island  was  the  beginning  of  an  important  period  for  the 
Hebrew  nation.  An  exotic  civilization  was  systematically  intro- 
duced and  extended.  Those  Greek  influences  which  had  been 
begun  under  the  Seleucidse,  and  not  discontinued  under  the 
Asmonseans,  were  now^  more  widely  diffused ;  and  the  Eoman 
customs,  which  had  hitherto  been  comparatively  unknown,  were 
flow  made  familiar.  Herod  was  indeed  too  wise,  and  knew  the 
Jews  too  well,  to  attempt,  like  Antiochus,  to  introduce  foreign 
institutions  without  any  regard  to  their  religious  feelings.  He 
endeavored  to  ingratiate  himself  with  them  by  rebuilding  and 
decorating  their  national  temple ;  and  a  part  of  that  magnificient 
bridge  which  was  connected  with  the  great  southern  colonnade  is 
still  believed  to  exist — remaining,  in  its  vast  proportions  and 
Roman  form,  an  appropriate  monument  of  the  Herodian  period 
of  Judaea.  The  period  when  Herod  was  reigning  at  Jerusalem 
under  the  protectorate  of  Augustus  was  chiefly  remarkable  for 
great  architectural  works,  for  the  promotion  of  commerce,  the 
influx  of  strangers,  and  the  increased  diffusion  of  the  two  great 
.languages  of  the  heathen  world.  The  names  of  places  are  them- 
selves a  monument  of  the  spirit  of  the  times.  As  Tarsus  was 
called  Juliopolis  from  Julius  Csesar,  and  Soli,  Pompeiopolis  from 
his  great  rival,  so  Samaria  was  called  Sebaste  after  the  Greek 
name  of  Augustus,  and  the  new  metropolis  which  was  built  by 
Herod  on  the  sea-shore  was  called  Csesarea  in  honor  of  the  same 
Latin  emperor;  while  Antipatris,  on  the  road  (Acts  xxiii.  81) 
between  the  old  capital  and  the  new,  still  commemorated  tlie 
name  of  the  king's  Idumaean  father.  We  must  not  suppose  that 
the  internal  change  in  the  minds  of  the  people  was  proportional 
to  the  magnitude  of  these  outward  improvements.  They  suffered 
much,  and  their  hatred  grew  towards  Rome  and  towards  the 
Herods.  A  parallel  might  be  drawn  between  the  state  of  Jud[ea 
under  Herod  the  Great  and  that  of  Egypt  under  Mahomet  Ali, 
where  great  works  have  been  successfully  accomplished,  where  the 
spread  of  ideas  has  been  promoted,  traffic  made  busy  and  pros- 
perous, aT)d  communication  with  the  civilised  world  wonderfully 
increased,  but  where  the  mass  of  the  people  has  coutinvied  tQ  l>e 
jniserable  and  degraded, 

After  HerpcJ's  (Jeatji  the  same  influences  still  continued  to 
operate  in  Judaea.  Archelaus  persevered  in  bis  father's  policy, 
though  destitute  of  his  father's  energy.    The  same  inay  be  said  of 


ROMAN  GOVERNORS. 


37 


the  other  sons,  Antipas  and  Philip,  in  their  contiguous  principali- 
ties. All  the  Herods  were  great  builders  and  eager  partisans  of 
the  Roman  emperors ;  and  we  are  familiar  in  the  Gospels  with 
that  Ccesarea  (Csesarea  Philippi)  which  one  of  them  built  in  the 
upper  part  of  the  valley  of  the  Jordan  and  named  in  honor  jf 
Augustus,  and  with  that  Tiberias  on  the  banks  of  the  Lake  of 
Gennesareth  which  bore  the  nam^e  of  his  wicked  successor.  But 
while  Antipas  and  Philip  still  retained  their  dominions  under  the 
protectorate  of  the  emperor,  Archelaus  had  been  banished,  and 
the  weight  of  the  Roman  power  had  descended  still  more  heavily 
on  Judaea.  It  was  placed  under  the  direct  jurisdiction  of  a  gov- 
ernor residing  at  Csesarea  by  the  Sea,  and  depending,  as  we  have 
seen  above,  on  the  governor  of  Syria  at  Antioch.  And  now  we 
are  made  familiar  with  those  features  which  might  be  adduced  as 
characterizing  any  other  province  of  the  same  epoch, — the  prteto- 
rium  (John  xviii.  28), — the  publicans  (Luke  iii.  12  ;  xix.  2), — the 
tribute-money  (Matt.  xxii.  19), — soldiers  and  centurions  recruited 
in  Italy  (Acts  x.  1), — Caesar  the  only  king  (John  xix.  15), — and 
the  ultimate  appeal  against  the  injustice  of  the  governor  (Acts 
XXV.  11).  In  this  period  the  ministry,  death,  and  resurrection  of 
Jesus  Christ  took  place,  the  first  preaching  of  his  apostles,  and 
the  conversion  of  Paul.  But  once  more  a  change  came  over  the 
political  fortunes  of  Judsea.  Herod  Agrippa  was  the  friend  of 
Caligula,  as  Herod  the  Great  had  been  the  friend  of  Augustus, 
and  when  Tiberius  died  he  received  the  grant  of  an  independent 
principality  in  the  north  of  Palestine.  He  was  able  to  ingratiate 
himself  with  Claudius,  the  succeeding  emperor.  Judaea  was 
added  to  his  dominion,  which  now  embraced  the  whole  circle  of 
the  territory  ruled  by  his  grandfather.  By  this  time  Paul  was 
actively  pursuing  his  apostolic  career.  We  need  not,  therefore, 
advance  beyond  this  point  in  a  chapter  which  is  only  intended  to 
be  a  general  introduction  to  the  apostle's  history. 

Our  desire  has  been  to  give  a  picture  of  the  condition  of  thp 
world  at  this  particular  epoch,  and  we  have  thought  that  no  groiip* 
ing  would  be  so  successful  as  that  which  should  consist  of  Jew3, 
Greeks,  and  Romans.  Nor  is  this  an  artificial  or  unnatural  ar- 
rangement, for  these  three  nations  were  the  divisions  of  the  civilized 
world.  And  in  the  view  of  a  religious  mind  they  were  more  than 
this.  They  were  ^'the  three  peoples  of  God's  election — two  for 
things  temporal,  and  one  for  things  eternal.   Yet  even  in  the  things 


38  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


eternal  they  were  allowed  to  minister.  Greek  cultivation  and 
Roman  polity  prepared  men  for  Christianity."  These  three  peoples 
stand  in  the  closest  relation  to  the  whole  human  race.  The  Chris- 
tian, when  he  imagines  himself  among  those  spectators  who  stood 
round  the  cross,  and  gazes  in  spirit  upon  that  "superscription^^ 
which  the  Jewish  scribe,  the  Greek  proselyte,  and  the  Eom.an 
soldier  could  read,  each  in  his  own  tongue,  feels  that  he  is  among 
those  who  are  the  representatives  of  all  humanity.  In  the  agea 
"which  precede  the  crucifixion  these  three  languages  were  like 
threads  which  guided  us  through  the  labyrinth  of  history.  And 
they  are  still  among  the  best  guides  of  our  thought  as  we  travel 
through  the  ages  which  succeed  it.  How  great  has  been  the  honor 
of  the  Greek  and  Latin  tongues !  They  followed  the  fortunes  of  a 
triumphant  Church.  Instead  of  heathen  languages,  they  gradually 
became  Christian.  As  before  they  had  been  employed  to  express 
the  best  thoughts  of  unassisted  humanity,  so  afterward  they  became 
the  exponents  of  Christian  doctrine  and  the  channels  of  Christian 
devotion.  The  words  of  Plato  and  Cicero  fell  from  the  lips 
and  pen  of  Chrysostom  and  Augustine.  And  still  those  two  lan- 
guages are  associated  together  in  the  work  of  Christian  education, 
and  made  the  instruments  for  training  the  minds  of  the  young  in 
the  greatest  nations  of  the  earth.  And  how  deep  and  pathetic  is 
the  interest  which  attaches  to  the  Hebrew  !  Here  the  thread  seems 
to  be  broken.  "  Jesus,  King  of  the  Jews,"  in  Hebrew  characters ! 
It  is  like  tlie  last  word  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures — the  last  warning 
of  the  chosen  people.  A  cloud  henceforth  is  upon  the  people  and 
the  language  of  Israel.  "  Blindness  in  part  is  happened  unto  Israel 
till  the  fulness  of  the  Gentiles  be  come  in."  Once  again  Jesus, 
after  his  ascension,  spake  openly  from  heaven  "in  the  Hebrew 
tongue"  (Acts  xxvi.  14),  but  the  words  were  addressed  to  that 
apostle  who  was  called  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  philosophers  of 
Greece  and  in  the  emperor's  palace  at  Rome. 


CHAPTER  II. 


j:ewish  origin  of  the  chukch.— sects  and  parties  of  the 
jews. — pharisees  and  sadducees. — paul  a  pharisee. — 
hellenists  and  aramieans.— paul's  family  hellenistic, 
but  not  hellenizing.  —  his  infancy  at  tarsus.  —  the 
tribe  of  benjamin. — his  father's  citizenship.— scenery 
of  the  place. — his  childhood. — he  is  sent  to  jerusa- 
lem.—  state  of  jud^a  and  jerusalem.  —  rabbinical 
schools. — gamaliel.— mode  of  teaching. — synagogues. — 
student-life  of  paul. — his  early  manhood. — first  as- 
pect of  the  church. — stephen. — the  sanhedrin. — ste- 
phen the  forerunner  of  paul.  —  his  martyrdom  and 

PRAYER. 

Christianity  has  been  represented  by  some  of  the  modern 
Jews  as  a  mere  school  of  Judaism.  Instead  of  opposing  it  as  a 
system  antagonistic  and  subversive  of  the  Mosaic  religion,  they 
speak  of  it  as  a  phase  or  development  of  that  religion  itself— as 
simply  one  of  the  rich  outgrowths  from  the  fertile  Jewish  soil. 
They  point  out  the  causes  which  combined  in  the  first  century  to 
produce  this  Christian  development  of  Judaism.  It  has  even  been 
hinted  that  Christianity  has  done  a  good  work  in  preparing  the 
world  for  receiving  the  pure  Mosaic  principles  which  will  at  length 
be  universal.  We  are  not  unwilling  to  accept  some  of  these  phrases 
as  expressing  a  great  and  im^^ortant  truth.  Christianity  is  a  school 
of  Judaism,  but  it  is  the  school  which  absorbs  and  interprets  the 
teaching  of  all  others.  It  is  a  development,  but  it  is  that  devel- 
opment which  was  divinely  foreknown  and  predetermined.  It  is 
the  grain  of  which  mere  Judaism  is  now  the  worthless  husk.  It 
is  the  image  of  truth  in  its  full  proportions,  and  the  Jewish 
remnants  are  now  as  the  shapeless  fragments  which  remain  of  the 
block  of  marble  when  the  statue  is  completed.  When  we  look 
back  at  the  apostolic  age  we  see  that  growth  proceeding  which 

39 


40 


IJFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


separated  the  husk  from  the  grain.  We  see  the  image  of  truth 
coming  out  in  clear  expressiveness,  and  the  useless  fragments  fall- 
ing off  like  scales  under  the  careful  work  of  divinely-guided  hands. 
If  we  are  to  realize  the  earliest  appearance  of  the  Church,  such  as 
it  was  when  Paul  first  saw  it,  we  must  view  it  as  arising  in  the 
midst  of  Judaism ;  and  if  we  are  to  comprehend  all  the  feelings 
and  principles  of  this  apostle,  we  must  consider  first  the  Jewish 
preparation  of  his  own  younger  days.  To  these  two  subjects  the 
present  chapter  will  be  devoted. 

We  are  very  familiar  with  one  division  which  ran  through  the 
Jewish  nation  of  the  first  century.  The  Sadducees  and  Pharisees 
are  frequently  mentioned  in  the  New  Testament,  and  we  are  there 
informed  of  the  tenets  of  these  two  prevailing  parties.  The  belief 
in  a  future  state  may  be  said  to  have  been  an  open  question  among 
the  Jews  when  our  Lord  appeared  and  "  brought  life  and  immor- 
tality to  light.''  We  find  the  Sadducees  established  in  the  highest 
office  of  the  priesthood,  and  possessed  of  the  greatest  powers  in  the 
Sanhedrin,  and  yet  they  did  not  believe  in  any  future  state  nor  in 
any  spiritual  existence  independent  of  the  body.  The  Sadducees 
said  that  there  was  no  resurrection,  neither  angel  nor  spirit." 
They  do  not  appear  to  have  held  doctrines  which  are  com.monly 
called  licentious  or  immoral.  On  the  contrary,  they  adhered 
strictly  to  the  moral  tenets  of  the  Law  as  opposed  to  its  mere 
formal  technicalities.  They  did  not  overload  the  sacred  books 
with  traditions,  or  encumber  the  duties  of  life  with  a  multitude 
of  minute  observances.  They  were  the  disciples  of  reason  without 
enthusiasm, — they  made  few  proselytes, — their  numbers  were  not 
great,  and  they  were  confined  principally  to  the  richer  members  of 
the  nation.  The  Pharisees,  on  the  other  hand,  were  the  enthusiasts 
of  the  later  Judaism.  They  compassed  sea  and  land  to  make  one 
proselyte."  Their  power  and  influence  with  the  mass  of  the  people 
were  immense.  The  loss  of  the  national  independence  of  the  Jews, 
— the  gradual  extinction  of  their  political  life,  directly  by  the  Ko- 
mans,  and  indirectly  by  the  family  of  Herod, — caused  their  feel* 
ings  to  rally  round  the  Law  and  their  religion  as  the  only  centre  of 
unity  which  now  remained  to  them.  Those,  therefore,  who  gave 
their  energies  to  the  interpretation  and  exposition  of  the  Law,  not 
curtailing  any  of  the  doctrines  which  were  virtually  contahied  in 
it,  and  which  had  been  revealed  with  more  or  less  clearness,  but 
rather  accumulating  articles  of  faith  and  multiplying  the  require- 


PAUL  A  STRICT  PHARISEE. 


41 


ments  of  devotion, — who  themselves  practised  a  severe  and  osten- 
tatious religion,  being  liberal  in  almsgiving,  fasting  frequently, 
making  long  prayers,  and  carrying  casuistical  distinctions  into  the 
smallest  details  of  conduct, — who  consecrated,  moreover,  their  best 
zeal  and  exertions  to  the  spread  of  the  fame  of  Judaism  and  to  the 
increase  of  the  nation's  power  in  the  only  way  which  now  was 
practicable, — could  not  fail  to  command  the  reverence  of  great 
numbers  of  the  people.  It  was  no  longer  possible  to  fortify  Jeru- 
salem against  the  heathen,  but  the  Law  could  be  fortified  like  an 
impregnable  city.  The  place  of  the  brave  is  on  the  walls  and  in 
the  front  of  the  battle,  and  the  hopes  of  the  nation  rested  on  those 
who  defended  the  sacred  outworks  and  made  successful  inroads  on 
the  territories  of  the  Gentiles. 

Such  were  the  Pharisees.  And  now,  before  proceeding  to  other 
features  of  Judaism  and  their  relation  to  the  Church,  we  can 
hardly  help  glancing  art  Paul.  He  was  "a  Pharisee,  the  son  of  a 
Pharisee,'^  and  he  was  educated  by  Gamaliel,  "  a  Pharisee.''  Both 
his  father  and  his  teacher  belonged  to  this  sect.  And  on  three 
distinct  occasions  he  tells  us  that  he  himself  was  a  member  of  it. 
Once,  when  at  his  trial  before  a  mixed  assembly  of  Pharisees  and 
Sadducees,  the  words  just  quoted  were  spoken,  and  his  connection 
with  the  Pharisees  asserted  with  such  effect  that  the  feelings  of 
this  popular  party  were  immediately  enlisted  on  his  side :  And 
when  he  had  so  said,  there  arose  a  dissension  between  the  Pharisees 
and  the  Sadducees;  and  the  multitude  was  divided.  .  .  .  And 
there  arose  a  great  cry ;  and  the  Scribes  that  were  of  the  Pharisees' 
part  arose,  and  strove,  saying,  We  find  no  evil  in  this  man."  The 
second  time  was  when,  on  a  calmer  occasion,  he  was  pleading 
before  Agrippa,  and  said  to  the  king  in  the  presence  of  Festus, 
"The  Jews  knew  me  from  the  beginning,  if  they  would  testify, 
that  after  the  most  straitest  sect  of  our  religion  I  lived  a  Pharisee." 
And  once  more,  when  writing  from  Kome  to  the  Philippians,  he 
gives  force  to  his  argument  against  the  Judaizers  by  telling  them 
that  if  any  other  man  thought  he  had  whereof  he  might  trust  in 
the  flesh,  he  had  more — "  circumcised  the  eighth  day,  of  the  stock 
of  Israel,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews;  as 
touching  the  Law  a  Pharisee."  And  not  only  was  he  himself  a 
Pharisee,  but  his  father  also.  He  was  ''a  Pharisee,  the  son  of  a 
Pharisee."  This  short  sentence  sums  up  nearly  all  we  know  of 
Paul's  parents.    If  we  think  of  his  earliest  life,  we  are  to  conceive 


42  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

of  him  as  born  in  a  Pharisaic  family,  and  as  brought  up  from  his 
infancy  in  the  ''straitest  sect  of  the  Jews'  religion."  His  child- 
hood was  nurtured  in  the  strictest  belief.  The  stories  of  the  Old 
Testament — the  angelic  appearances,  the  prophetic  visions — to 
him  were  literally  true.  They  needed  no  Sadducean  explanation. 
The  world  of  spirits  was  a  reality  to  him.  The  resurrection  of  the 
dead  was  an  article  of  his  faith.  And  to  exhort  him  to  the  prac- 
tice of  religion  he  had  before  him  the  example  of  his  father, 
praying  and  walking  with  broad  phylacteries,  scrupulous  and  exact 
in  his  legal  observances.  And  he  had,  moreover,  as  it  seems,  the 
memory  and  tradition  of  ancestral  piety,  for  he  tells  us  in  one  of 
his  latest  letters  (2  Tim.  i.  8)  that  he  served  God  *^from  his  fore- 
fathers." All  influences  combined  to  make  him  "  more  exceedingly 
zealous  of  the  traditions  of  his  fathers"  (Gal.  i.  14),  and  "touching 
the  righteousness  which  is  in  the  Law,  blameless  (Phil.  iii.  6). 
Everything  tended  to  prepare  him  to  be  an  eminent  member  of 
that  theological  party  to  which  so  many  of  the  Jews  were  looking 
for  the  preservation  of  their  national  life  and  the  extension  of  their 
national  creed. 

But  in  this  mention  of  the  Pharisees  and  Sadducees  we  are  far 
from  exhausting  the  subject  of  Jewish  divisions,  and  far  from 
enumerating  all  those  phases  of  opinion  which  must  have  had 
some  connection  with  the  growth  of  rising  Christianity,  and  those 
elements  which  may  have  contributed  to  form  the  character  of  the 
"  apostle  to  the  heathens."  There  was  a  sect  in  Judsea  which  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  Scriptures,  but  which  must  have  acquired  con- 
siderable influence  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  as  may  be  inferred 
from  the  space  devoted  to  it  by  Josephus  and  Philo.  These  were 
the  Essenes,  who  retired  from  the  theological  and  political  distrac- 
tions of  Jerusalem  and  the  larger  towns,  and  founded  peaceful 
communities  in  the  desert  or  in  villages,  where  their  life  was  spent 
in  contemplation  and  in  the  practices  of  ascetic  piety.  It  has  been 
suggested  that  John  the  Baptist  was  one  of  them.  There  is  no 
pro>of  that  this  was  the  case,  but  we  need  not  doubt  that  they  did 
represent  religious  cravings  which  Christianity  satisfied.  Another 
party  was  that  of  the  Zealots^  wdio  were  as  politically  fanatical  as 
the  Essenes  were  religiously  contemplative,  and  whose  zeal  was 
kindled  with  the  burning  desire  to  throw  ofi'the  Roman  yoke  from 
the  neck  of  Israel.  Very  different  from  them  were  the  Herodians, 
twice  mentioned  in  the  Gospels  (Mark  iii.  6 ;  Matt.  xxii.  16),  who 


ARAM^ANS  AND  HELLENISTS. 


43 


held  that  the  hopes  of  Judaism  rested  on  the  Herods,  and  who 
almost  looked  to  that  family  for  the  fulfilment  of  the  prophecies 
of  the  Messiah.  And  if  we  were  simply  enumerating  the  divisions 
and  describing  the  sects  of  the  Jews,  it  would  be  necessary  to 
mention  the  Therapeutce,  a  widely-spread  community  in  Egypt, 
who  lived  even  in  greater  seclusion  than  the  Essenes  in  Judaea. 
The  Samaritans  also  would  require  our  attention.  But  we  must 
turn  from  these  sects  and  parties  to  a  wider  division,  which  arose 
from  that  dispersion  of  the  Hebrew  people  to  which  some  space 
has  been  devoted  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

We  have  seen  that  early  colonies  of  the  Jews  were  settled  in 
Babylonia  and  Mesopotamia.  Their  connection  with  their  brethren 
in  Judsea  was  continually  maintained,  and  they  were  bound  to  them 
by  the  link  of  a  common  language.  The  Jews  of  Palestine  and 
Syria,  with  those  who  lived  on  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates,  inter- 
preted the  Scriptures  through  the  Targums  or  Chaldee  paraphrases, 
and  spoke  kindred  dialects  of  the  language  of  Aram ;  and  hence 
they  were  called  Aramcean  Jews.  We  have  also  had  occasion  to 
notice  that  other  dispersion  of  the  nation  through  those  countries 
where  Greek  was  spoken.  Their  settlements  began  with  Alex- 
ander's conquests,  and  were  continued  under  the  successors  of  those 
who  partitioned  his  empire.  Alexandria  was  their  capital.  They 
used  the  Septuagint  translation  of  the  Bible,  and  they  were  comr 
monly  called  Hellenists,  or  Jews  of  the  Grecian  speech. 

The  mere  difference  of  language  would  account  in  some  degree 
for  the  mutual  dislike  with  which  we  know  that  these  two  sections 
of  the  Jewish  race  regarded  one  another.  We  are  all  aware  how 
closely  the  use  of  a  hereditary  dialect  is  bound  up  with  the  warmest 
feelings  of  the  heart.  And  in  this  case  the  Aramaean  language  was 
the  sacred  tongue  of  Palestine.  It  is  true  that  the  tradition  of  the 
language  of  the  Jews  had  been  broken,  as  the  continuity  of  their 
political  life  had  been  rudely  interrupted.  The  Hebrew  of  the 
time  of  Christ  was  not  the  oldest  Hebrew  of  the  Israelites,  but  it 
was  a  kindred  dialect,  and  old  enough  to  command  a  reverent 
affection.  Though  not  the  language  of  Moses  and  David,  it  was 
that  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah.  And  it  is  not  unnatural  that  the 
Aramaeans  should  have  revolted  from  the  speech  of  the  Greek 
idolaters  and  the  tyrant  Antiocbus — a  speech  which  they  associated, 
moreover,  with  innovating  doctrines  and  dangerous  speculations. 

For  the  division  went  deeper  than  a  mere  superficial  diversity  of 


44  ^IFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


speech.  It  was  not  only  a  division,  like  the  modern  one  of  German 
and  Spanish  Jews,  where  those  who  hold  substantially  the  same 
doctrines  have  accidentally  been  led  to  speak  different  languages, 
but  there  was  a  diversity  of  religious  views  and  opinions.  This  is 
not  the  place  for  examining  that  system  of  mystic  interpretation 
called  the  Cabbala,  and  for  determining  how  far  its  origin  might 
be  due  to  Alexandria  or  to  Babylon.  It  is  enough  to  say,  gen- 
erally, that  in  the  Aramaean  theology  Oriental  elements  prevailed 
rather  than  Greek,  and  that  the  subject  of  the  Babylonian  influ- 
ences has  more  connection  with  the  life  of  Peter  than  that  of  Paul. 
The  Hellenists,  on  the  other  hand,  or  Jews  who  spoke  Greek,  who 
lived  in  Greek  countries  and  were  influenced  by  Greek  civilization, 
are  associated  in  the  closest  manner  with  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 
They  are  more  than  once  mentioned  in  the  Acts,  where  our  English 
translation  names  them  "  Grecians,"  to  distinguish  them  from  the 
heathen  or  proselyte  "  Greeks."  Alexandria  was  the  metropolis 
of  their  theology.  Philo  was  their  great  representative.  He  was 
an  old  man  when  Paul  was  in  his  maturity;  his  writings  were 
probably  known  to  the  apostle,  and  they  have  descended  with  the 
inspired  Epistles  to  our  own  day.  The  work  of  the  learned  Helle- 
nists may  be  briefly  described  as  this:  to  accommodate  Jewish 
doctrines  to  the  mind  of  the  Greeks,  and  to  make  the  Greek  lan- 
guage express  the  mind  of  the  Jews.  The  Hebrew  principles  were 
"  disengaged  as  much  as  possible  from  local  and  national  conditions, 
and  presented  in  a  form  adapted  to  the  Hellenic  world."  All  this 
was  hateful  to  the  zealous  Aramaeans.  The  men  of  the  East  rose 
up  against  those  of  the  West.  The  Greek  learning  was  not  more 
repugnant  to  the  Eoman  Cato  than  it  was  to  the  strict  Hebrews. 
They  had  a  saying,  Cursed  be  he  who  teacheth  his  son  the  learn- 
ing of  the  Greeks ! "  We  could  imagine  them  using  the  words  of 
the  prophet  Joel  (iii.  6) :  The  children  of  Judah  and  the  children 
of  Jerusalem  have  ye  sold  unto  the  Grecians,  that  ye  might  remove 
them  from  their  border ;"  and  we  cannot  be  surprised  that  even  in 
the  deep  peace  and  charity  of  the  Church's  earliest  days  this  in- 
veterate division  reappeared,  and  that  "  when  the  number  of  the 
disciples  was  multiplied,  there  arose  a  murmuring  of  the  Grecians 
against  the  Hebrews"  (Acts  vi.  1). 

It  w^ould  be  an  interesting  subject  of  inquiry  to  ascertain  in 
what  proportions  these  two  parties  were  distributed  in  the 
difierent  countries  where  the  Jews  were  dispersed,  in  what  places 


HELLENISTS  NOT  ALL  HELLENIZERS. 


45 


they  came  into  the  strongest  collision,  and  how  far  they  were  fused 
and  united  together.  In  the  city  of  Alexandria,  the  emporium 
of  Greek  commerce  from  the  time  of  its  foundation — where  since 
the  earliest  Ptolemies  literature,  philosophy,  and  criticism  had 
never  ceased  to  excite  the  utmost  intellectual  activity,  where  the 
Septuagint  translation  of  the  Scripture  had  been  made,  and  where 
&  Jewish  temple  and  ceremonial  worship  had  been  established  in 
rivalry  to  that  in  Jerusalem — there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Hellenistic 
element  largely  prevailed.  But  although  (strictly  speaking)  the 
Alexandrian  Jews  were  nearly  all  Hellenists,  it  does  not  follow 
that  they  were  all  Hellenizers.  In  other  words,  although  their 
speech  and  their  Scriptures  were  Greek,  the  theological  views  of 
many  among  them  undoubtedly  remained  Hebrew.  There  must 
have  been  many  who  were  attached  to  the  traditions  of  Palestine, 
and  who  looked  suspiciously  on  their  more  speculative  brethren ; 
and  we  have  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  picture  presented  in 
a  pleasing  German  fiction,  which  describes  the  debates  and  struggles 
of  the  two  tendencies  in  this  city,  to  be  very  correct.  In  Palestine 
itself  we  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  native  population 
was  entirely  Aramaean,  though  there  was  no  lack  of  Hellenistic 
synagogues  (Acts  vi.  9)  at  Jerusalem,  which  at  the  seasons  of 
the  festivals  would  be  crowded  with  foreign  pilgrims  and  become 
the  scene  of  animated  discussions.  Syria  was  connected  by  the 
link  of  language  with  Palestine  and  Babylonia,  but  Antioch,  its 
metropolis,  commercially  and  politically  resembled  Alexandria; 
and  it  is  probable  that  when  Barnabas  and  Saul  were  establishing 
the  great  Christian  community  in  that  city  (Acts  xi.  25,  etc.)  the 
majority  of  the  Jews  were  "  Grecians "  rather  than  "  Hebrews." 
In  Asia  Minor  we  should  at  first  sight  be  tempted  to  imagine  that 
the  Grecian  tendency  would  predominate ;  but  when  we  find  that 
Antiochus  brought  Babylonian  Jews  into  Lydia  and  Phrygia,  we 
must  not  make  too  confident  a  conclusion  in  this  direction ;  and 
we  have  grounds  for  imagining  that  many  Israelitish  families  in 
the  remote  districts  (possibly  that  of  Timotheus  at  Lystra,  Acts 
xvi.  1 ;  2  Tim.  i.  5)  may  have  cherished  the  forms  of  the  tradition- 
ary faith  of  the  Eastern  Jews,  and  lived  uninfluenced  by  Hellenistic 
novelties.  The  residents  in  maritime  and  commercial  towns 
would  not  be  strangers  to  the  Western  developments  of  religious 
doctrines;  and  when  ApoUos  came  from  Alexandria  to  Ephesus 
(Acts  xviii.  24)  he  would  find  himself  in  a  theological  atmosphere 


46  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

not  very  different  from  that  of  his  native  city.  Tarsus  in  Cilicia 
will  naturally  be  included  under  the  same  class  of  cities  of  the 
West  by  those  who  remember  Strabo's  assertion  that  in  literature 
and  philosophy  its  fame  exceeded  that  of  Athens  and  Alexandria. 
At  the  same  time  we  cannot  be  sure  that  the  very  celebrity  of  its 
heathen  schools  might  not  induce  the  families  of  Jewish  residents 
to  retire  all  the  more  strictly  into  a  religious  Hebrew  seclusion. 

That  such  a  seclusion  of  their  family  from  Gentile  influences 
was  maintained  by  the  parents  of  Paul  is  highly  probable.  We 
have  no  means  of  knowing  how  long  they  themselves  or  their 
ancestors  had  been  Jews  of  the  Dispersion.  A  tradition  is  men- 
tioned by  Jerome  that  they  came  originally  from  Giscala,  a  town 
in  Galilee,  when  it  was  stormed  by  the  Romans.  The  story  in- 
volves an  anachronism  and  contradicts  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 
Yet  it  need  not  be  entirely  disregarded,  especially  when  Ave  find 
Paul  speaking  of  himself  as  a  "Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews,"  and 
when  we  remember  that  the  word  "  Hebrew  "  is  used  for  an  Aramaic 
Jew  as  opposed  to  a  "Grecian"  or  "Hellenist."  Nor  is  it  unlikely 
in  itself  that  before  they  settled  in  Tarsus  the  family  had  belong- 
ed to  the  Eastern  Dispersion,  or  to  the  Jews  of  Palestine.  But, 
however  this  may  be,  Paul  himself  must  be  called  a  Hellenist, 
because  the  language  of  his  infancy  was  that  idiom  of  the  Grecian 
Jews  in  which  all  his  letters  were  written.  Though,  in  conformity 
with  the  strong  feeling  of  the  Jews  of  all  times,  he  might  learn 
his  earliest  sentences  from  the  Scripture  in  Hebrew,  yet  he  was 
familiar  with  the  Septuagint  translation  at  an  early  age.  For  it 
is  observed  that  when  he  quotes  from  the  Old  Testament  his  quo- 
tations are  from  that  version,  and  that  not  only  when  he  cites  its 
very  words,  but  when  (as  is  often  the  case)  he  quotes  it  from 
memory.  Considering  the  accurate  knowledge  of  the  original 
Hebrew  which  he  must  have  acquired  under  Gamaliel  at  Jerusalem, 
it  has  been  inferred  that  this  can  only  arise  from  his  having  been 
thoroughly  imbued  at  an  earlier  period  with  the  Hellenistic 
Scriptures.  The  readiness,  too,  with  which  he  expressed  himself 
in  Greek,  even  before  such  an  audience  as  that  upon  the  Areopagus 
at  Athens,  shows  a  command  of  the  language  which  a  Jew  would 
noty  in  all  probability,  have  attained  had  not  Greek  been  the  lan- 
guage of  his  childhood. 

But  still  the  vernacular  Hebrew  of  Palestine  would  not  have 
been  a  foreign  tongue  to  the  infant  Saul ;  on  the  contrary,  he  may 


Paul's  infancy  at  tarsus. 


47 


have  heard  it  spoken  almost  as  often  as  the  Greek.  For  no  doubt 
his  parents,  proud  of  their  Jewish  origin  and  living  comparatively 
near  to  Palestine,  would  retain  the  power  of  conversing  wdth  their 
friends  from  thence  in  the  ancient  speech.  Mercantile  connections 
from  the  Syrian  coast  would  be  frequently  arriving  whose  conver- 
sation would  be  in  Aramaic;  in  all  probability  there  were  kinsfolk 
still  settled  in  Judsea,  as  we  afterward  find  the  nephew  of  Paul  in 
Jerusalem  (Acts  xxiii.  16).  We  may  compare  the  situation  of 
such  a  family  (so  far  as  concerns  their  language)  to  that  of  the 
French  Huguenots  who  settled  in  London  after  the  Eevocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes.  These  French  families,  though  they  soon 
learned  to  use  the  English  as  the  medium  of  their  common  inter- 
course and  the  language  of  their  household,  yet  for  several  genera- 
tions spoke  French  with  equal  familiarity  and  greater  affection. 

Moreover,  it  may  be  considered  as  certain  that  the  family  of 
Paul,  though  Hellenistic  in  speech,  were  no  Hellenizers  in  theology ; 
they  were  not  at  all  inclined  to  adopt  Greek  habits  or  Greek  opin- 
ions. The  manner  in  which  Paul  speaks  of  himself,  his  father, 
and  his  ancestors  implies  the  most  uncontaminated  hereditary 
Judaism.  "Are  they  Hebrews?  so  am  I.  Are  they  Israelites? 
so  am  I.  Are  they  the  seed  of  Abraham?  so  am  I." — "A  Phar- 
isee'' and  "the  son  of  a  Pharisee." — "Circumcised  the  eighth  day, 
of  the  stock  of  Israel,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  a  Hebrew  of  the 
Hebrews  J  ^ 

There  is  therefore  little  doubt  that  though  the  native  of  a  city 
filled  with  a  Greek  population  and  incorporated  with  the  Eoman 
empire,  yet  Saul  was  born  and  spent  his  earliest  days  in  the  shelter 
of  a  home  which  was  Hebrew,  not  in  name  only,  but  in  spirit.  The 
Eoman  power  did  not  press  upon  his  infancy ;  the  Greek  ideas  did 
not  haunt  his  childhood ;  but  he  grew  up  an  Israelitish  boy,  nur- 
tured in  those  histories  of  the  chosen  people  which  he  was  destined 
so  often  to  repeat  in  the  synagogues  with  the  new  and  wonderful 
commentary  supplied  by  the  life  and  resurrection  of  a  crucified 
Messiah.  "  From  a  child  he  knew  the  Scriptures,"  which  ultimately 
made  him  "  wise  unto  salvation  through  faith  which  is  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  as  he  says  of  Timothy  in  the  Second  Epistle  (iii.  13).  And 
the  groups  around  his  childhood  were  such  as  that  which  he  beau- 
tifully describes  in  another  part  of  the  same  letter  to  that  disciple, 
where  he  speaks  of  "  his  grandmother  Lois  and  his  mother  Eunice." 
(i.  V.) 


48 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


We  should  be  glad  to  know  something  of  the  mother  of  Paul. 
But,  though  he  alludes  to  his  father,  he  does  not  mention  her.  He 
speaks  of  himself  as  set  apart  by  God  "from  his  mother's  womb," 
that  the  Son  of  God  should  in  due  time  be  revealed  in  him,  and 
by  him  preached  to  the  heathen  (Gal.  i.  15.).  But  this  is  all.  We 
find  notices  of  his  sister  and  his  sister's  son  (Acts  xxiii.  16),  and 
of  some  more  distant  relatives  (Eom.  xvi.  7,  11,  21),  but  we  know 
nothing  of  her  who  was  nearer  to  him  than  all  of  them.  He  tells 
us  of  his  instructor  Gamaliel,  but  of  her  who,  if  she  lived,  was  his 
earliest  and  best  teacher,  he  tells  us  nothing.  Did  she  die  like 
Rachel,  the  mother  of  Benjamin,  the  great  ancestor  of  his  tribe, 
leaving  his  father  to  mourn  and  set  a  monument  on  her  grave,  like 
Jacob,  by  the  way  of  Bethlehem?  (Gen.  xxxv.  16-20;  xlviii.  7). 
Or  did  she  live  to  grieve  over  her  son's  apostasy  from  the  faith  of 
the  Pharisees,  and  die  herself  unreconciled  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ?  Or  did  she  believe  and  obey  the  Saviour  of  her  son? 
These  are  questions  which  we  cannot  answer.  If  we  wish  to  real- 
ize the  earliest  infancy  of  the  apostle,  w^e  must  be  content  with  a 
simple  picture  of  a  Jewish  mother  and  her  child.  Such  a  picture 
is  presented  to  us  in  the  short  history  of  Elizabeth  and  John  the 
Baptist,  and  what  is  wanting  in  one  of  the  inspired  books  of 
Luke  may  be  supplied,  in  some  degree,  by  the  other. 

The  same  feelings  which  welcomed  the  birth  and  celebrated  the 
naming  of  a  son  in  the  hill- country  "  of  Judsea  (Luke  i.  39)  pre- 
vailed also  among  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion.  As  the  "  neighbors 
and  cousins  "  of  Elizabeth  "  heard  how  the  Lord  had  show^ed  great 
mercy  upon  her,  and  rejoiced  with  her,"  so  it  would  be  in  the 
household  at  Tarsus  when  Saul  was  born.  In  a  nation  to  which 
the  birth  of  a  Messiah  w^as  promised,  and  at  a  period  when  the 
aspirations  after  the  fulfilment  of  the  promise  were  continually 
becoming  m.ore  conscious  and  more  urgent,  the  birth  of  a  son  w^as 
the  fulfilment  of  a  mother's  highest  happiness ;  and  to  the  father 
also  (if  we  may  thus  invert  the  words  of  Jeremiah)  ''blessed  was 
the  man  who  brought  tidings,  saying,  A  man  child  is  born  unto 
thee;  making  him  glad"  (Jer.  xx.  15).  On  the  eighth  day  the 
child  was  circumcised  and  named.  In  the  case  of  John  the  Bap- 
tist ''they  sought  to  call  him  Zacharias,  after  the  name  of  his 
father.  But  his  mother  answered,  and  said.  Not  so;  but  he  shall 
be  called  John."  And  when  the  appeal  was  made  to  his  father,  he 
Bignified  his  assent,  in  obedience  to  the  vision.  It  was  not  unusual, 


JEWISH  FAMILY  TEACHING. 


49 


on  the  one  hand,  to  call  a  Jewish  child  after  the  name  of  his 
father,  and  on  the  other  hand  it  was  a  common  practice,  in  all  ages 
of  Jew'ish  history,  even  without  a  prophetic  intimation,  to  adopt  a 
name  expressive  of  religious  feelings.  When  the  infant  at  Tarsus 
received  the  name  of  Saul,  it  might  be  "after  the  name  of  his 
father,''  and  it  was  a  name  of  traditional  celebrity  in  the  tribe  of 
Benjamin,  for  it  was  that  of  the  first  king  anointed  by  Samuel. 
Or  w^hcn  his  father  said  his  name  is  Saul,''  it  may  have  been 
intended  to  denote  (in  conformity  yAth  the  Hebrew  derivation  of 
the  word)  that  he  was  a  son  who  had  long  been  desired,  the  first- 
born of  his  parents,  the  child  of  prayer,  who  was  thenceforth,  like 
Samuel,  to  be  consecrated  to  God.  "  For  this  child  I  prayed,"  said 
the  wife  of  Elkanah  ;  and  the  Lord  hath  given  me  my  petition 
which  I  asked  of  him  ;  therefore  also  I  have  lent  him  to  the  Lord ; 
as  long  as  he  liveth  he  shall  be  lent  unto  the  Lord." 

Admitted  into  covenant  with  God  by  circumcision,  the  Jewish 
child  had  thenceforward  a  full  claim  to  all  the  privileges  of  the 
chosen  people.  His  was  the  benediction  of  the  128th  Psalm : 
"  The  Lord  shall  bless  thee  out  of  Zion :  thou  shalt  see  the  good 
of  Jerusalem  all  the  days  of  thy  life."  From  that  time,  whoever 
it  might  be  who  watched  over  Saul's  infancy, — ^vhether,  like  King 
Lemuel,  he  learnt  "  the  prophecy  that  his  mother  taught  him,"  or 
whether  he  ^vas  under  the  care  of  others,  like  those  who  were  with 
the  sons  of  King  David  and  King  Ahab, — we  are  at  no  loss  to 
learn  what  the  first  ideas  were  with  which  his  early  thought  was 
made  familiar.  The  rules  respecting  the  diligent  education  of  chil- 
dren which  were  laid  dow^n  by  Moses  in  the  sixth  and  eleventh 
chapters  of  Deuteronomy  were  doubtless  carefully  observed ;  and 
he  was  trained  in  that  peculiarly  historical  instruction  spoken  of  in 
the  78th  Psalm,  which  implies  the  continuance  of  a  chosen  people, 
with  glorious  recollections  of  the  past  and  great  anticipations  for 
the  future :  The  Lord  made  a  covenant  with  Jacob,  and  gave 
Israel  a  law  which  he  commanded  our  forefathers  to  teach  their  chil- 
dren; that  their  posterity  might  know  it,  and  the  children  which 
were  yet  unborn  ;  to  the  intent  that  when  they  came  up,  they  might 
show  their  children  the  same :  that  they  might  put  their  trust  in 
God,  and  not  to  forget  the  works  of  the  Lord,  but  to  keep  his  com- 
mandments" (ver.  5-7).  The  histories  of  Abraham  and  Isaac,  of 
Jacob  and  his  twelve  sons,  of  Moses  among  the  bulrushes,  of 
Joshua  and  Samuel,  Elijah,  Daniel,  and  the  Maccabees,  were  the 
4 


50  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

stories  of  his  childhood.  The  destruction  of  Pharaoh  in  the  Red 
Sea,  the  thunders  of  Mount  Sinai,  the  dreary  journeys  in  the  wil- 
derness, the  J  and  that  flowed  with  milk  and  honey, — this  was  the 
earliest  imagery  presented  to  his  opening  mind.  The  triumphant 
songs  of  Zion,  the  lamentations  by  the  waters  of  Babylon,  the  \ 
prophetic  praises  of  the  Messiah,  were  the  songs  around  his  cradle. 

Above  all,  he  would  be  familiar  with  the  destinies  of  his  own 
illustrious  tribe.  The  life  of  the  timid  patriarch,  the  father  of  the 
twelve;  the  sad  death  of  Eachel  near  the  city  where  the  Messiah 
was  to  be  born ;  the  loneliness  of  Jacob,  who  sought  to  comfort 
himself  in  Benoni,  "the  son  of  her  sorrow,'^  by  calling  him  Ben- 
jamin (Gen.  XXXV.  18),  "the  son  of  his  right  hand;"  and  then 
the  youthful  days  of  this  youngest  of  the  twelve  brethren,  the 
famine,  and  the  journeys  into  Egypt,  the  severity  of  Joseph,  and 
the  wonderful  story  of  the  silver  cup  in  the  mouth  of  the  sack,— 
these  are  the  narratives  to  which  he  listened  with  intense  and 
eager  interest.  How  little  was  it  imagined  that,  as  Benjamin  was 
the  youngest  and  most  honored  of  the  patriarchs,  so  this  listening 
child  of  Benjamin  should  be  associated  with  the  twelve  servants 
of  the  Messiah  of  God,  the  last  and  most  illustrious  of  the  apos- 
tles I  But  many  years  of  ignorance  were  yet  to  pass  away  before 
that  mysterious  providence  which  brought  Benjamin  to  Joseph  in 
Egypt  should  bring  his  descendant  to  the  knowledge  and  love  of 
Jesus,  the  son  of  Mary.  Some  of  the  early  Christian  writers  see 
in  the  dying  benediction  of  Jacob,  when  he  said  that  "  Benjamin 
should  ravin  as  a  wolf,  in  the  morning  devour  the  prey,  and  at 
night  divide  the  spoil"  (Gen.  xlix.  27),  a  prophetic  intimation  of 
him  who  in  the  morning  of  his  life  should  tear  the  sheep  of  God, 
and  in  its  evening  feed  them  as  the  teacher  of  the  nations.  When 
Paul  was  a  child  and  learnt  the  words  of  this  saying,  no  Christian 
thoughts  were  associated  with  it,  or  with  that  other  more  peaceful 
prophecy  of  Moses,  when  he  said  of  Benjamin,  "  The  beloved  of 
the  Lord  shall  dwell  in  safety  by  him :  and  the  Lord  shall  cover 
him  all  the  day  long,  and  he  shall  dwell  between  his  shoulders" 
(Deut.  xxxiii.  12).  But  he  v/as  familiar  with  the  prophetical 
words,  and  could  follow  in  imagination  the  fortunes  of  the  sons 
of  Benjamin,  and  knew  how  they  went  through  the  wilderness 
with  Rachel's  other  children,  the  tribes  of  Ephraim  and  Manasseh, 
forming  with  them  the  third  of  the  four  companies  on  the  march, 
and  reposing  with  them  at  night  on  the  west  of  the  encampment 


DATE  OF  Paul's  birth. 


51 


He  heard  how  their  lands  were  assigned  to  them  in  the  promised 
country  along  the  borders  of  Judah  (Josh,  xviii.  11),  and  how 
Saul,  whose  name  he  bore,  was  chosen  from  the  tribe  which  was 
the  smallest,  when  "little  Benjamin''  became  the  "ruler''  of 
Israel.  He  knew  that  when  the  ten  tribes  revolted  Benjamin  was 
faithful ;  and  he  learnt  to  follow  its  honorable  history  even  in 
the  dismal  years  of  the  Babylonian  captivity,  when  Mordecai,  "  a 
Benjamite  who  had  been  carried  aw^ay  "  (Esth.  ii.  5,  6),  saved  the 
nation,  and  w^hen,  instead  of  destruction,  "the  Jews"  through  him 
"  had  light,  and  gladness,  and  joy,  and  honor ;  and  in  every  prov- 
ince, and  in  every  city,  whithersoever  the  king's  commandment 
and  his  decree  came,  the  Jews  had  joy  and  gladness,  a  feast  and  a 
good  day.  And  many  of  the  people  of  the  land  became  Jews ;  for 
the  fear  of  the  Jews  fell  upon  them." 

Such  were  the  influences  which  cradled  the  infancy  of  Paul,  and 
such  w^as  the  early  teaching  under  which  his  mind  gradually  rose 
to  the  realization  of  his  position  as  a  Hebrew  child  in  a  city  of 
Gentiles.  Of  the  exact  period  of  his  birth  we  possess  no  authentic 
information.  From  a  passage  in  a  sermon  attributed  to  Chrysos- 
tom  it  has  been  inferred  that  he  was  born  in  the  year  2  of  our  era. 
The  date  is  not  improbable,  but  the  genuineness  of  the  sermon  is 
suspected;  and  if  it  w^as  the  undoubted  work  of  the  eloquent 
Father,  we  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  he  possessed  any  certain 
means  of  ascertaining  the  fact.  Nor  need  we  be  anxious  to  pos- 
sess the  information.  We  have  a  better  chronology  than  that 
w^hich  reckons  by  years  and  months.  We  know  that  he  was  a 
young  man  at  the  time  of  Stephen's  martyrdom  (Acts  vii.  58), 
and  therefore  w^e  know  what  were  the  features  of  the  period  and 
what  the  circumstances  of  the  world  at  the  beginning  of  his  event- 
ful life.  He  must  liave  been  born  in  the  later  years  of  Herod  or 
the  earlier  of  his  son  Archelaus.  It  w^as  the  strongest  and  most 
flourishing  time  of  the  reign  of  Augustus.  The  world  was  at 
peace,  the  pirates  of  the  Levant  were  dispersed,  and  Cilicia  was 
lying  at  rest  or  in  stupor,  with  other  provinces,  under  the  wide 
shadow  of  the  Eoman  power.  Many  governors  had  ruled  there 
since  the  days  of  Cicero.  Athenodorus,  the  emperor's  tutor,  had 
been  one  of  them.  It  was  about  the  time  when  Horace  and 
Maecenas  died,  with  others  whose  names  will  never  be  forgotten ; 
and  it  was  about  the  time  when  Caligula  was  born,  with  others 
who  were  destined  to  make  the  world  miserable.    Thus  is  the 


52 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


epoch  fixed  in  the  manner  in  which  the  imagination  most  easily 
apprehends  it  During  this  pause  in  the  world's  history  Faul  was 
born. 

It  was  a  pause,  too,  in  the  history  of  the  sufferings  of  the  Jews. 
That  lenient  treatment  which  had  been  begun  by  Julius  Ciesar 
was  continued  by  Augustus,  and  the  days  of  severity  were  not  yet 
come,  when  Tiberius  and  Claudius  drove  them  into  banishment 
and  Caligula  oppressed  them  with  every  mark  of  contumely  and 
scorn.  We  have  good  reason  to  believe  that  at  the  period  of  the 
apostle's  birth  the  Jews  were  unmolested  at  Tarsus,  where  his 
father  lived  and  enjoyed  the  rights  of  a  Eoman  citizen.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  suppose  that  this  citizenship  was  a  privilege  which  be- 
longed to  the  members  of  the  family  as  being  natives  of  this  city. 
Tarsus  was  not  a  mimicipium,,  nor  was  it  a  colonia,  like  Philippi  in 
Macedonia  (Acts  xvi.  12)  or  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  but  it  was  a  "free 
city"  [urbs  libera),  like  the  Syrian  Antioch  and  its  neighbor-city, 
Seleucia  on  the  Sea.  Such  a  city  had  the  privilege  of  being  gov- 
erned by  its  own  magistrates,  and  was  exempted  from  the  occupa- 
tion of  a. Eoman  garrison,  but  its  citizens  did  not  necessarily  pos- 
sess the  civitas  of  Rome.  Tarsus  had  received  great  benefits  both 
from  Julius  Caesar  and  Augustus,  but  the  father  of  Paul  was  not 
on  that  account  a  Eoman  citizen.  This  privilege  had  been  granted 
to  him  or  had  descended  to  him  as  an  individual  right ;  he  m.ight 
have  purchased  it  for  a  "  large  sum "  of  money ;  but  it  is  more 
probable  that  it  came  to  him  as  the  reward  of  services  rendered 
during  the  civil  wars  to  some  influential  Roman.  That  Jews  were 
not  unfrequently  Roman  citizens  we  learn  from  Josephus,  who 
mentions  in  the  AnUqiiities  some  even  of  the  equestrian  order  who 
were  illegally  scourged  and  crucified  by  Florus  at  Jerusalem,  and 
(what  is  more  to  our  present  point)  enumerates  certain  of  his 
countrymen  who  possessed  the  Roman  franchise  at  Ephesus  in 
that  important  series  of  decrees  relating  to  the  Jews  which  were 
issued  in  the  time  of  Julius  Coesar  and  are  preserved  in  the  sec- 
ond book  of  the  Jewish  War,  The  family  of  Paul  were  in  the 
same  position  at  Tarsus  as  those  who  were  Jews  of  Asia  Minor  and 
yet  citizens  of  Rome  at  Ephesus ;  and  thus  it  came  to  pass  that 
while  many  of  his  contemporaries  were  willing  to  expend  "  a  large 
sum''  in  the  purchase  of  '*this  freedom,''  the  apostle  himself  was 
"  free-born." 

The  question  of  the  double  name  of  "  Saul "  and  "  Paul "  will 


SOCIAL  POSITION  OF  PAULAS  FAMILY. 


63 


require  our  attention  hereafter,  when  we  come  in  the  course  of  our 
narrative  to  that  interview  with  Sergius  Paulus  in  Cyprus  coinci- 
dently  with  which  the  appellation  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is 
suddenly  changed.  Many  opinions  have  been  held  on  this  subject, 
both  by  ancient  and  modern  theologians.  At  present  it  will  be 
enough  to  say  that  we  cannot  overlook  the  coincidence,  or  believe 
it  accidental,  yet  it  is  most  probable  that  both  names  were  borne  by 
him  in  his  childhood — that  Saul "  was  the  name  of  his  Hebrew 
home,  and  Paul "  that  by  which  he  was  known  among  the  Gentiles. 
It  will  be  observed  that  PauluSjthe  name  by  which  he  is  always  men- 
tioned after  his  departure  from  Cyprus,  and  by  which  he  always 
designates  himself  in  his  Epistles,  is  a  Roman  not  a  Greek  word. 
And  it  will  be  remembered  that  among  those  whom  he  calls  his 
"kinsmen"  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans,  two  of  the  number, 
Junia  and  Lucius,  have  Roman  names,  while  the  others  are  Greek 
(Rom.  xvi.  7,  11,  21).  All  this  may  point  to  a  strong  Roman  con- 
nection. These  names  may  have  something  to  do  with  that  honor- 
able citizenship  which  was  an  heirloom  in  the  household ;  and  the 
appellation  "  Paulus  "  may  be  due  to  some  such  feelings  as  those 
which  induced  the  historian  Josephus  to  call  himself  "  Flavins," 
in  honor  of  Vespasian  and  the  Flavian  family. 

If  we  turn  now  to  consider  the  social  position  of  the  apostle's 
father  and  family,  we  cannot  on  the  one  hand  confidently  argue, 
from  the  possession  of  the  citzenship,  that  they  were  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  affluence  and  outward  distinction.  The  civitas  of  Rome, 
though  at  that  time  it  could  not  be  purchased  without  heavy  expense, 
did  not  depend  upon  any  conditions  of  wealth  where  it  was  be- 
stowed by  authority.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  certain  that  the 
manual  trade  which  we  know  that  Paul  exercised  cannot  be  ad- 
duced as  an  argument  to  prove  that  his  circumstances  were  narrow 
and  mean  ;  still  less,  as  some  have  imagined,  that  he  lived  in  abso- 
lute poverty.  It  was  a  custom  among  the  Jews  that  all  boys  should 
learn  a  trade.  "  What  is  commanded  of  a  father  towards  his  son  ?  " 
asks  a  Talmudic  writer.  "  To  circumcise  him,  to  teach  him  the 
Law,  to  teach  him  a  trade."  Rabbi  Judah  saith,  "  He  that  teach- 
eth  not  his  son  a  trade  does  the  same  as  if  he  taught  him  to  be  a 
thief ;"  and  Rabban  Gamaliel  saith,  "  He  that  hath  a  trade  in  his 
hand,  to  what  is  he  like?  he  is  like  a  vineyard  that  is  fenced." 
And  if,  in  compliance  with  this  good  and  useful  custom  of  the 
Jews,  the  father  of  the  young  Cilician  sought  to  make  choice  of  a 


54  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

trade  whicli  miglit  fortify  his  son  against  idleness  or  against  adver- 
sity, none  would  occur  to  liim  more  naturally  than  the  profitable 
occupation  of  the  making  of  tents,  the  material  of  which  was  hair- 
clotlt^  supplied  by  the  goats  of  his  native  province  and  sold  in  tlie 
markets  of  the  Levant  by  the  well-known  name  of  cilidum.  The 
most  reasonable  conjecture  is  that  his  father's  business  was  con- 
cerned with  these  markets,  and  that,  like  many  of  his  dispersed 
countrymen,  he  was  actively  occupied  in  the  traffic  of  the  Medi- 
terranean coasts;  and  the  remote  dispersion  of  those  relations 
whom  he  mentions  in  his  letter  from  Corinth  to  Rome  is  favorable 
to  this  opinion.  But  whatever  might  be  the  station  and  employ- 
ment of  his  father  or  his  kinsmen,  whether  they  were  elevated  by 
wealth  above,  or  depressed  by  poverty  below,  the  average  of  the 
Jews  of  Asia  Minor  and  Italy,  we  are  disposed  to  believe  that  this 
family  were  possessed  of  that  highest  respectability  which  is  worthy 
of  deliberate  esteem.  The  words  of  Scripture  seem  to  claim  for 
them  the  tradition  of  a  good  and  religious  reputation.  The  strict 
piety  of  Paul's  ancestors  has  already  been  remarked ;  some  of  his 
kinsmen  embraced  Christianity  before  the  apostle  himself,  and  the 
excellent  discretion  of  his  nephew  will  be  the  subject  of  our  ad- 
miration when  we  come  to  consider  the  dangerous  circumstances 
which  led  to  the  nocturnal  journey  from  Jerusalem  to  Caesar ea 
(i^.cts  xxiii). 

But  though  a  cloud  rests  on  the  actual  year  of  Paul's  birth, 
and  the  circumstances  of  his  father's  household  must  be  left  to 
imagination,  we  have  the  great  satisfaction  of  knowing  the  exact 
features  of  the  scenery  in  the  midst  of  which  his  childhood  was 
spent.  The  plain,  the  mountain,  the  river,  and  the  sea  still  re- 
main to  us.  The  rich  harvests  of  corn  still  grow  luxuriantly  after 
the  rains  in  spring.  The  same  tents  of  goat's  hair  are  still  seen 
covering  the  plains  in  the  busy  harvest.  There  is  the  same  soli- 
tude and  silence  in  the  intolerable  heat  and  dust  of  the  summer. 
Then,  as  now,  the  mothers  and  children  of  Tarsus  w^ent  out  in  the 
cool  evenings  and  looked  from  the  gardens  round  the  city  or  from 
their  terraced  roofs  upon  the  heights  of  Taurus.  The  same  sunset 
lingered  on  the  pointed  summits.  The  same  shadows  gathered  in 
the  deep  ravines.  The  river  Cydnus  has  suffered  some  changes  in 
the  course  of  eighteen  hundred  years.  Instead  of  rushing,  as  in 
the  time  of  Xenophon,  like  the  Rhone  at  Geneva,  in  a  stream  of 
two  hundred  feet  broad  through  the  city,  it  now  flows  idly  past  it 


THE  BOYHOOD  OF  PAUL. 


55 


on  the  east.  The  channel  whicli  floated  the  ships  of  Antony  and 
Cleopatra  is  now  filled  up,  and  wide  unhealthy  lagoons  occupy  the 
place  of  the  ancient  docks.  But  its  upper  waters  still  flow,  as 
formerly,  cold  and  clear  from  the  snows  of  Taurus,  and  its  water- 
falls still  break  over  the  same  rocks  when  the  snows  are  melting, 
like  the  Ehine  at  Schaffhausen.  We  find  a  pleasure  in  thinking 
that  the  footsteps  of  the  young  apostle  often  wandered  by  the  side 
of  this  stream  and  that  his  eyes  often  looked  on  these  falls.  We 
can  hardly  believe  that  he  who  spoke  to  the  Lystrians  of  the  "  rain 
from  heaven'*  and  the  "  fruitful  seasons,'*  and  of  the  "  living  God 
who  made  heaven  and  earth  and  the  sea"  (Acts  xvi.  17, 15),  could 
have  looked  with  indifference  on  beautiful  and  impressive  scenery. 
Gamaliel  was  celebrated  for  his  love  of  nature,  and  the  young  J ew 
who  was  destined  to  be  his  most  famous  pupil  spent  his  early  days 
in  the  close  neighborhood  of  much  that  was  well  adapted  to  foster 
such  a  taste.  Or  if  it  be  thought  that  in  attributing  such  feelings 
to  him  we  are  writing  in  the  spirit  of  modern  times,  and  if  it  be 
contended  that  he  would  be  more  influenced  by  the  realities  of 
human  life  than  by  the  impressions  of  nature,  then  let  the  youth- 
ful Saul  be  imagined  on  the  banks  of  the  Cydnus,  where  it  flowed 
through  the  city  in  a  stream  less  clear  and  fresh,  where  the  wharves 
were  covered  with  merchandise,  in  the  midst  of  groups  of  men  in 
various  costumes,  speaking  various  dialects.  Basil  says  that  in  his 
day  Tarsus  was  a  point  of  union  for  Syrians,  Cilicians,  Isaurians, 
and  Cappadocians.  To  these  we  must  add  the  Greek  merchant 
and  the  agent  of  E-oman  luxury.  And  one  more  must  be  added — 
the  Jew,  even  then  the  pilgrim  of  commerce,  trading  with  every 
nation  and  blending  with  none.  In  this  mixed  company  Saul  at 
an  early  age  might  become  familiar  with  the  activities  of  life  and 
the  diversities  of  human  character,  and  even  in  his  childhood  make 
some  acquaintance  with  those  various  races  which  in  his  manhood 
he  was  destined  to  influence. 

We  have  seen  what  his  infancy  was :  we  must  now  glance  at  his 
boyhood.  It  is  usually  the  case  that  the  features  of  a  strong 
character  display  themselves  early.  Plis  impetuous,  fiery  disposi- 
tion would  sometimes  need  control.  Flashes  of  indignation  would 
reveal  his  impatience  and  his  honesty.  The  affectionate  tenderness 
of  his  nature  would  not  be  without  an  object  of  attachment,  if 
that  sister  who  was  afterward  married  (Acts  xxiii.  16)  was  his 
playmate  at  Tarsus.    The  work  of  tent-making,  rather  an  amuse- 


66  LIFE  AND  EPI1STL1^:S  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


ment  than  a  trade,  might  sometimes  occupy  those  young  hands 
which  were  marked  wdth  the  toil  of  years  when  he  held  them  to 
the  view  of  the  elders  at  Miletus.  His  education  was  conducted 
at  home  rather  than  at  school ;  for,  though  Tarsus  w^as  celebrated 
for  its  learning,  the  Hebrew  boy  would  not  lightly  be  exposed  tc 
the  influence  of  Gentile  teaching.  Or  if  he  went  to  a  school,  it 
was  not  a  Greek  school,  but  rather  to  some  room  connected  with 
the  synagogue,  where  a  noisy  class  of  Jewish  children  received 
the  rudiments  of  instruction,  seated  on  the  ground  with  their 
teacher,  after  the  manner  of  Mohammedan  children  in  the  East, 
who  may  be  seen  or  heard  at  their  lessons  near  the  mosque.  At 
such  a  school,  it  may  be,  he  learnt  to  read  and  to  WTite,  going  and 
returning  under  the  care  of  some  attendant,  according  to  that 
custom  which  he  afterward  used  as  an  illustration  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians  (and  perhaps  he  remembered  his  own  early  days 
while  he  wrote  the  passage)  when  he  spoke  of  the  Law  as  the  slave 
who  conducts  us  to  the  school  of  Christ.  His  religious  knowledge 
as  his  years  advanced  was  obtained  from  hearing  the  Law  read  in 
the  synagogue,  from  listening  to  the  arguments  and  discussions  of 
learned  doctors,  and  from  that  habit  of  questioning  and  answering 
w^hich  was  permitted  even  to  the  children  among  the  Jews. 
Familiar  with  the  pathetic  history  of  the  Jewish  sufferings,  he 
W'Ould  feel  his  heart  fiHcd  with  that  love  to  his  own  people  which 
breaks  out  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  (ix.  4.  6), — to  that  people 
*Svhose  were  the  adoption  and  the  glory  and  the  covenants,  and 
of  w4iom,  as  concerning  the  flesh,  Christ  was  to  come,^' — a  love 
not  then,  as  it  was  afterward,  blended  with  love  towards  all  man- 
kind, *Ho  tlie  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Gentile,'^ — but  rather  united 
wdth  a  bitter  hatred  to  the  Gentile  children  whom  he  saw  around 
him.  His  idea  of  the  Messiah,  so  far  as  it  was  distinct,  would  be 
the  carnal  notion  of  a  temporal  prince — a  "  Christ  known  after 
the  flesh  — and  he  looked  forward  with  the  hope  of  a  Hebrew^  to 
the  restoration  of  "the  kingdom  to  Israel."  He  would  be  known 
at  Tarsus  as  a  child  of  promise,  and  as  one  likely  to  uphold  the 
honor  of  the  law  against  the  half-infidel  teaching  of  the  day.  But 
the  time  was  drawing  near  when  his  training  was  to  become  moro 
exact  and  systematic.  He  was  destined  for  the  school  of  Jerusa- 
lem. The  educational  maxim  of  the  Jews  at  a  later  period  was  as 
follows:  "At  five  years  of  age  let  children  begin  the  Scripture  ;  at 
ten,  the  Mischna ;  at  thirteen,  let  them  be  subjects  of  the  Law.'' 


PAUL  SENT  TO  JERUSALEM. 


67 


There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  general  practice  was  very 
different  before  the  floating  maxims  of  the  great  doctors  were 
brought  together  in  the  Mischna.  It  may  therefore  be  concluded, 
with  a  strong  degree  of  probability,  that  Saul  was  sent  to  the  Holy 
City  between  the  ages  of  ten  and  thirteen.  Had  it  been  later  than 
the  age  of  thirteen,  he  could  hardly  have  said  that  he  had  been 
"  brought  up  "  in  Jerusalem. 

The  first  time  any  one  leaves  the  land  of  his  birth  to  visit  a 
foreign  and  distant  country  is  an  important  epoch  in  his  life.  In 
the  case  of  one  who  has  taken  this  first  journey  at  an  early  age, 
and  whose  character  is  enthusiastic  and  susceptible  of  lively 
impressions  from  without,  this  epoch  is  usually  remembered  with 
peculiar  distinctness.  But  when  the  country  which  is  thus  visited 
has  furnished  the  imagery  for  the  dreams  of  childhood,  and  is  felt 
to  be  more  truly  the  young  traveller's  home  than  the  land  he  is 
leaving,  then  the  journey  assumes  the  sacred  character  of  a 
pilgrimage.  The  nearest  parellel  which  can  be  found  to  the  visits 
of  the  scattered  Jews  to  Jerusalem  is  in  the  periodical  expedition 
of  the  Mohammedan  pilgrims  to  the  sanctuary  at  Mecca.  Nor  is 
there  anything  which  ought  to  shock  the  mind  in  such  a  compari- 
son ;  for  that  localizing  spirit  was  the  same  thing  to  the  Jews 
under  the  highest  sanction  which  it  is  to  the  Mohammedans 
through  the  memory  of  a  prophet  who  was  the  enemy  and  not  the 
forerunner  of  Christ.  As  the  disciples  of  Islam  may  be  seen  at 
stated  seasons  flocking  towards  Cairo  or  Damascus,  the  meeting- 
places  of  the  African  and  Asiatic  caravans,  so  Saul  had  often  seen 
the  Hebrew  pilgrims  from  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor  come  down 
through  the  passes  of  the  mountains  and  join  others  at  Tarsus 
who  were  bound  for  Jerusalem.  They  returned  when  the  festivals 
were  over,  and  he  heard  them  talk  of  the  Holy  City,  of  Herod  and 
the  new  temple,  and  of  the  great  teachers  and  doctors  of  the  law. 
And  at  length  Saul  himself  was  to  go — to  see  the  land  of  promise 
and  the  city  of  David,  and  grow  up  a  learned  rabbi  "at  the  feet 
of  Gamaliel." 

With  his  father,  or  under  the  care  of  some  other  friend  older 
than  himself,  he  left  Tarsus  and  vv^ent  to  Jerusalem.  It  is  not 
probable  that  they  travelled  by  the  long  and  laborious  land- 
journey  which  leads  from  the  Cilician  plain  through  the  defiles  of 
Mount  Amanus  to  Antioch,  and  thence  along  the  rugged  Phoeni- 
cian shore  through  Tyre  and  Sidon  to  Judsea.    The  Jews,  when 


58 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OP  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


they  went  to  the  festivals  or  to  carry  contributions,  like  the 
Mohammedans  of  modern  days,  would  follow  the  lines  of  natural 
traffic;  and  now  that  the  Eastern  Sea  had  been  cleared  of  its 
pirates,  the  obvious  course  would  be  to  travel  by  water.  The 
Jews,  though  merchants,  were  not  seamen.  We  may  imagine 
Saul,  therefore,  setting  sail  from  the  Cydnus  on  his  first  voyage  in 
some  Phoenician  trader,  under  the  patronage  of  the  gods  of  Tyre 
or  in  company  with  Greek  mariners  in  a  vessel  adorned  with  some 
mythological  emblem,  like  that  Alexandrian  corn-ship  which  sub- 
sequently brought  him  to  Italy,  "whose  sign  was  Castor  and 
Pollux"  (Acts  xxviii.  11).  Gradually  they  lost  sight  of  Taurus, 
and  the  heights  of  Lebanon  came  into  view.  The  one  had 
sheltered  his  early  home,  but  the  other  had  been  a  familiar  form 
to  his  Jewish  forefathers.  How  histories  would  crowd  into  his 
mind  as  the  vessel  moved  on  over  the  weaves  and  he  gazed  upon 
the  furrowed  flanks  of  the  great  Hebrew  mountain  !  Had  the 
voyage  been  taken  fifty  years  earlier,  the  vessel  would  probably 
have  been  bound  for  Ptolemais,  which  still  bore  the  name  of  the 
Greek  kings  of  Egypt,  but  in  the  reign  of  Augustus  or  Tiberius  it 
is  more  likely  that  she  sailed  round  the  headland  of  Carmel  and 
came  to  anchor  in  the  new  harbor  of  Csssarea,  the  handsome  city 
which  Herod  had  rebuilt  and  named  in  honor  of  the  emperor. 

To  imagine  incidents  when  none  are  recorded,  and  confidently 
lay  down  a  route  without  any  authority,  would  be  inexcusable  in 
writing  on  this  subject.  But  to  imagine  the  feelings  of  a  Hebrew 
boy  on  his  first  visit  to  the  Holy  Land  is  neither  difficult  nor 
blamable.  During  this  journey  Saul  had  around  him  a  different 
scenery  and  different  cultivation  to  what  he  had  been  accustomed 
to — not  a  river,  and  a  wide  plain  covered  with  harvests  of  corn, 
but  a  succession  of  hills  and  valleys,  with  terraced  vineyards 
watered  by  artificial  irrigation.  If  it  was  the  time  of  a  festival, 
many  pilgrims  were  moving  in  the  same  direction  with  music  and 
songs  of  Zion.  The  ordinary  road  would  probably  be  that  mc^n- 
tioned  in  the  Acts,  which  led  from  Coesarea  through  the  town  of 
Antipatris  (xxiii.  31).  But  neither  of  these  places  would  possess 
much  interest  for  a  '^Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews."  The  one  was 
associated  with  the  thoughts  of  the  Komans  and  of  modern  times: 
the  other  had  been  built  by  Herod  in  memory  of  Antipater,  his 
Idumsean  father.  But  objects  were  not  wanting  of  the  deepest 
interest  to  a  child  of  Benjamin.    Those  far  hilltops  on  the  left 


THE  FIRST  VIEW  OF  JERUSALEM. 


59 


were  close  upon  Mount  Gilboa,  even  if  the  very  place  could  not  be 
seen  where  "the  Philistines  fought  against  Israel,  .  .  .  and  the 
battle  went  sore  against  Saul,  .  .  .  and  he  fell  on  his  sword  .  .  .  and 
died,  and  his  three  sons,  and  his  armor-bearer,  and  all  his  men  that 
same  day  together"  (1  Sam.  xxxi.  1-6).  After  passing  through 
the  lots  of  the  tribes  of  Manasseh  and  Ephraim  the  traveller  from 
Csesarea  came  to  the  borders  of  Benjamin.  The  children  of  Rachel 
were  together  in  Canaan  as  they  had  been  in  the  desert.  The  lot 
of  Benjamin  w^as  entered  near  Bethel,  memorable  for  the  piety  of 
Jacob,  the  songs  of  Deborah,  the  sin  of  Jeroboam,  and  the  zeal  of 
Josiah.  Onward  a  short  distance  was  Gibeah,  the  home  of  Saul 
when  he  was  anointed  king  (1  Sam.  x.  26),  and  the  scene  of  the 
crime  and  desolation  of  the  . tribe  which  made  it  the  smallest  of  the 
tribes  of  Israel  ( Judg.  xx.  43,  etc.).  Might  it  not  be  too  truly  said 
concerning  the  Israelites  even  of  that  period,  "  They  have  deeply 
corrupted  themselves,  as  in  the  days  of  Gibeah :  therefore  the  Lord 
will  remember  their  iniquity,  he  will  visit  their  sins  "  ?  (Hos.  ix.  9). 
At  a  later  stage  of  his  life  such  thoughts  of  the  unbelief  and  in- 
iquity of  Israel  accompanied  Paul  wherever  he  went.  At  the  early 
age  of  tw^elve  years  all  his  enthusiasm  could  find  an  adequate 
object  in  the  earthly  Jerusalem,  the  first  view  of  which  would  be 
descried  about  this  part  of  the  journey.  From  the  time  when  the 
line  of  the  city  wall  was  seen  all  else  was  forgotten.  The  farther 
border  of  Benjamin  was  almost  reached.  The  rabbis  said  that  the 
boundary -line  of  Benjamin  and  Judah,  the  two  faithful  tribes, 
passed  through  the  temple.  And  this  city  and  temple  were  the 
common  sanctuary  of  all  Israelites:  "Thither  the  tribes  go  up, 
even  the  tribes  of  the  Lord :  to  testify  unto  Israel,  to  give  thanks 
unto  the  name  of  the  Lord.  There  is  little  Benjamin  their  ruler, 
and  the  princes  of  Judah  their  council,  the  princes  of  Zebulon  and 
the  princes  of  Naphtali:  for  there  is  the  seat  of  judgment,  even 
the  seat  of  the  house  of  David."  And  now  the  temple's  glittering 
roof  Avas  seen,  with  the  buildings  of  Zion  crowning  the  eminence 
above  it,  and  the  ridge  of  the  Mount  of  Olives  rising  high  over  all. 
And  now  the  city  gate  was  passed  with  that  thrill  of  the  heart 
which  none  but  a  Jew  could  know.  "Our  feet  stand  within  thy 
gates,  O  Jerusalem.  Oh  pray  for  the  peace  of  Jerusalem  :  they  shall 
prosper  that  love  thee.  Peace  be  within  thy  walls,  and  plenteous- 
ness  within  thy  palaces.    O  God,  wonderful  art  thou  in  thy  holy 


60 


LIFL  AND  ICPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


places:  even  the  God  of  Israel.  He  will  give  strength  and  power 
unto  his  people.    Blessed  b6  God.'' 

And  now  that  this  young  enthusiastic  Jew  is  come  into  the  land 
of  his  forefathers,  and  is  about  to  receive  his  education  in  the 
schools  of  the  Holy  City,  we  may  pause  to  give  some  description 
of  the  state  of  Judoea  and  Jerusalem.  We  have  seen  that  it  is 
impossible  to  fix  the  exact  date  of  his  arrival,  but  we  know  the 
general  features  of  the  period ;  and  we  can  easily  form  to  ourselves 
some  idea  of  the  i3olitical  and  religious  condition  of  Palestine. 

Herod  was  now  dead.  The  tyrant  had  been  called  to  his  last 
account,  and  that  eventful  reign,  which  had  destroyed  the  nation- 
ality of  the  Jews  while  it  maintained  their  apparent  independence, 
was  over.  It  is  most  likely  that  Archelaus  also  had  ceased  to 
govern,  and  was  already  in  exile.  His  accession  to  power  had 
been  attended  with  dreadful  fighting  in  the  streets,  with  bloodshed 
at  sacred  festivals,  and  wuth  wholesale  crucifixions;  his  reign  of 
ten  years  was  one  continued  season  of  disorder  and  discontent; 
and  at  last  he  was  banished  to  Vienna  on  the  Rlione,  that  Judsea 
might  be  formally  constituted  into  a  Roman  province.  We  sup- 
pose Saul  to  have  come  from  Tarsus  to  Jerusalem  when  one  of  the 
four  governors  v.dio  preceded  Pontius  Pilate  was  in  power — either 
Coponius,  or  Marcus  Ambivius,  or  Annius  Ilufus,  or  Valerius 
Gratus.  The  governor  resided  in  the  town  of  Coesarea.  Soldiers 
were  quartered  there  and  at  Jerusalem,  and  throughout  Judaea 
wherever  the  turbulence  of  the  peo])le  made  garrisons  necessary. 
Centurions  were  in  the  country  towns  (Luke  vii.  1-10),  soldiers  on 
the  banks  of  the  Jordan  (Luke  iii.  14).  There  w^as  no  longer  the 
semblance  of  independence.  The  revolution  of  which  Herod  liad 
sown  the  seeds  now  came  to  maturity.  The  only  change  since  his 
death  in  the  appearance  of  the  country  v>^as  that  everything  became 
more  Eoman  than  before.  Roman  money  was  current  in  the 
markets ;  Eoman  words  were  incorporated  in  the  popular  language ; 
Roman  buildings  were  conspicuous  in  all  the  towns.  Even  those 
two  independent  principalities  w^hich  two  sons  of  Herod  gcverned, 
between  the  provinces  of  Judi)ea  and  Syria,  exhibited  all  the 
general  character  of  the  epoch.  Philip,  the  tetrarch  of  Gaulonitis, 
called  Bethsaida,  on  the  north  of  the  Lake  of  Gennesareth,  by  the 
name  of  Julias,  in  honor  of  the  family  wdio  reigned  at  Rome; 
Antipas,  the  tetrarch  of  Galilee,  built  Tiberias  on  the  south  of  the 


OF  THP 


THE  RABBINICAL  SCHOOLS, 


61 


same  lake,  in  honor  of  the  emperor  who  about  this  time  (a.  d.  14) 
succeeded  his  illustrious  father. 

These  political  changes  had  been  attended  with  a  gradual  alter- 
ation in  the  national  feelings  of  the  Jews  with  regard  to  their 
religion.  That  the  sentiment  of  political  nationality  was  not 
extinguished  was  proved  too  well  by  all  the  horrors  of  Vespasian's 
and  Hadrian's  reigns  ;  but  there  w^as  a  growing  tendency  to  cling 
rather  to  their  Law  and  religion  as  the  centre  of  their  unity. 
The  great  conquests  of  the  heathen  powers  may  have  been  intended 
by  Divine  Providence  to  prepare  this  change  in  the  Jewish  mind. 
Even  under  the  Maccabees  the  idea  of  the  state  began  to  give 
place,  in  some  degree,  to  the  idea  of  religious  life.  Under  Herod 
the  old  unity  was  utterly  broken  to  pieces.  The  high  priests  were 
set  up  and  put  down  at  his  caprice,  and  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
Sanhedrin  was  still  more  abridged ;  and  high  priests  were  raised 
and  deposed,  as  the  Christian  patriarchs  of  Constantinople  have 
for  some  ages  been  raised  and  deposed  by  the  sultan,  so  that  it  is 
often  a  matter  of  great  difficulty  to  ascertain  who  was  high  priest 
at  Jerusalem  in  any  given  year  at  this  period.  Thus  the  hearts  of 
the  Jews  turned  more  and  more  towards  the  fulfilment  of 
prophecy — to  the  practice  of  religion — to  the  interpretation  of  the 
Law.  All  else  was  now  hopeless.  The  Pharisees,  the  Scribes,  and 
the  lawyers  were  growing  into  a  more  important  body  even  than 
the  priests  and  Levites,  and  that  system  of  rabbinism  '*  was 
beginning  "which,  supplanting  the  original  religion  of  the  Jews, 
became,  after  the  ruin  of  the  temple  and  the  extinction  of  the 
public  worship,  a  new  bond  of  national  union,  the  great  distinctive 
feature  in  the  character  of  modern  Judaism. 

The  apostolic  age  was  remarkable  for  the  growth  of  learned 
rabbinical  schools,  but  of  these  the  most  eminent  were  the  rival 
schools  of  Hillel  and  Schammai.  These  sages  of  the  Law  were 
spoken  of  by  the  Jews,  and  their  proverbs  quoted,  as  the  Seven 
Wise  Men  were  quoted  by  the  Greeks.  Their  traditional  systems 
run  through  all  the  Talmudical  writings,  as  the  doctrines  of  the 
Scotists  and  Thomists  run  through  the  Middle  Ages.  Both  were 
Pharisaic  schools,  but  the  former  upheld  the  honor  of  tradition  as 
even  superior  to  the  Law;  the  latter  despised  the  traditions  wlien 
they  clashed  with  Moses.  The  antagonism  between  them  was  so 
great  that  it  was  said  that  "Elijah  the  Tishbite  would  never  be 
able  to  reconcile  the  disciples  of  Hillel  and  Schammai.'^ 


62  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Of  these  two  schools,  that  of  Hillel  was  by  far  the  most  influen- 
tial in  its  own  day,  and  its  decisions  have  been  held  authoritative 
by  the  greater  number  of  later  rabbis.  The  most  eminent  orna- 
ment of  this  school  was  Gamaliel,  whose  fame  is  celebrated  in  the 
Talmud.  Hillel  was  the  father  of  Simeon,  and  Simeon  the  father 
of  Gamaliel.  It  has  been  imagined  by  some  that  Simeon  was  the 
same  old  man  who  took  the  infant  Saviour  in  his  arms  and  pro- 
nounced the  Nunc  Dbnitiis  (Luke  ii.  25-35).  It  is  difficult  to  give 
a  conclusive  proof  of  this,  but  there  is  no  doubt  that  this  Gamaliel 
was  the  same  who  wisely  pleaded  the  cause  of  Peter  and  the  other 
apostles  (Acts  v.  34-40),  and  who  had  previously  educated  the 
future  apostle,  Paul  (Acts  xxii.  3).  His  learning  was  so  eminent 
and  his  character  so  revered  that  he  is  one  of  the  seven  who  alone 
among  Jewish  doctors  have  been  honored  with  the  title  of  rab- 
ban.''  As  Aquinas,  among  the  Schoolmen,  was  called  Doctor  An- 
gelicus,  and  Bonaventura  Doctor  Seraphicus,  so  Gamaliel  was  called 
the  "  Beauty  of  the  Law and  it  is  a  saying  of  the  Talmud  that 
"since  Eabban  Gamaliel  died  the  glory  of  the  Law  has  ceased." 
He  was  a  Pharisee,  but  anecdotes  are  told  of  him  which  show  that 
he  was  not  trammelled  by  the  narrow  bigotry  of  the  sect.  He  had 
no  antipathy  to  the  Greek  learning.  He  rose  above  the  prejudices 
of  his  party.  Our  impulse  is  to  class  him  with  the  best  of  the 
Pharisees,  like  Nicodemus  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea.  Candor 
and  wisdom  seem  to  have  been  the  features  of  his  character ;  and 
this  agrees  with  what  we  read  of  him  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles, 
that  he  was  "  had  in  reputation  of  all  the  people,"  and  with  his 
honest  and  intelligent  argument  when  Peter  was  brought  before 
the  council.  It  has  been  imagined  by  some  that  he  became  a 
Christian ;  and  why  he  did  not  become  so  is  known  only  to  Him 
who  understands  the  secrets  of  the  human  heart.  But  he  lived 
and  died  a  Jew,  and  a  well-known  prayer  against  Christian  heretics 
was  composed  or  sanctioned  by  him.  He  died  eighteen  years  before 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem,  about  the  time  of  PauFs  shipwreck 
at  Malta,  and  was  buried  with  great  honor.  Another  of  his  pupils, 
Onkelos,  the  author  of  the  celebrated  Targum,  raised  to  him  such 
a  funeral  pile  of  rich  materials  as  had  never  been  known  except  at 
the  burial  of  a  king. 

If  we  were  briefly  to  specify  the  three  eflects  which  the  teaching 
and  example  of  Gamaliel  may  be  supposed  to  have  produced  on 
the  mind  of  Paul,  they  would  be  as  follows :  candor  and  honesty 


TEACHING  IN  THE  RABBINICAL  SCHOOLS.  63 


of  judgment,  a  willingness  to  study  and  make  use  of  Greet  autliors, 
and  a  keen  and  watchful  enthusiasm  for  the  Jewish  law.  We  shall 
see  these  traits  of  character  soon  exemplified  in  his  life.  But  it  is 
time  that  we  should  inquire  into  the  manner  of  communicating 
instruction,  and  lea.rn  something  concerning  the  places  where  in- 
struction was  communicated,  in  the  schools  of  Jerusalem. 

Until  the  formation  of  the  later  rabbinical  colleges  which  flou- 
rished after  the  Jews  were  driven  from  Jerusalem  the  instruction 
in  the  divinity  schools  seems  to  have  been  chiefly  oral.  There  was 
a  prejudice  against  the  use  of  any  book  except  the  Sacred  Writings. 
The  system  was  one  of 'scriptural  exegesis.  Josephus  remarks  at 
the  close  of  his  Antiquities  that  the  one  thing  most  prized  by  his 
countrymen  was  power  in  the  exposition  of  Scripture.  They 
give  to  that  man,''  he  says,  '4he  testimony  of  being  a  wise  man 
who  is  fully  acquainted  with  our  laws  and  is  able  to  interpret  their 
meaning.''  So  far  as  we  are  able  to  learn  from  our  sources  of  in- 
formation, the  method  of  instruction  was  something  of  this  kind: 
At  the  meetings  of  learned  men  some  passage  of  the  Old  Testament 
was  taken  as  a  text,  or  some  topic  for  discussion  propounded  in 
Hebrew,  translated  into  the  vernacular  tongue  by  means  of  a 
Chaldee  paraphrase,  and  made  the  subject  of  commentary ;  various 
interpretations  wxre  given  ;  aphorisms  were  propounded ;  allegories 
suggested  ;  and  the  opinions  of  ancient  doctors  quoted  and  discussed. 
At  these  discussions  the  younger  students  were  present  to  listen  or 
to  inquire,  or,  in  the  sacred  words  of  Luke,  ''both  hearing  them  and 
asking  them  questions ;"  for  it  was  a  peculiarity  of  the  Jewish  schools 
that  the  pupil  was  encouraged  to  catechize  the  teacher.  Contradict- 
ory opinions  were  expressed  with  the  utmost  freedom.  This  is  evident 
from  a  cursory  examination  of  the  Talmud,  which  gives  us  the  best 
notions  of  the  scholastic  disputes  of  the  Jews.  This  remarkable 
body  of  rabbinical  jurisprudence  has  been  compared  to  the  Eoman 
body  of  civil  law,  but  in  one  respect  it  might  suggest  a  better  com- 
parison with  the  English  com.mon  law,  in  that  it  is  a  vast  accumu- 
lation of  various  and  often  inconsistent  precedents :  the  arguments 
and  opinions  which  it  contains  show  very  plainly  that  the  Jewish 
doctors  must  often  have  been  occupied  with  the  most  frivolous 
questions;  that  the  niint,  anise,  and  cummin"  were  eagerly  dis- 
cussed, while  the  ''weightier  matters  of  the  law"  were  neglected; 
but  we  should  not  be  justified  in  passing  a  hasty  judgment  on 
ancient  volumes,  which  are  full  of  acknowledged  difficulties. 


64  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OP  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

What  we  read  of  the  system  of  the  Cabbala  has  often  the  appear- 
ance of  unintelligible  jargon,  but  in  all  ages  it  has  been  true  that 
the  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads,  and  as  nails  fastened  by  the 
masters  of  assemblies."  If  we  could  look  back  on  the  assemblies 
of  the  rabbis  of  Jerusalem,  with  Gamaliel  in  the  midst  and  Saul 
among  the  younger  speakers,  it  is  possible  that  the  scene  would  be 
as  strange  and  as  different  from  a  place  of  modern  education  as 
the  schools  now  seen  by  travellers  in  the  East  differ  from  contem- 
porary  schools  in  England.  But  the  same  might  be  said  of  the 
walks  of  Plato  in  the  Academy  or  the  lectures  of  Aristotle  in  the 
Lyceum.  It  is  certain  that  these  free  and  public  discussions  of  the 
Jews  tended  to  create  a  high  degree  of  general  intelligence  among 
the  people;  that  the  students  were  trained  there  in  a  system  of  ex- 
cellent dialectics  ;  that  they  learnt  to  express  themselves  in  a  rapid 
and  sententious  style,  often  with  much  poetical  feeling,  and  ac- 
quired an  admirable  acquaintance  with  the  words  of  the  ancient 
Scriptures. 

These  "Assemblies  of  the  Wise were  possibly  a  continuation 
of  the  "  Schools  of  the  Prophets,"  which  are  mentioned  in  the  his- 
torical books  of  the  Old  Testament.  Wherever  the  earlier  meet- 
ings were  held,  whether  at  the  gate  of  the  city  or  in  some  more 
secluded  place,  we  read  of  no  buildings  for  purposes  of  worship  or 
instruction  before  the  Captivity.  During  that  melancholy  period, 
when  they  mourned  over  their  separation  from  the  temple,  the  ne- 
cessity of  assemblies  must  have  been  deeply  felt  for  united  prayer 
and  mutual  exhortation,  for  the  singing  of  the  "  songs  of  Zion," 
and  of  remembering  the  "  word  of  the  Lord."  When  they  re- 
turned, the  public  reading  of  the  Law  became  a  practice  of  uni- 
versal interest,  and  from  this  period  we  m.ust  date  the  erection  of 
sy7iagogues  in  the  different  towns  of  Palestine.  So  that  James 
could  say,  in  the  council  at  Jerusalem,  "  Moses  of  old  time  hath  in 
every  city  them  that  preach  him,  being  read  in  the  synagogues 
every  sabbath  day."  To  this  later  period  the  74tli  Psalm  may  be 
referred,  which  laments  over  ^'the  burning  of  all  the  synagogues 
of  God  in  the  land."  These  buildings  are  not  mentioned  by  Jose- 
phus  in  any  of  the  earlier  passages  of  his  history.  But  in  the  time 
of  the  apostles  we  have  the  fullest  evidence  that  they  existed  in  all 
the  small  towns  in  Juda3a  and  in  all  the  principal  cities  where  the 
Jews  were  dispersed  abroad.  It  seems  that  the  synagogues  often 
consisted  of  two  apartments — one  for  prayer,  preaching,  and  the 


THE  POSTURE  OF  THE  SCHOLARS. 


65 


offices  of  public  worship;  the  other  for  the  meetings  of  learned 
men,  for  discussion  concerning  questions  of  religion  and  discipline, 
and  for  purposes  of  education.  Thus  the  synagogues  and  the  schools 
cannot  be  considered  as  two  separate  subjects.  No  doubt  a  distinc- 
tion must  be  drawn  between  the  smaller  schools  of  the  country 
villages  and  the  great  divinity  schools  of  Jerusalem.  The  syna- 
gogue which  was  built  by  the  centurion  at  Capernaum  was  no 
doubt  a  far  less  important  place  than  those  synagogues  in  the 
Holy  City  where  "the  Libertines,  and  Cyrenians,  and  Alexandrians, 
with  those  of  Asia  and  Cilicia,''  rose  up  as  one  man  and  disputed 
against  Stephen.  We  have  here  five  groups  of  foreign  Jews — two 
from  Africa,  two  from  Western  Asia,  and  one  from  Europe — and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  Israelites  of  Syria,  Babylonia,  and  the 
East  were  similarly  represented.  The  rabbinical  writers  say  that 
there  were  four  hundred  and  eighty  synagogues  in  Jerusalem ;  and 
though  this  must  be  an  exaggeration,  yet  no  doubt  all  shades  of 
Hellenistic  and  Aramaic  opinions  found  a  home  in  the  connnon 
metropolis.  It  is  easy  to  see  that  an  eager  and  enthusiastic  student 
could  have  had  no  lack  of  excitements  to  stimulate  his  religious 
and  intellectual  activity  if  he  spent  the  years  of  his  youth  in  that 
city    at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel.'^ 

It  has  been  contended  that  when  Paul  said  he  was  "brought 
up"  in  Jerusalem  "  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel/^  he  meant  that  he  had 
lived  at  the  rabban's  house  and  eaten  at  his  table.  But  the  words 
evidently  point  to  the  customary  posture  of  Jewish  students  at  a 
school.  There  is  a  curious  passage  in  the  Talmud,  wdiere  it  is  said 
that  "  from  the  days  of  Moses  to  Rabban  Gamaliel  tliey  stood  up  to 
learn  the  Law;  but  when  Eabban  Gamaliel  died,  sickness  came 
into  the  world,  and  they  sat  down  to  learn  the  Law.''  We  need 
not  stop  to  criticise  this  sentence,  and  it  is  not  easy  to  reconcile  it 
with  other  authorities  on  the  same  subject.  "  To  sit  at  the  feet  of  a 
teacher"  was  a  proverbial  expression,  as  when  Mary  is  said  to 
nave  "  sat  at  Jesus'  feet  and  heard  his  word."  But  the  proverbial 
expression  must  have  arisen  from  a  well-known  custom.  The 
teacher  was  seated  on  an  elevated  platform  or  on  the  ground,  and 
the  pupils  around  him  on  low  seats  or  on  the  floor.  Maimonides 
says,  "  How  do  the  masters  teach  ?  The  doctor  sits  at  the  head, 
and  the  disciples  around  him  like  a  crown,  that  they  may  all  see 
the  doctor  and  hear  his  words.  Nor  is  the  doctor  seated  on  a  seat^ 
and  the  disciples  on  the  ground :  but  all  are  on  seats,  or  all  on  the 
6 


66 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


floor."  Ambrose  says,  in  his  commentary  on  the  the  First  Epistle 
to  the  Corinthians  (xiv.),  that  ''it  is  the  tradition  of  the  synagogue 
that  they  sit  while  they  dispute ;  the  elders  in  dignity  on  high 
chairs,  those  beneath  them  on  low  seats,  and  the  last  of  all  on  mats 
upon  the  pavement."  And  again,  Philo  says  that  the  children  of 
the  Essenes  sat  at  the  feet  of  the  masters,  who  interpreted  the  Law 
and  explained  its  figurative  sense.  And  the  same  thing  is  expressed 
in  that  maxim  of  the  Jews,  "  Place  thyself  in  the  dust  at  the  feet 
of  the  wise." 

In  this  posture  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  spent  his  schoolboy  days, 
an  eager  and  indefatigable  student.  "  He  that  giveth  his  mind  to 
tlie  law  of  the  Most  High,  and  is  occupied  in  the  meditation  thereof, 
will  seek  out  the  wisdom  of  all  the  ancient  and  be  occupied  in 
prophecies.  He  will  keep  the  sayings  of  the  renowned  men ;  and 
where  subtle  parables  are,  he  will  be  there  also.  Pie  will  seek  out 
the  secrets  of  grave  sentences,  and  be  conversant  in  dark  parables. 
He  shall  serve  among  great  men,  and  appear  among  princes :  he 
will  travel  through  strange  countries ;  for  he  hath  tried  the  good 
and  the  evil  among  men  "  (Eccles.  xxxix.  1-4).  Such  was  the  pattern 
proposed  to  himself  by  an  ardent  follower  of  the  rabbis ;  and  we  can- 
not wonder  that  Saul,  with  such  a  standard  before  him  and  with  so 
ardent  a  temperament,  "made  progress  in  the  Jews'  religion  above 
many  of  his  contemporaries  in  his  own  nation,  being  more  exceed- 
ingly zealous  of  the  traditions  of  his  fathers"  (Gal.i.  14).  Intellect- 
ually, his  mind  was  trained  to  logical  acuteness,  his  memory  became 
well  stored  with  hard  sentences  of  old,  and  he  acquired  the  facility 
of  quick  and  apt  quotation  of  Scripture.  Morally,  he  was  a  strict 
observer  of  the  requirements  of  the  Law;  and,  while  he  led  a 
careful,  conscientious  life,  after  the  example  of  his  ancestors,  he 
gradually  imbibed  the  spirit  of  a  fervent  persecuting  zeal.  Among 
his  fellow-students,  who  flocked  to  Jerusalem  from  Egypt  and 
Babylonia,  from  the  coasts  of  Greece  and  his  native  Cilicia,  he  was 
known  and  held  in  high  estimation  as  a  rising  light  in  Israel.  And 
if  we  may  draw  a  natural  inference  from  another  sentence  of  the 
letter  which  has  just  been  quoted,  he  was  far  from  indiflerent  to  the 
praise  of  men.  Students  of  the  law  were  called  "  the  holy  people  ;" 
and  we  know  one  occasion  when  it  was  said,  "  This  people  who 
knoweth  not  the  Law  are  cursed."  And  we  can  imagine  him 
saying  to  himself,  with  all  the  rising  pride  of  a  successful 
Pharisee,  in  the  language  of  the  Book  of  Wisdom,  "  I  shall  have 


Paul's  student-life. 


67 


estimation  among  the  multitude  and  honor  with  the  elders,  though 
I  be  young.  I  shall  be  found  of  a  quick  conceit  in  judgment,  and 
shall  be  admired  in  the  sight  of  great  men.  When  I  hold  my 
tongue,  they  shall  bide  my  leisure ;  and  when  I  speak,  they  shall 
give  good  ear  unto  me." 

While  thus  he  was  passing  through  the  busy  years  of  his  student- 
life,  nursing  his  religious  enthusiasm  and  growing  in  self-right- 
eousness, others  were  advancing  towards  their  manhood,  not  far 
from  Jerusalem,  of  w^iom  then  he  knew  nothing,  but  for  whose 
cause  he  was  destined  to  count  that  loss  which  now  was  his  high- 
est gain.  There  was  one  at  Hebron,  the  son  of  a  priest  "  of  the 
course  of  Abia,"  who  was  soon  to  make  his  voice  heard  throughout 
Israel  as  the  preacher  of  repentance ;  there  were  boys  by  the  Lake 
of  Galilee,  mending  their  father's  nets,  who  were  hereafter  to  be 
the  teachers  of  the  world ;  and  there  was  One  at  Nazareth  for  the 
sake  of  whose  love  they,  and  Saul  himself,  and  thousands  of  faith- 
ful hearts  throughout  all  future  ages,  should  unite  in  saying,  ^^He 
must  increase,  but  I  must  decrease."  It  is  possible  that  Gamaliel 
may  have  been  one  of  those  doctors  with  whom  Jesns  was  found 
conversing  in  the  temple.  It  is  probable  that  Saul  may  have  been 
within  the  precincts  of  the  temple  at  some  festival  when  Mary  and 
Joseph  came  up  from  Galilee.  It  is  certain  that  the  eyes  of  the 
Saviour  and  of  his  future  disciple  must  often  have  rested  on  the 
same  objects — the  same  crowd  of  pilgrims  and  worshippers,  the 
same  walls  of  the  Holy  City,  the  same  olives  on  the  other  side  of 
the  Valley  of  Jehoshaphat.  But  at  present  they  were  strangers. 
The  mysterious  human  life  of  Jesus  was  silently  advancing  towards 
its  great  consummation.  Saul  was  growing  more  and  more  famil- 
liar  with  the  outward  observances  of  the  Law,  and  gaining  that  ex- 
perience of  the  spirit  of  bondage"  which  should  enable  him  to 
understand  himself,  and  to  teach  to  others,  the  blessings  of  the 
spirit  of  adoption."  He  was  feeling  the  pressure  of  that  yoke 
which  in  the  words  of  Peter  "  neither  his  fathers  nor  he  were  able  to 
bear."  He  was  learning  (in  proportion  as  his  conscientiousness 
increased)  to  tremble  at  the  slightest  deviation  from  the  Law  as 
jeopardizing  salvation,"  whence  arose  that  tormenting  scrupulosity 
which  invented  a  number  of  limitations  in  order  (by  such  self- 
imposed  restraint)  to  guard  against  every  jDossible  transgression  of 
the  Law."  The  struggles  of  this  period  of  his  life  he  has  himself 
described  in  the  seventh  chapter  of  Romans.    Meanwhile,  year 


68  LIFE  AND  KPISTLES  UE  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


after  year  passed  away.  Jolm  the  Baptist  appeared  by  the  waters 
of  the  Jordan.  The  greatest  event  of  the  world's  history  w^as 
finished  on  Calvary.  The  sacrifice  for  sin  was  offered  at  a  time 
when  sin  appeared  to  be  most  triumphant.  At  the  period  of  the 
crucifixion  three  of  the  principal  persons  who  demand  the  histo- 
rian's attention  are — the  emperor  Tiberius,  spending  his  life  of 
shameless  lust  on  the  island  of  Capreoe,  his  vile  minister,  Sejanus, 
revelling  in  cruelty  at  Eome,  and  Pontius  Pilate  at  Jerusalem, 
mingling  with  the  sacrifices  the  blood  of  the  Galileans.  How  re- 
freshing is  it  to  turn  from  these  characters  to  such  scenes  as  that 
where  John  receives  his  Lord's  dying  words  from  the  cross,  or 
where  Thomas  meets  him  after  the  resurrection  to  have  his  doubts 
turned  into  faith,  or  where  Stephen  sheds  the  first  blood  of  mar- 
tyrdom, praying  for  his  murderers! 

This  first  martyrdom  has  the  deepest  interest  for  us,  since  it  is 
the  first  occasion  when  Saul  comes  before  us  in  his  early  manhood. 
Where  had  he  been  during  these  years  which  we  have  rapidly 
passed  over  in  a  few  lines — the  years  in  which  the  foundations  of 
Christianity  were  laid?  We  cannot  assume  that  he  had  remained 
continuously  in  Jerusalem.  Many  years  had  elapsed  since  he  came, 
a  boy,  from  his  home  at  Tarsus.  He  must  have  attained  the  age  of 
twenty-five  or  thirty  years  when  our  Lord's  public  ministry  began. 
His  education  was  completed,  and  we  may  conjecture,  with  much 
j)robability,  that  he  returned  to  Tarsus.  When  he  says  in  the  first 
letter  to  the  Corinthians  (ix.  1),  Have  I  not  seen  the  Lord?" 
and  when  he  speaks  in  the  second  (v.  16)  of  having  "  known  Christ 
after  the  flesh,"  he  seems  only  to  allude  in  the  first  case  to  his  vision 
on  the  road  to  Damascus,  and  in  the  second  to  his  carnal  opinions 
concerning  the  Messiah.  It  is  hardly  conceivable  that  if  he  had 
been  at  Jerusalem  during  our  Lord's  public  ministration  there  he 
should  never  allude  to  the  fact.  In  this  case  he  would  surely  have 
been  among  the  persecutors  of  Jesus,  and  have  referred  to  this  as 
the  ground  of  his  remorse,  instead  of  expressing  his  repentance  for 
his  opposition  merely  to  the  Saviour's  followers. 

If  he  returned  to  the  banks  of  the  Cydnus,  he  would  find  that 
many  changes  had  taken  place  among  his  friends  in  the  interval 
which  had  brought  him  from  boyhood  to  manhood.  But  the  only 
change  in  himself  was  that  he  brought  back  with  him,  to  gratify 
the  pride  of  liis  parents  if  they  still  were  living,  a  mature  know- 
ledge of  the  Law,  a  stricter  life,  a  more  fervent  zeal.    And  here, 


FIRST  PROCLAMATION  OF  THE  GOSREL. 


69 


in  the  schools  of  Tarsus,  he  had  abundant  opportunity  for  becom- 
ing acquainted  with  that  Greek  literature  the  taste  for  which  he 
had  caught  from  Gamaliel,  and  for  studying  the  writings  of  Philo 
and  the  Hellenistic  Jews.  Supposing  him  to  be  thus  employed, 
we  will  describe  in  a  few  words  the  first  beginnings  of  the  apostolic 
Church,  and  the  appearance  presented  by  it  to  that  Judaism  in  the 
midst  of  which  it  rose,  and  follow  its  short  history  to  the  point 
where  the  "young  man  whose  name  wasSauf  reappears  at  Jeru- 
salem, in  connection  with  his  friends  of  the  Cilician  synagogue, 
"  disputing  with  Stephen.'^ 

Before  our  Saviour  ascended  into  heaven  he  said  to  his  disciples, 
"  Ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all 
Judsea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth." 
And  when  Matthias  had  been  chosen,  and  the  promised  blessing 
had  been  received  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  this  order  was  strictly 
followed.  First,  the  gospel  was  proclaimed  in  the  city  of  Jerusa- 
lem, and  the  numbers  of  those  who  believed  gradually  rose  from 
one  hundred  and  twenty  to  five  thousand.  Until  the  disciples 
were  "scattered,''  "upon  the  persecution  that  arose  a.bout 
Stephen,"  Jerusalem  was  the  scene  of  all  that  took  place  in  the 
Church  of  Christ.  We  read  as  yet  of  no  communication  of  the 
truth  to  the  Gentiles  nor  to  the  Samaritans — no  hint  even  of  any 
apostolic  preaching  in  the  country  parts  of  Judsea.  It  providen- 
tially happened,  indeed,  that  the  first  outburst  of  the  new  doc- 
trine, with  all  its  miraculous  evidence,  was  witnessed  by  "Jews 
ard  proselytes"  from  all  parfs  of  the  world.  They  had  come  up 
to  the  festival  of  Pentecost  from  the  banks  of  the  Tigris  and 
Euphrates,  of  the  Nile  and  of  the  Tiber,  from  the  provinces  of 
Asia  Minor,  from  the  desert  of  Arabia,  and  from  the  islands  of  the 
Greek  Sea;  and  when  they  returned  to  their  homes  they  carried 
with  them  news  which  prepared  the  way  for  the  glad  tidings  about 
to  issue  from  Mount  Zion  to  "  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earih." 
But  as  yet  the  gospel  lingered  on  the  Holy  Flill.  The  first  acts 
of  the  apostles  were  "prayer  and  supplication"  in  the  "upper 
room,"  breaking  of  bread  "  from  house  to  house,"  miracles  in  the 
temple,  gatherings  of  the  people  in  Solomon's  cloister,  and  the 
bearing  of  testimony  in  the  council-chamber  of  the  Sanhedrin. 

One  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  apostolic  Church,  con- 
sidered in  itself,  was  the  bountiful  charity  of  its  members  one 
towards  another.    Many  of  the  Jews  of  Palestine,  and  therefore 


70 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


many  of  the  earliest  Christian  converts,  were  extremely  poor. 
The  odium  incurred  by  adopting  the  new  doctrine  might  under- 
mine the  livelihood  of  some  who  depended  on  their  trade  for 
support,  and  this  would  make  almsgiving  necessary.  But  the  Jews 
of  Palestine  were  relatively  poor  compared  with  those  of  the  Dis- 
persion. We  see  this  exemplified  on  later  occasions  in  the 
contributions  which  Paul  more  than  once  anxiously  promoted. 
And  in  the  very  first  days  of  the  Church  we  find  its  wealthier 
members  placing  their  entire  possessions  at  the  disposal  of  the 
apostles.  Not  that  there  was  any  abolition  of  the  rights  of 
property,  as  the  words  of  Peter  to  Ananias  very  well  show.  But 
those  who  were  rich  gave  up  what  God  had  given  them  in  the 
spirit  of  generous  self-sacrifice,  and  according  to  the  true  principle 
of  Christian  communism,  which  regards  property  as  entrusted  to 
the  possessor,  not  for  himself,  but  for  the  good  of  the  whole  com- 
munity, to  be  distributed  according  to  such  methods  as  his 
charitable  feeling  and  conscientious  judgment  may  approve.  The 
apostolic  Church  was,  in  this  respect,  in  a  healthier  condition  than 
the  Church  of  modern  days.  But  even  then  we  find  ungenerous 
and  suspicious  sentiments  growing  up  in  the  midst  of  the  general 
benevolence.  That  old  jealousy  between  the  Aramaic  and  Hellen- 
istic Jews  reappeared.  Their  party  feeling  was  excited  by  some 
real  or  apparent  unfairness  in  the  distribution  of  the  fund  set 
apart  for  the  poor.  ^'A  murmuring  of  the  Grecians  against  the 
Hebrews,''  or  of  the  Hebrews  against  the  Grecians,  had  been  a 
common  occurrence  for  at  least  two  centuries,  and  notwithstanding 
the  power  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  none  will  wonder  that  it  broke  out 
again  even  among  those  who  had  become  obedient  to  the  doctrine 
of  Christ.  That  the  widows'  fund  might  be  carefully  distributed 
seven  almoners  or  deacons  were  appointed,  of  whom  the  most 
eminent  was  Stephen,  described  as  a  man  full  of  faith  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,"  and  as  one  who,  full  of  faith  and  power,  did  great 
wonders  and  miracles  among  the  people."  It  will  be  observed 
that  these  seven  men  have  Greek  names,  and  that  one  was  a 
proselyte  from  the  Greco-Syrian  city  of  Antioch.  It  was  natural, 
from  the  peculiar  character  of  the  quarrel,  that  Hellenistic  Jews 
should  have  been  appointed  to  this  oflice.  And  this  circumstance 
must  be  looked  on  as  divinely  arranged.  For  the  introduction 
of  that  party,  which  was  most  free  from  local  and  national  preju- 
dices into  the  very  ministry  of  the  Church  must  have  had  an 


OPPOSITION  TO  THE  NEW  FAITH. 


71 


important  influence  in  preparing  the  way  for  the  admission  of  the 
Gentiles. 

Looking  back,  from  our  point  of  view,  upon  the  community  at 
Jerusalem,  we  see  in  it  the  beginning  of  that  great  society,  the 
Church,  which  has  continued  to  our  own  time,  distinct  both  from 
Jews  and  heathen,  and  which  will  continue  till  it  absorbs  both  the 
heathen  and  the  Jews.  But  to  the  contemporary  Jews  themselves 
it  wore  a  very  different  appearance.  From  the  Hebrew  point  of 
view,  the  disciples  of  Christ  would  be  regarded  as  a  Jewish  sect  or 
synagogue.  The  synagogues,  as  we  have  seen,  were  very  numerous 
at  Jerusalem.  There  w^ere  already  the  Cilician  synagogue,  the 
Alexandrian  synagogue,  the  synagogue  of  the  Libertines,  and  to 
these  are  now  added  (if  we  may  use  so  bold  an  expression)  the 
Nazarene  synagogue  or  the  synagogue  of  the  Galileans.  Not  that 
any  separate  building  was  erected  for  the  devotions  of  the  Chris- 
tians, for  they  met  from  house  to  house  for  prayer  and  the  breaking 
of  bread.  But  they  were  by  no  means  separated  from  the  nation  ; 
they  attended  the  festivals ;  they  worshipped  in  the  temple.  They 
were  a  new  and  singular  party  in  the  nation,  holding  peculiar 
opinions  and  interpreting  the  Scriptures  in  a  peculiar  way.  This 
is  the  aspect  under  which  the  Church  would  first  present  itself  to 
the  Jews,  and  among  others  to  Saul  himself.  Many  different 
opinions  were  expressed  in  the  synagogues  concerning  the  nature 
and  office  of  the  Messiah.  These  Galileans  would  be  distinguished 
as  holding  the  strange  opinion  that  the  true  Messiah  was  ths.t 
notorious  malefactor'^  who  had  been  crucified  at  the  last  Pasv*- 
over.  All  parties  in  the  nation  united  to  oppose,  and  if  possible 
to  crush,  the  monstrous  heresy. 

The  first  attempts  to  put  down  the  new  faith  came  from  the 
Sadducees.  The  high  priest  and  his  immediate  adherents  belonged 
to  this  party.  They  hated  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection ;  and 
the  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ  was  the  corner-stone  of  all  Peter's 
teaching.  He  and  the  other  apostles  were  brought  before  the 
Sanhedrin,  who  in  the  first  instance  were  content  to  enjoin  silence 
on  them.  The  order  was  disobeyed,  and  they  were  summoned 
again.  The  consequences  might  have  been  fatal,  but  that  the 
jealousy  between  the  Sadducees  and  Pharisees  was  overruled,  and 
the  instrumentality  of  one  man's  wisdom  was  used  by  Almighty 
God  for  the  protection  of  his  servants.  Gamaliel,  the  eminent 
Pharisee,  argued  that  if  this  cause  were  not  of  God  it  would  come 


72 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


to  nothing,  like  the  work  of  other  impostors,  but  if  it  were  ef  God 
they  could  not  safely  resist  what  must  certainly  prevail ;  and  the 
apostles  of  Jesus  Christ  were  scourged,  and  allowed  to  "depart 
from  the  presence  of  the  council,  rejoicing  that  they  were  counted 
worthy  to  suffer  shame  for  his  name.''  But  it  was  impossible  that 
those  Pharisees  whom  Christ  had  always  rebuked  should  long  con- 
tinue to  be  protectors  of  the  Christians.  On  this  occasion  we  find 
the  teacher,  Gamaliel,  taking  Peter's  part:  at  the  next  persecution 
Saul,  the  pupil,  is  actively  concerned  in  the  murder  of  Stephen. 
It  was  the  same  alternation  of  the  two  prevailing  parties,  first  oppos- 
ing each  other,  and  then  uniting  to  oppose  the  gospel,  of  which 
Saul  himself  had  such  intimate  experience  when  he  became  Paul. 

In  many  particulars  Stephen  was  the  forerunner  of  Paul.  Up 
to  this  time  the  conflict  had  been  chiefly  maintained  with  the 
Aramaic  Jews,  but  Stephen  carried  the  war  of  the  gospel  into  the 
territory  of  the  Hellenists.  The  learned  members  of  the  foreign 
synagogues  endeavored  to  refute  him  by  argument  or  by  clamor. 
The  CUician  synagogue  is  particularly  mentioned  (Acts  vi.  9,  10) 
as  having  furnished  some  conspicuous  opponents  to  Stephen  who 
"  were  not  able  to  resist  the  wisdom  and  the  spirit  with  which 
he  spake."  We  cannot  doubt,  from  what  follows,  that  Saul  of 
Tarsus,  already  distinguished  by  his  zeal  and  talents  among  the 
younger  champions  of  Pharisaism,  bore  a  leading  part  in  the  dis- 
cussions which  here  took  place.  He  was  now,  though  still  "  a 
young  man"  (x\cts  vii.  58),  yet  no  longer  in  the  first  opening  of 
youth.  This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  he  was  appointed  to  an 
important  ecclesiastical  and  political  oflace  immediately  afterward. 
Such  an  appointment  he  could  hardly  have  received  from  the  San- 
he(|rin  before  the  age  of  thirty,  and  probably  not  so  early,  for  we 
must  remember  that  a  peculiar  respect  for  seniority  distinguished 
the  rabbinical  authorities.  We  can  imagine  Saul,  then,  the  fore- 
most in  the  Cilician  synagogue,  "disputing"  against  the  new  doc- 
trines of  the  Hellenistic  deacon  in  all  the  energy  of  vigorous 
manhood  and  with  all  the  vehement  logic  of  the  rabbis.  How 
often  must  these  scenes  have  been  recalled  to  his  mind  when  he 
himself  took  the  place  of  Stephen  in  many  a  synagogue  and  bore 
the  brunt  of  the  like  furious  assault,  surrounded  by  "Jews  filled 
with  envy,  who  spake  against  those  things  which  were  spoken  by 
Paul,  contradicting  and  blaspheming"  !  (Acts  xiii.  45).  But  this 
clamor  and  these  arguments  were  not  suflicient  to  convince  or 


THE  SANHEDRIN. 


73 


intimidate  Stephen.  False  witnesses  were  then  suborned  to 
accuse  him  of  blasphemy  against  Moses  and  against  God,  who 
asserted,  when  he  was  dragged  before  the  Sanhedrin,  that  they 
had  heard  him  say  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  should  destroy  the  tem- 
ple and  change  the  Mosaic  customs.  It  is  evident,  from  the  na- 
ture of  this  accusation,  how  remarkably  his  doctrine  was  an  an- 
ticipation of  PauPs.  As  an  Hellenistic  Jew  he  was  less  entangled 
in  the  prejudices  of  Hebrew  nationality  than  his  Aramaic  breth- 
ren, and  he  seems  to  have  had  a  fuller  understanding  of  the  final 
intention  of  the  gospel  than  Peter  and  the  apostles  had  yet 
attained  to.  Not  doubting  the  divinity  of  the  Mosaic  economy, 
and  not  faithless  to  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob,  he  yet 
saw  that  the  time  was  coming — yea,  then  was — when  the  ^'true 
worshippers"  should  worship  him  not  in  the  temple  only  or  in 
any  one  sacred  spot,  but  everywhere  throughout  the  earth,  "in 
spirit  and  in  truth ; "  and  for  this  doctrine  he  was  doomed  to 
die. 

When  we  speak  of  the  Sanhedrin^  we  are  brought  into  contact 
with  an  important  controversy.  It  is  much  disputed  whether  it 
had  at  this  period  the  power  of  inflicting  death.  On  the  one  hand, 
we  apparently  find  the  existence  of  this  power  denied  by  the  Jews 
themselves  at  the  trial  of  our  Lord ;  and  on  the  other  we  apparently 
find  it  assumed  and  acted  on  in  the  case  of  Stephen.  The  Sanhedrin 
at  Jerusalem,  like  the  Areopagus  at  Athens,  was  the  highest  and 
most  awful  court  of  judicature,  especially  in  matters  that  pertained 
to  religion ;  but,  like  that  Athenian  tribunal,  its  real  power  gradu- 
ally shrunk,  though  the  reverence  attached  to  its  decisions  remained. 
It  probably  assumed  its  systematic  form  under  the  second  Hyrcanus, 
and  it  became  a  fixed  institution  in  the  commonwealth  under  his 
sons,  who  would  be  glad  to  have  their  authority  nominally  limited, 
but  really  supported,  by  such  a  council.  Under  the  Herods  and 
under  the  Komans  its  jurisdiction  was  curtailed ;  and  we  are  in- 
formed on  Talmudical  authority  that  forty  years  before  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem  it  was  formally  deprived  of  the  power  of  inflicting 
death.  If  this  is  true,  we  must  consider  the  proceedings  at  the 
death  of  Stephen  as  tumultuous  and  irregular.  And  nothing  is 
more  probable  than  that  Pontius  Pilate  (if  indeed  he  was  not 
absent  at  the  time)  would  willingly  connive,  in  the  spirit  of  Gallio 
at  Corinth,  at  an  act  of  unauthorized  cruelty  in  "  a  question  of 
words  and  names  and  of  the  Jewish  Law,"  and  that  the  Jews 


74  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

would  willingly  assume  as  much  power  as  they  dared  when  the 
honor  of  Moses  and  the  temple  was  in  jeopardy. 

The  council  assembled  in  solemn  and  formal  state  to  try  the  blas- 
phemer. There  was  great  and  general  excitement  in  Jerusalem. 
"  The  people,  the  scribes,  and  the  elders  "  had  been  "  stirred  up 
by  the  members  of  the  Hellenistic  synagogue.  It  is  evident,  from 
that  vivid  expression  which  is  quoted  from  the  accusers'  mouths, 
this  place this  holy  place,  ^  that  the  meeting  of  the  Sanhedrin 
took  place  in  the  close  neighborhood  of  the  temple.  Their  ancient 
and  solemn  room  of  assembly  was  the  hall  Gazith,  or  the  "  Stone 
Chamber,"  partly  within  the  temple  court  and  partly  without  it. 
The  president  sat  in  the  less  sacred  portion,  and  around  him,  in  a 
semicircle,  were  the  rest  of  the  seventy  judges. 

Before  these  judges  Stephen  was  made  to  stand,  confronted  by 
his  accusers.  The  eyes  of  all  were  fixed  upon  his  countenance, 
which  grew  bright  as  they  gazed  on  it  with  a  supernatural  radiance 
and  serenity.  In  the  beautiful  Jewish  expression  of  the  Scripture, 
They  saw  his  face  as  it  had  been  that  of  an  angel."  The  judges, 
when  they  saw  his  glorified  countenance,  might  have  remembered 
the  shining  on  the  face  of  Moses,  and  trembled  lest  Stephen's  voice 
should  be  about  to  speak  the  will  of  Jehovah,  like  that  of  the  great 
lawgiver.  Instead  of  being  occupied  with  the  faded  glories  of  the 
second  temple,  they  might  have  recognized  in  the  spectacle  before 
them  the  Shechinah  of  the  Christian  soul,  which  is  the  living 
sanctuary  of  God.  But  the  trial  proceeded.  The  judicial  question 
to  which  the  accused  was  required  to  plead  was  put  by  the  presi- 
dent: "Are  these  things  so?"  And  then  Stephen  answered,  and 
his  clear  voice  was  heard  in  the  silent  council-hall  as  he  went 
through  the  history  of  the  chosen  people,  proving  his  own  deep 
faith  in  the  sacredness  of  the  Jewish  economy,  but  suggesting  here 
and  there  that  spiritual  interpretation  of  it  which  had  always  been 
the  true  one,  and  the  truth  of  which  was  now  to  be  made  manifest 
to  all.  He  began,  with  a  wise  discretion,  from  the  call  of  Abraham, 
and  travelled  historically  in  his  argument  through  all  the  great 
stages  of  their  national  existence — from  Abraham  to  Joseph,-- 
from  Joseph  to  Moses, — from  Moses  to  David  and  Solomon.  And 
as  he  went  on  he  selected  and  glanced  at  those  points  which  made 
for  his  own  cause.  He  showed  that  God's  blessing  rested  on  the 
faith  of  Abraham,  though  he  had  "  not  so  much  as  to  set  his  foot 
on  "  in  the  land  of  promise  (v.  5) ;  on  the  piety  of  Joseph,  though 


STEPHEN  THE  FORERUNNER  OF  PAUL. 


75 


he  was  an  exile  in  Egypt  (v.  9) ;  and  on  the  holiness  of  the  burn- 
ing bush,  though  in  the  desert  of  Sinai  (v.  30).  He  dwelt  in  detail 
on  the  lawgiver  in  such  a  way  as  to  show  his  own  unquestionable 
orthodoxy,  but  he  quoted  the  promise  concerning  "  the  Prophet  like 
unto  Moses"  (v.  37),  and  reminded  his  hearers  that  the  Law,  in 
which  they  trusted,  had  not  kept  their  forefathers  from  idolatry 
(v.  39,  etc.).  And  so  he  passed  on  to  the  temple,  which  had  so 
prominent  a  reference  to  the  charge  against  him,  and  while  he  spoke 
of  it  he  alluded  to  the  words  of  Solomon  himself,  and  of  the 
prophet  Isaiah,  who  denied  that  any  temple  "  made  with  hands 
could  be  the  place  of  God's  highest  worship.  And  thus  far  they 
listened  to  him.  It  was  the  story  of  the  chosen  people,  to  which 
every  Jew  listened  with  interest  and  pride. 

It  is  remarkable,  as  we  have  said  before,  how  completely  Stephen 
is  the  forerunner  of  Paul,  both  in  the  form  and  the  matter  of  this 
defence.  His  securing  the  attention  of  the  Jews  by  adopting  the 
historical  method  is  exactly  what  the  apostle  did  in  the  synagogue 
at  Antioch  in  Pisidia.  His  assertion  of  his  attachment  to  the  true 
principles  of  the  Mosaic  religion  is  exactly  what  was  said  to 
Agrippa :  "  I  continue  unto  this  day,  witnessing  both  to  small  and 
great,  saying  none  other  things  than  those  which  the  prophets  and 
Moses  did  say  should  come."  It  is  deeply  interesting  to  think  of 
Saul  as  listening  to  the  martyr's  voice  as  he  antedated  those  very 
arguments  which  he  himself  was  destined  to  reiterate  in  synagogues 
and  before  kings.  There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  he  was  present, 
although  he  may  not  have  been  qualified  to  vote  in  the  Sanhedrin. 
And  it  is  evident,  from  the  thoughts  which  occurred  to  him  in  his 
subsequent  vision  within  the  precincts  of  the  temple,  how  deep  an 
impression  Stephen's  death  had  left  on  his  memory.  And  there 
are  even  verbal  coincidences  which  may  be  traced  between  this 
address  and  Paul's  speeches  or  writings.  The  words  used  by 
Stephen  of  the  temple  call  to  mind  those  which  were  used  at 
Athens.  When  he  speaks  of  the  Law  as  received  by  the  disposi- 
tion of  angels,"  he  anticipates  a  phrase  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians  (iii.  19).  His  exclamation  at  the  end,  Ye  stiffnecked  and 
uncircumcised  in  heart,  .  .  .  who  have  received  the  Law  .  .  .  and 
have  not  kept  it,"  is  only  an  indignant  condensation  of  the  argu- 
ment in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans:  "Behold,  thou  art  called  a 
Jew,  and  restest  in  the  Law,  and  makest  thy  boast  of  God,  and 
knowest  his  will  .  .  .  Thou,  therefore,  that  makest  thy  boast  of 


76  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


the  Law,  through  breaking  the  Law  dishonourest  thou  God  ?  .  .  • 
He  is  not  a  Jew  which  is  one  outwardly ;  neither  is  that  circum- 
cision which  is  outward  in  the  flesh ;  but  he  is  a  Jew  which  is  one 
inwardly :  and  circumcision  is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  and 
not  in  the  letter;  whose  praise  is  not  of  man,  but  of  God"  (ii. 
17-29). 

The  rebuke  which  Stephen,  full  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  suddenly 
broke  away  from  the  course  of  his  narrative  to  pronounce  was  the 
signal  for  a  general  outburst  of  furious  rage  on  the  part  of  his 
judges.  They  "gnashed  on  him  with  their  teeth"  in  the  same 
spirit  in  which  they  had  said,  not  long  before,  to  the  blind  man 
who  was  healed,  "Thou  wast  altogether  born  in  sins,  and  dost  thou 
teach  us?"  But  in  contrast  with  the  malignant  hatred  which  had 
blinded  their  eyes,  Stephen's  serene  faith  was  supernaturally  ex- 
alted into  a  direct  vision  of  the  blessedness  of  the  redeemed.  He 
whose  face  had  been  like  that  of  an  angel  on  earth  was  made  like 
one  of  those  angels  themselves,  "who  do  always  behold  the  face 
of  our  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  "  He  being  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  looked  up  steadfastly  into  heaven,  and  saw  the  glory  of 
God,  and  Jesus  standing  on  the  right  hand  of  God."  The  scene 
before  his  eyes  was  no  longer  the  council-hall  at  Jerusalem  and 
the  circle  of  his  infuriated  judges,  but  he  gazed  up  into  the  endless 
courts  of  the  celestial  Jerusalem,  with  its  "innumerable  company 
of  angels,"  and  saw  Jesus,  in  whose  righteous  cause  he  was  about 
to  die.  In  other  places,  where  our  Saviour  is  spoken  of  in  his 
glorified  state,  he  is  said  to  be  not  standing,  but  seated,  at  the 
right  hand  of  the  Father.  Here  alone  he  is  said  to  be  standing. 
It  is  as  if  (according  to  Chrysostom's  beautiful  thought)  he  had 
risen  from  his  throne  to  succor  his  persecuted  servant  and  to 
receive  him  to  himself.  And  when  Stephen  saw  his  Lord — per- 
haps with  the  memories  of  what  he  had  seen  on  earth  crowding 
into  his  mind — he  suddenly  exclaimed,  in  the  ecstasy  of  his  vision, 
"  Behold !  I  see  the  heavens  opened  and  the  Son  of  man  standing 
on  the  right  hand  of  God  !  " 

This  was  too  much  for  the  Jews  to  bear.  The  blasphemy  of 
Jesus  had  been  repeated.  The  follower  of  Jesus  was  hurried  to 
destruction.  "Thoy  cried  out  with  a  loud  voice,  and  stopped  their 
ears,  and  ran  upon  him  with  one  accor.l."  It  is  evident  that  it  was 
a  savage  and  disorderly  condemnation.  They  dragged  him  out  of 
the  council-hall,  and,  making  a  sudden  rush  and  tumult  through 


Stephen's  martyedom  and'  peayee. 


77 


the  streets,  hurried  him  to  one  of  the  gates  of  the  city,  and  some- 
where about  the  rocky  edges  of  the  ravine  of  Jehoshaphat,  where 
the  Mount  of  Olives  looks  down  upon  Gethsemane  and  Siloam,  or 
on  the  open  ground  to  the  north  which  travellers  cross  when  they 
go  towards  Samaria  or  Damascus,  with  stones  that  lay  without  the 
walls  of  the  Holy  City  this  heavenly-minded  martyr  was  murdered. 
The  exact  place  of  his  death  is  not  known.  There  are  two  tradi- 
tions— an  ancient  one,  which  places  it  on  the  north,  beyond  the 
Damascus  Gate ;  and  a  modern  one,  which  leads  travellers  through 
what  is  now  called  the  Gate  of  St.  Stephen  to  a  spot  near  the  brook 
Kedron,  over  against  the  Garden  of  Gethsemane.  But  those  who 
look  upon  Jerusalem  from  an  elevated  point  on  the  north-east 
have  both  these  positions  in  view,  and  any  one  who  stood  there 
on  that  day  might  have  seen  the  crowd  rush  forth  from  the  gate, 
and  the  witnesses  (who  according  to  the  Law  were  required  to  throw 
the  first  stones)  cast  off  their  outer  garments  and  lay  them  down  at 
the  feet  of  Saul. 

The  contrast  is  striking  between  the  indignant  zeal  which  the 
martyr  had  just  expressed  against  the  sin  of  his  judges,  and  the 
forgiving  love  which  he  showed  to  themselves  when  they  became 
his  murderers.  He  first  uttered  a  prayer  for  himself  in  the  words 
of  Jesus  Christ,  which  he  knew  were  spoken  from  the  cross,  and 
which  he  may  himself  have  heard  from  those  holy  lips.  And 
then,  deliberately  kneeling  down,  in  that  posture  of  humility  in 
which  the  body  most  naturally  expresses  the  supplication  of  the 
mind,  and  which  has  been  consecrated  as  the  attitude  of  Christian 
devotion  by  Stephen  and  Paul  himself,  he  gave  the  last  few  mo- 
ments of  his  consciousness  to  a  prayer  for  the  forgiveness  of  his  ene- 
mies ;  and  the  words  were  scarcely  spoken  when  death  seized  upon 
him,  or  rather,  in  the  words  of  Scripture,  "he  fell  asleep.'' 

"  And  Saul  was  consenting  to  his  death.''  A  Spanish  painter,  in 
a  picture  of  Stephen  conducted  to  the  place  of  execution,  has  rep- 
resented Saul  as  walking  by  the  martyr's  side  with  melancholy 
calmness.  He  consents  to  his  death  from  a  sincere  though  mis- 
taken conviction  of  duty ;  and  the  expression  of  his  countenance 
is  strongly  contrasted  with  the  rage  of  the  baffled  Jewish  doctors 
and  the  ferocity  of  the  crowd  who  flock  to  the  scene  of  bloodshed. 
Literally  considered,  such  a  representation  is  scarcely  consistent 
either  with  SauFs  conduct  immediately  afterward  or  with  his  own 
expressions  concerning  himself  at  the  later  periods  of  his  life.  But 


78  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

the  picture,  though  historically  incorrect,  is  poetically  true.  The 
painter  has  worked  according  to  the  true  idea  of  his  art  in  throw- 
ing upon  the  persecutor's  countenance  the  shadow  of  his  coming 
repentance.  We  cannot  dissociate  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen  from 
the  conversion  of  Paul.  The  spectacle  of  so  much  constancy,  so 
much  faith,  so  much  love,  could  not  be  lost.  It  is  hardly  too  much 
to  say  with  Augustine  that  ^'  the  Church  owes  Paul  to  the  prayer 
of  Stephen.'' 

Si  Stephanus  non  orasset, 
Ecclesia  Paulum  non  haberet. 


Note  on  the  "  Libertines  "  and  the  " Citizenship  of  Paul" 

Since  this  chapter  was  sent  to  press,  the  writer  has  seen  Wie- 
seler's  Chronologie  des  ApostoHschen  Zeitalters  (Gottingen,  1848),  a 
work  of  which  both  the  text  and  the  notes  are  of  great  importance. 
Dr.  Wieseler  argues  (note,  pp.  61-63)  that  Paul  was  probably  a 
Cilician  Libertinus,  Great  numbers  of  Jews  had  been  made  slaves 
in  the  civil  wars,  and  then  manumitted.  A  slave  manumitted  with 
due  formalities  became  a  Eoman  citizen.  Now,  we  find  Paul  taking 
an  active  part  in  the  persecution  of  Stephen  ;  and  the  verse  which 
describes  Stephen's  great  opponents  (Acts  vi.  9)  may  be  so  trans- 
lated as  to  mean  "Libertines"  from  "Gyrene,  Alexandria,  Cilicia, 
and  Asia."  Thus  it  is  natural  to  conclude  that  the  apostle,  with 
other  Cilician  Jews,  may  have  been,  like  Horace,  "libertino  patre 
natus."  The  two  passages  from  Tacitus  and  Philo  which  prove 
how  numerous  the  Jewish  Libertini  were  in  the  empire  will  come 
under  notice  hereafter  in  connection  with  Eome. 


CHAPTER  III. 


FUXEHAL  OF  STEPHEN. — SAUL'S  CONTINUED  PERSECUTION. — 
FLIGHT  OF  THE  CHUISTIANS. — PHILIP  AND  THE  SAMARI- 
TANS.— SAUL'S  JOURNEY  TO  DAMASCUS. — ARETAS,  KING  OF 
PETRA. — ROADS  FROM  JERUSALEM  TO  DAMASCUS. — NEAPOLIS. — 
HISTORY  AND  DESCRIPTION  OF  DAMASCUS. — THE  NARRATIVES 
OF  THE  MIRACLE. — IT  WAS  A  REAL  VISION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST. — 
THREE  DAYS  IN  DAMASCUS. — ANANIAS. — BAPTISM  AND  FIRST 
PREACHING  OF  SAUL. — HE  RETIRES  INTO  ARABIA. — MEANING 
OF  THE  TERM  ARABIA. — PETRA  AND  THE  DESERT. — CON- 
SPIRACY AT  DAMASCUS. — ESCAPE  TO  JERUSALEM. — BARNABAS. 
— FORTNIGHT  WITH  PETER. — CONSPIRACY. — VISION  IN  THE 
TEMPLE. — SAUL  WITHDRAWS  TO  SYRIA  AND  CILICIA. 

The  death  of  Stephen  is  a  bright  passage  in  the  earliest  history  of 
the  Church.  Where,  in  the  annals  of  the  world,  can  we  find  so 
perfect  an  image  of  a  pure  and  blessed  saint  as  that  which  is  drawn 
in  the  concluding  verses  of  the  seventh  chapter  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles?  And  the  brightness  which  invests  the  scene  of  the 
martyr's  last  moments  is  the  more  impressive  from  its  contrast  with 
all  that  has  preceded  it  since  the  crucifixion  of  Christ.  The  first 
apostle  who  died  was  a  traitor.  The  first  disciples  of  the  Christian 
apostles  whose  deaths  are  recorded  were  liars  and  hypocrites.  The 
kingdom  of  the  Son  of  man  was  founded  in  darkness  and  gloom. 
But  a  heavenly  light  reappeared  with  the  martyrdom  of  Stephen. 
The  revelation  of  such  a  character  at  the  moment  of  death  was 
the  strongest  of  all  evidences  and  the  highest  of  all  encouragements. 
Nothing  could  more  confidently  assert  the  divine  power  of  the 
new  religion  ;  nothing  could  prophesy  more  surely  the  certainty 
of  its  final  victory. 

To  us  who  have  the  experience  of  many  centuries  of  Christian 
history,  and  who  can  look  back,  through  a  long  series  of  martyr- 
doms, to  this,  which  was  the  beginning  and  example  of  the  rest, 

79 


80  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


these  thoughts  are  easy  and  obvious;  but  to  the  friends  and 
associates  of  the  murdered  saint  such  feelings  of  cheerful  and 
confident  assurance  were  perhaps  more  difficult.  Though  Christ 
was  indeed  risen  from  the  dead,  his  disciples  could  hardly  yet  be 
able  to  realize  the  full  triumph  of  the  cross  over  death.  Even 
many  years  afterward,  Paul  the  apostle  wrote  to  the  Thessalonians 
concerning  those  who  had  ^'fallen  asleep"  more  peaceably  than 
Stephen,  that  they  ought  not  to  sorrow  for  them  as  without  hope  ; 
and  now,  at  the  very  beginning  of  the  gospel,  the  grief  of  the 
Christians  must  have  been  great  indeed  when  the  corpse  of  their 
champion  and  their  brother  lay  at  the  feet  of  Saul  the  murderer 
Yet  amidst  the  consternation  of  some  and  the  fury  of  others, 
friends  of  the  martyr  were  found  who  gave  him  all  the  melan- 
choly honors  of  a  Jewish  funeral,  and  carefully  buried  him,  as 
Joseph  buried  his  father,  "with  great  and  sore  lamentation." 

After  the  death  and  burial  of  Stephen  the  persecution  still 
raged  in  Jerusalem.  That  temporary  protection  which  had  been 
extended  to  the  rising  sect  by  such  men  as  Gamaliel  was  now  at 
an  end.  Pharisees  and  Sadducees,  priests  and  people,  alike  in- 
dulged the  most  violent  and  ungovernable  fury.  It  does  not  seem 
that  any  check  was  laid  upon  them  by  the  Roman  authorities. 
Either  the  procurator  was  absent  from  the  city,  or  he  was  willing 
to  connive  at  what  seemed  to  him  an  ordinary  religious  quarrel. 

The  eminent  and  active  agent  in  this  persecution  was  Saul. 
There  are  strong  grounds  for  believing  that  if  he  was  not  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sanhedrin  at  the  time  of  Stephen's  death,  he  was 
elected  into  that  powerful  senate  soon  after — possibly  as  a  reward 
for  the  zeal  he  had  shown  against  the  heretic.  He  himself  says 
that  in  Jerusalem  he  not  only  exercised  the  power  of  imprison- 
ment by  commission  from  the  high  priests,  but  also,  when  the 
Christians  were  put  to  death,  gave  his  vote  against  them.  From 
this  expression  it  is  natural  to  infer  that  he  was  a  member  of  that 
supreme  court  of  judicature.  However  this  might  be,  his  zeal  in 
conducting  the  persecution  was  unbounded.  We  cannot  help 
observing  how  frequently  strong  expressions  concerning  his  share 
in  the  injustice  and  cruelty  now  perpetrated  are  multiplied  in  the 
Scriptures.  In  Luke's  narrative,  in  Paul's  own  speeches,  in  his 
earlier  and  later  Epistles,  the  subject  recurs  again  and  again.  He 
"made  havoc  of  the  Church,"  invading  the  sanctuaries  of  domestic 
life,  "  entering  into  every  house ;"  and  those  whom  he  thus  tore 


FLIGHT  OF  THE  CHRISTIANS. 


81 


from  their  homes  he  "committed  to  prison,"  or,  in  his  own  words 
at  a  later  period,  when  he  had  recognized  as  God's  people  those 
whom  he  now  imagined  to  be  his  enemies,  "  thinking  that  he  ought 
to  do  many  things  contrary  to  the  name  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  .  .  . 
in  Jerusalem  ...  he  shut  up  many  of  the  saints  in  prison." 
And  not  only  did  men  thus  suffer  at  his  hands,  but  women  also — 
a  fact  three  times  repeated  as  a  great  aggravation  of  his  cruelty. 
These  persecuted  people  were  scourged — "  often"  scourged — "  in 
many  synagogues."  Nor  was  Stephen  the  only  one  who  suffered 
death,  as  we  may  infer  from  the  apostle's  own  confession.  And, 
what  was  worse  than  scourging  or  than  death  itself,  he  used  every 
effort  to  make  them  blaspheme"  that  holy  Name  whereby  they 
were  called.  His  fame  as  an  inquisitor  was  notorious  far  and 
wide.  Even  at  Damascus,  Ananias  had  heard  "how  much  evil 
he  had  done  to  Christ's  saints  at  Jerusalem."  He  was  known 
there  as  "he  that  destroyed  them  which  call  on  this  Name  in  Jeru- 
salem." It  was  not  without  reason  that  in  the  deep  repentance 
of  his  later  years  he  remembered  how  he  had  "  persecuted  the 
Church  of  God  and  wasted  it," — how  he  had  been  "a  blasphemer, 
a  persecutor,  and  injurious," — and  that  he  felt  he  was  "  not  meet 
to  be  called  an  apostle,"  because  he  "had  persecuted  the  Church 
of  God." 

From  such  cruelty,  and  such  efforts  to  make  them  deny  that 
Name  which  they  honored  above  all  names,  the  disciples  naturally 
fled.  In  consequence  of  "  the  persecution  against  the  Church  at 
Jerusalem,  they  were  all  scattered  abroad  throughout  the  regions 
of  Judaea  and  Samaria."  The  apostles  only  remained.  But  this 
dispersion  led  to  great  results.  The  moment  of  lowest  depression 
was  the  very  time  of  the  Church's  first  missionary  triumph. 
"They  that  were  scattered  abroad  went  everywhere  preaching  the 
word."  First  the  Samaritans,  and  then  the  Gentiles,  received  that 
gospel  which  the  Jews  attempted  to  destroy.  Thus  did  the  provi- 
dence of  God  begin  to  accomplish,  by  unconscious  instruments, 
the  prophecy  and  command  which  had  been  given :  "  Ye  shall  be 
witnesses  unto  me,  both  in  Jerusalem,  and  in  all  Judaea,  and  in 
Samaria,  and  unto  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth." 

The  Jew  looked  upon  the  Samaritan  as  he  looked  upon  the 
Gentile.  His  hostility  to  the  Samaritan  was  probably  the  greater 
in  proportion  as  he  was  nearer.  In  conformity  with  the  economy 
which  was  observed  before  the  resurrection,  Jesus  Christ  had  said 
6 


82  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


to  his  disciples,  "Go  not  into  the  way  of  the  Gentiles,  and  into 
any  city  of  the  Samaritans  enter  ye  not;  but  go  rather  to  the  lost 
sheep  of  the  house  of  Israel."  Yet  did  the  Saviour  give  anticipa- 
tive  hints  of  his  favor  to  Gentiles  and  Samaritans  in  his  mercy  to 
the  Syrophoenician  woman  and  his  interview  with  the  woman  at  the 
well  of  Sychar.  And  now  the  time  was  come  for  both  the  "  middle 
walls  of  partition"  to  be  destroyed.  The  dispersion  brought 
Philip,  the  companion  of  Stephen,  the  second  of  the  seven,  to  a 
city  of  Samaria.  He  came  with  the  power  of  miracles  and  with 
the  news  of  salvation.  The  Samaritans  were  convinced  by  what 
they  saw;  they  listened  to  what  he  said;  "and  there  was  great 
joy  in  that  city."  When  the  news  came  to  Jerusalem,  Peter  and 
John  were  sent  by  the  apostles,  and  the  same  miraculous  testimony 
attended  their  presence  which  had  been  given  on  the  day  of  Pente- 
cost. The  divine  power  in  Peter  rebuked  the  powers  of  evil  which 
were  working  among  the  Samaritans  in  the  person  of  Simon 
Magus,  as  Paul  afterward,  on  his  first  preaching  to  the  Gentiles, 
rebuked,  in  Cyprus,  Elymas  the  sorcerer.  The  two  apostles 
returned  to  Jerusalem,  preaching  as  they  went  "  in  many  villages 
of  the  Samaritans"  the  gospel  which  had  been  welcomed  in 
the  city. 

Once  more  we  are  permitted  to  see  Philip  on  his  labor  of  love. 
We  obtain  a  glimpse  of  him  on  the  road  which  leads  down  by 
Gaza  to  Egypt.  The  chamberlain  of  Queen  Candace  is  passing 
southward  on  his  return  from  Jerusalem,  and  reading  in  his 
chariot  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah.  Ethiopia  is  "stretching  out  her 
hands  unto  God,"  and  the  suppliant  is  not  unheard.  A  teacher  is 
provided  at  the  moment  of  anxious  inquiry.  The  stranger  goes 
"  on  his  way  rejoicing,"  a  proselyte  who  had  found  the  Messiah, 
a  Christian  baptized  "'  with  water  and  the  Holy  Ghost."  The 
evangelist,  having  finished  the  work  for  which  he  had  been  sent, 
IS  called  elsewhere  by  the  Spirit  of  God.  He  proceeds  to  CiBsarea, 
and  we  hear  of  him  no  more  till,  after  the  lapse  of  more  than 
twenty  years,  he  received  under  his  roof  in  that  city  one  who  like 
himself  had  travelled  in  obedience  to  the  divine  command, 
"preaching  in  all  the  cities." 

Our  attention  is  now  called  to  that  other  traveller.  We  turn  from 
the  "desert  road"  on  the  south  of  Palestine  to  the  desert  road  on 
'he  north,  from  the  border  of  Arabia  near  Gaza  to  its  border  near 
Damascus.     "  From  Dan  to  Beersheba "  the  gospel  is  rapidly 


ARETAS,  KING  OF  PETRA. 


83 


spreading.  The  dispersion  of  the  Christians  had  not  been  con- 
fined to  Judsea  and  Samaria.  On  the  persecution  that  arose 
about  Stephen"  they  had  "travelled  as  far  as  Phoenicia  and 
Syria.''  ^'  Saul,  yet  breathing  out  threatenings  and  slaughter 
against  the  disciples  of  the  Lord/'  determined  to  follow  them. 
"  Being  exceedingly  mad  against  them,  he  persecuted  them  even 
to  strange  cities."  He  went  of  his  own  accord  to  the  high  priest, 
and  desired  of  him  letters  to  the  synagogues  in  Damascus,  where 
he  had  reason  to  believe  that  Christians  were  to  be  found.  And 
armed  with  this  "authority  and  commission,"  intending  " if  he 
found  any  of  this  way,  whether  they  were  men  or  women,"  to 
bring  them  "bound  unto  Jerusalem  to  be  punished,"  he  journeyed 
to  Damascus. 

The  great  Sanhedrin  claimed  over  the  Jews  in  foreign  cities  the 
same  power  in  religious  questions  which  they  exercised  at  Jerusa- 
lem. The  Jews  in  Damascus  were  very  numerous,  and  there  were 
peculiar  circumstances  in  the  political  condition  of  Damascus  at 
this  time  which  may  have  given  facilities  to  conspiracies  or  deeds 
of  violence  conducted  by  the  Jews.  There  was  war  between 
Aretas,  who  reigned  at  Petra,  the  desert  metropolis  of  Stony 
Arabia,  and  Herod  Antipas,  his  son-in-law,  the  tetrarch  of  Galilee. 
A  misunderstanding  concerning  the  boundaries  of  the  two  princi- 
palities had  been  aggravated  into  an  inveterate  quarrel  by  Herod's 
unfaithfulness  to  the  daughter  of  the  Arabian  king  and  his  shame- 
ful attachment  to  "his  brother  Philip's  wife."  The  Jews  gene- 
rally sympathized  with  the  cause  of  Aretas,  rejoiced  when  Herod's 
army  was  cut  off,  and  declared  that  this  disaster  was  a  judgment 
for  the  murder  of  John  the  Baptist.  Herod  wrote  to  Eome,  and 
obtained  an  order  for  assistance  from  Vitellius,  the  governor  of 
Syria.  But  when  Vitellius  was  on  his  march  through  Judsea  from 
Antioch  towards  Petra,  he  suddenly  heard  of  the  death  of  Tiberius 
(a.  d.  37),  and  the  Eoman  army  was  withdrawn  before  the  war 
was  brought  to  a  conclusion.  It  is  evident  that  the  relations  of 
Ihe  neighboring  powers  must  have  been  for  some  years  in  a  very 
unsettled  condition  along  the  frontiers  of  Arabia,  Judsea,  and 
Syria;  and  the  falling  of  a  rich  border-town  like  Damascus  from 
the  hands  of  the  Romans  into  those  of  Aretas  would  be  a  natural 
occurrence  of  the  war.  If  it  could  be  proved  that  the  city  w^as 
placed  in  the  power  of  the  Arabian  ethnarch  under  these  particu- 
lar circumstances,  and  at  the  time  of  Paul's  journey,  good  reason 


84  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


would  be  assigned  for  believing  it  probable  that  the  ends  for 
which  he  went  were  assisted  by  the  political  relations  of  Damas- 
cus. And  it  would  indeed  be  a  singular  coincidence  if  his  zeal  in 
persecuting  the  Christians  were  promoted  by  the  sympathy  of  the 
Jews  for  the  fate  of  John  the  Baptist. 

But  there  are  grave  objections  to  this  view  of  the  occupation  of 
Damascus  by  Aretas.  Such  a  liberty  taken  by  a  petty  chieftain 
with  the  Eoman  power  would  have  been  an  act  of  great  audacity, 
and  it  is  difficult  to  believe  that  Vitellius  would  have  closed  the 
campaign  if  such  a  city  was  in  the  hands  of  an  enemy.  It  is  more 
likely  that  Caligula — who  in  many  ways  contradicted  the  policy 
of  his  predecessor,  who  banished  Herod  Antipas  and  patronized 
Herod  Agrippa — assigned  the  city  of  Damascus  as  a  free  gift  to 
Aretas.  This  supposition,  as  well  as  the  former,  will  perfectly 
explain  the  remarkable  passage  in  Paul's  letters  where  he  dis- 
tinctly says  that  it  was  garrisoned  by  the  ethnarch  of  Aretas  at  the 
time  of  his  escape.  Many  such  changes  of  territorial  occupation 
took  place  under  the  emperors  which  would  have  been  lost  to  his- 
tory were  it  not  for  the  information  derived  from  a  coin,  an  in- 
scription, or  the  incidental  remark  of  a  writer  who  had  different 
ends  in  view.  Any  attempt  to  make  this  escape  from  Damascus 
a  fixed  point  of  absolute  chronology  will  be  unsuccessful ;  but 
from  what  has  been  said  it  may  fairly  be  collected  that  SauFs 
journey  from  Jerusalem  to  Damascus  took  place  not  far  from 
that  year  which  saw  the  death  of  Tiberius  and  the  accession  of 
Caligula. 

No  journey  was  ever  taken  on  which  so  much  interest  is  concen- 
trated as  this  of  Paul  from  Jerusalem  to  Damascus.  It  is  so  criti- 
cal a  passage  in  the  history  of  God's  dealings  with  man,  and  we 
feel  it  to  be  so  closely  bound  up  with  all  our  best  knowledge  and 
best  happiness  in  this  life,  and  with  all  our  hopes  for  the  world  to 
come,  that  the  mind  is  delighted  to  dwell  upon  it,  and  we  are  eager 
to  learn  or  imagine  all  its  details.  The  conversion  of  Saul  was  like 
the  call  of  a  second  Abraham.  But  we  know  almost  more  of  the 
patriarch's  journey  through  this  same  district  from  the  north  to 
the  south  than  we  do  of  the  apostle's  in  an  opposite  direction.  It 
is  easy  to  conceive  of  Abraham  travelling  with  his  flocks  and 
herds  and  camels.  The  primitive  features  of  the  East  continue 
still  unaltered  in  the  desert,  and  the  Arabian  sheikh  still  remains 
to  us  a  living  picture  of  the  patriarch  of  Genesis.    But  before  the 


ROADS  FROM  JERUSAI.EM  TO  DAMASCUS. 


85 


first  century  of  the  Christian  era  the  patriarchal  life  of  Palestine 
had  been  modified,  not  only  by  the  invasions  and  settlements  of 
Babylonia  and  Persia,  but  by  large  influxes  of  Greek  and  Roman 
civilization.  It  is  difficult  to  guess  what  was  the  appearance  of 
Saul's  company  on  that  memorable  occasion.  We  neither  know 
how  he  travelled,  nor  w^ho  his  associates  were,  nor  where  he  rested 
on  his  way,  nor  what  road  he  followed  from  the  Judsean  to  the 
Syrian  capital. 

His  journey  must  have  brought  him  somewhere  into  the  vicinity 
of  the  Sea  of  Tiberias.  But  where  he  approached  the  nearest  to 
the  shores  of  this  sacred  lake — whether  he  crossed  the  Jordan 
where,  in  its  lower  course,  it  flows  southward  to  the  Dead  Sea,  or 
where  its  upper  windings  enrich  the  valley  at  the  base  of  Mount 
Hermon — we  do  not  know.  And  there  is  one  thought  which  makes 
us  glad  that  it  should  be  so.  It  is  remarkable  that  Galilee,  where 
Jesus  worked  so  many  of  his  miracles,  is  the  scene  of  none  of  those 
transactions  which  are  related  in  the  Acts.  The  blue  waters  of 
Tiberias,  with  their  fishing-boats  and  towns  on  the  brink  of  the 
shore,  are  consecrated  to  the  Gospels.  A  greater  than  Paul  was 
here.  When  we  come  to  the  travels  of  the  apostles  the  scenery  is 
no  longer  limited  and  Jewish,  but  catholic  and  widely  extended, 
like  the  gospel  which  they  preached ;  and  the  sea  w^hich  will  be  so 
often  spread  before  us  in  the  life  of  Paul  will  not  be  the  little  Lake 
of  Galilee,  but  the  great  Mediterranean,  which  washed  the  shores 
and  carried  the  ships  of  the  historical  nations  of  antiquity. 

Two  principal  roads  can  be  mentioned,  one  of  which  probably 
conducted  the  travellers  from  Jerusalem  to  Damascus.  The  track 
of  the  caravans,  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  from  Egypt  to  the 
Syrian  capital,  has  always  led  through  Gaza  and  Pamleh,  and  then 
turning  eastward  about  the  borders  of  Galilee  and  Samaria,  has 
descended  near  Mount  Tabor  towards  the  Sea  of  Tiberias,  and  so 
crossing  the  Jordan  a  little  to  the  north  of  the  lake  by  Jacob's 
Bridge,  proceeds  through  the  desert  country  which  stretches  to  the 
base  of  Antilibanus.  A  similar  track  from  Jerusalem  falls  into 
this  Egyptian  road  in  the  neighborhood  of  Djenin,  at  the  entrance 
of  Galilee ;  and  Saul  and  his  company  may  have  travelled  by  this 
route,  performing  the  journey  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-six  miles, 
like  the  modern  caravans,  in  about  six  days.  But  at  this  period 
that  great  work  of  Roman  roadmaking  which  was  actively  going 
on  in  all  parts  of  the  empire  must  have  extended,  in  some  degree, 


86 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


to  Syria  and  Judsea;  and  if  the  Roman  roads  were  already  con- 
structed here,  there  is  no  doubt  that  they  followed  the  direction  indi- 
cated by  the  later  itineraries.  This  direction  is  from  Jerusalem  to 
Neapolis  (the  ancient  Sychar),  and  thence  over  the  Jordan  to  the 
south  of  ihe  lake,  near  Scythopolis,  where  the  soldiers  of  Pompey 
crossed  the  river,  and  where  the  Galilean  pilgrims  used  to  cross  it 
at  the  time  of  the  festivals  to  avoid  Samaria.  From  Scythopolis  it 
led  to  Gadara,  a  Roman  city,  the  ruins  of  which  are  still  remaining, 
and  so  to  Damascus. 

Whatever  road  was  followed  in  SauFs  journey  to  Damascus,  it 
is  almost  certain  that  the  earlier  portion  of  it  brought  him  to  Neap- 
olis, the  Sychar  of  the  Old  Testament  and  the  Nablous  of  the 
modern  Samaritans.  This  city  was  one  of  the  stages  in  the  itine- 
raries. Dr.  Robinson  followed  a  Roman  pavement  for  some  con- 
siderable distance  in  the  neighborhood  of  Bethel.  This  northern 
road  went  over  the  elevated  ridges  which  intervene  between  the 
valley  of  the  Jordan  and  the  plain  on  the  Mediterranean  coast. 
As  the  travellers  gained  the  high  ground,  the  young  Pharisee  may 
have  looked  back,  and  when  he  saw  the  city  in  the  midst  of  its 
hills,  with  the  mountains  of  Moab  in  the  distance,  confident  in  the 
righteousness  of  his  cause,  he  may  have  thought  proudly  of  the 
125tli  Psalm :  ^'  The  hills  stand  about  Jerusalem :  even  so  standeth 
the  Lord  round  about  his  people,  from  this  time  forth  for  ever- 
more." His  present  enterprise  was  undertaken  for  the  honor  of 
Zion.  He  was  blindly  fulfilling  the  words  of  One  who  said,  "  Who- 
soever killeth  you  will  think  that  he  doeth  God  service."  Passing 
through  the  hills  of  Samaria,  from  which  he  might  occasionally 
obtain  a  glimpse  of  the  Mediterranean  on  the  left,  he  would  come 
to  Jacob's  Well  at  the  opening  of  that  beautiful  valley  which  lies 
between  Ebal  and  Gerizim.  This,  too,  is  the  scene  of  a  Gospel 
history.  The  same  woman  with  Avhom  Jesus  spoke  might  be  again 
at  the  well  as  the  inquisitor  passed.  But  as  yet  he  knew  nothing 
of  the  breaking  down  of  the  "  middle  wall  of  partition."  He 
could  indeed,  have  said  to  the  Samaritans  "  Ye  worship  ye  know 
not  what:  we  know  what  we  worship ;  for  salvation  is  of  the  Jews." 
But  he  could  not  have  understood  the  meaning  of  those  other 
words:  "The  hour  cometh  when  ye  shall  neither  in  Jerusalem, 
nor  yet  in  this  mountain,  worship  the  Father :  the  true  worshippers 
shall  worship  him  in  spirit  and  in  truth."  His  was  not  yet  the 
spirit  of  Christ.    The  zeal  which  burnt  in  him  was  that  of  James 


DAMASCUS. 


87 


and  John  before  their  illumination,  when  they  wished  to  call  down 
fire  from  heaven,  even  as  Elias  did,  on  the  inhospitable  Samaritan 
village.  Philip  had  already  been  preaching  to  the  poor  Samari- 
tans, and  John  had  revisited  them,  in  company  with  Peter,  with 
feelings  wonderfully  changed.  But  Saul  knew  nothing  of  the  little 
Church  of  Samaritan  Christians,  or  if  he  heard  of  them  and 
lingered  among  them,  he  lingered  only  to  injure  and  oppress.  The 
Syrian  city  was  still  the  great  object  before  him.  And  now,  when 
he  had  passed  through  Samaria  and  was  entering  Galilee,  the 
snowy  peak  of  Mount  Hermon,  the  highest  point  of  Antilibanus, 
almost  as  far  to  the  north  as  Damascus,  would  come  into  view. 
This  is  that  tow^er  of  "  Lebanon  which  looketh  towards  Damascus." 
It  is  already  the  great  landmark  of  his  journey  as  he  passes  through 
Galilee  towards  the  Lake  of  Tiberias  and  the  valley  of  the  Jordan. 

Leaving  now  the  "Sea  of  Galilee,'^  deep  among  its  hills,  as  9 
sanctuary  of  the  holiest  thoughts,  and  imagining  the  Jordan  to  be 
passed,  we  follow  the  company  of  travellers  over  the  barren  up- 
lands which  stretch  in  dreary  succession  along  the  base  of  Anti- 
libanus. All  around  are  stony  hills  and  thirsty  plains,  through 
which  the  withered  stems  of  the  scanty  vegetation  hardly  pene- 
trate. Over  this  desert,  under  the  burning  sky,  the  impetuous 
Saul  holds  his  course,  full  of  the  fiery  zeal  with  which  Elijah 
travelled  of  yore  on  his  mysterious  errand  through  the  same 

wilderness  of  Damascus"  (1  Kings  xix.  15).  *'The  earth  in  its 
length  and  its  breadth,  and  all  the  deep  universe  of  sky,  is  steeped 
in  light  and  heat."  When  some  eminence  is  gained  the  vast 
horizon  is  seen  stretching  on  all  sides  like  the  ocean,  without  a 
boundary  except  where  the  steep  sides  of  Lebanon  interrupt  it, 
as  the  promontories  of  a  mountainous  coast  stretch  out  into  a 
motionless  sea.  The  fiery  sun  is  overhead,  and  that  refreshing 
view  is  anxiously  looked  for — Damascus  seen  from  afar  within  the 
desert  circumference,  resting  like  an  island  of  Paradise  in  the 
green  enclosure  of  its  beautiful  gardens. 

This  view  is  so  celebrated,  and  the  history  of  the  place  is  so 
illustrious,  that  we  may  well  be  excused  if  we  linger  a  moment 
that  we  may  describe  them  both.  Damascus  is  the  oldest  city  in 
the  world.  Its  fame  begins  with  the  earliest  patriarchs,  and  con- 
tinues to  modern  times.  While  other  cities  of  the  East  have 
risen  and  decayed,  Damascus  is  still  what  it  was.  It  was  founded 
before  Baalbek  and  Palmyra,  and  it  has  outlived  them  both.  While 


88  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Babylon  is  a  heap  in  the  desert  and  Tyre  a  ruin  on  the  shore,  it 
remains  what  it  is  called  in  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah,  "  the  head 
of  Syria.''  Abraham's  steward  was  "  Eliezer  of  Damascus,"  and 
the  limit  of  his  warlike  expedition  in  the  rescue  of  Lot  was 
"Hobah,  which  is  on  the  left  hand  of  Damascus."  How  import- 
ant a  place  it  was  in  the  flourishing  period  of  the  Jewish  mon- 
archy we  know  from  the  garrisons  which  David  placed  there  and 
from  the  opposition  it  presented  to  Solomon.  The  history  of 
Naaman  and  the  Hebrew  captive,  Elisha  and  Gehazi,  and  of  the 
proud  preference  of  its  fresh  rivers  to  the  thirsty  waters  of  Israel, 
are  familiar  to  every  one.  And  how  close  its  relations  continued 
to  be  with  the  Jews  we  know  from  the  chronicles  of  Jeroboam 
and  Ahaz  and  the  prophecies  of  Isaiah  and  Amos.  Its  mercantile 
greatness  is  indicated  by  Ezekiel  in  the  remarkable  words  ad- 
dressed to  Tyre :  Syria  was  thy  merchant  by  reason  of  the  mul- 
titude of  the  wares  of  thy  making :  they  occupied  in  thy  fairs 
with  emeralds,  purple,  and  broidered  work,  and  fine  linen,  and 
coral,  and  agate.  Damascus  w^as  thy  merchant  in  the  multitude 
of  the  wares  of  thy  making,  for  the  multitude  of  all  riches ;  in 
the  wine  of  Helbon,  and  white  wool."  Leaving  the  Jewish  an- 
nals, we  might  follow  its  history  through  continuous  centuries,  from 
the  time  when  Alexander  sent  Parmenio  to  take  it,  while  the  con- 
queror himself  was  marching  from  Tarsus  to  Tyre,  to  its  occupa- 
tion by  Pompey, — to  the  letters  of  Julian  the  Apostate,  who 
describes  it  as  *'the  eye  of  the  East," — and  onward  through  its 
golden  days,  when  it  was  the  residence  of  the  Ommiad  caliphs, 
and  the  metropolis  of  the  Mohammedan  world, — and  through  the 
period  when  its  fame  was  mingled  with  that  of  Saladin  and  Tam- 
erlane,— to  our  own  days,  when  the  praise  of  its  beauty  is  cele- 
brated by  every  traveller  from  Europe.  It  is  evident,  to  use  the 
words  of  Lamartine,  that,  like  Constantinople,  it  was  a  "  predesti- 
nated capital."  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  explain  why  its  freshness 
has  never  faded  through  all  this  series  of  vicissitudes  and  wars. 

Among  the  rocks  and  brushwood  at  the  base  of  Antilibanus 
are  the  fountains  of  a  copious  and  perennial  stream,  which,  after 
running  a  course  of  no  great  distance  to  the  south-east,  loses  itself 
in  a  desert  lake.  But  before  it  reaches  this  dreary  boundary  it 
has  distributed  its  channels  over  the  intermediate  space,  and  left 
a  wide  area  behind  it  rich  with  prolific  vegetation.  These  are 
the  "  streams  from  Lebanon"  which  are  known  to  us  in  the  ima- 


DAMASCUS. 


89 


gerj  of  Scripture — the  "rivers  of  Damascus"  which  !N"aaman  not 
unnaturally  preferred  to  all  the  "waters  of  Israel."  By  Greek 
waiters  the  stream  is  called  O-^-vsorrhoas,  or  "the  river  of  gold." 
And  this  stream  is  the  inestima'>  j  unexhausted  treasure  of  Damas- 
cus. The  habitations  of  must  always  have  been  gathered 
around  it,  as  the  Nile  has  inevitably  attracted  an  immemorial 
population  to  its  banks.  The  desert  is  a  fortification  round  Da- 
mascus. The  river  is  its  life.  It  is  drawn  out  into  watercourses 
and  spreads  in  all  directions.  For  miles  around  it  is  a  wilderness 
of  gardens — gardens  with  roses  among  the  tangled  shrubberies, 
and  with  fruit  on  the  branches  overhead.  Everywhere  among 
the  trees  the  murmur  of  unseen  rivulets  is  heard.  Even  in  the 
city,  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  garden,  the  clear  rushing  of  the 
current  is  a  perpetual  refreshment.  Every  dwelling  has  its  foun- 
tain, and  at  night,  when  the  sun  has  set  behind  Mount  Lebanon, 
the  lights  of  the  city  are  seen  flashing  on  the  waters. 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  view  of  Damascus  when 
the  dim  outline  of  the  gardens  has  become  distinct,  and  the  city 
is  seen  gleaming  white  in  the  midst  of  them,  should  be  univer- 
sally famous.  All  travellers  in  all  ages  have  paused  to  feast  their 
eyes  with  the  prospect,  and  the  prospect  has  been  always  the  same. 
It  is  true  that  in  the  apostle's  day  there  were  no  cupolas  and  no 
minarets :  Justinian  had  not  built  St.  Sophia,  and  the  caliphs  had 
erected  no  mosques.  But  the  white  buildings  of  the  city  gleamed 
then,  as  they  do  now,  in  the  centre  of  a  verdant,  inexhaustible 
paradise.  The  Syrian  gardens,  with  their  low  walls  and  water- 
wheels  and  careless  mixture  of  fruits  and  flowers,  were  the  same 
then  as  they  are  now.  The  same  figures  would  be  seen  in  the 
green  approaches  to  the  town — camels  and  mules,  horses  and  asses, 
with  Syrian,  peasants  and  Arabs  from  beyond  Palmyra.  We  know 
the  very  time  of  the  day  when  Saul  was  entering  these  shady 
avenues.  It  was  at  mid-day.  The  birds  were  silent  in  the  trees. 
The  hush  of  noon  was  in  the  city.  The  sun  was  burning  fiercely 
in  the  sky.  The  persecutor's  companions  were  enjoying  the  cool 
refreshment  of  the  shade  after  their  journey,  and  his  eyes  rested 
with  satisfaction  on  those  walls  w^hich  w^ere  the  end  of  his  mission 
and  contained  the  victims  of  his  righteous  zeal. 

We  have  been  tempted  into  some  prolixity  in  describing  Damas- 
cus. But  in  describing  the  solemn  and  miraculous  event  which 
took  place  in  its  neighborhood  we  hesitate  to  enlarge  upon  the 


90  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OP  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

words  of  Scripture.  And  Scripture  relates  its  circumstances  in 
minute  detail.  If  the  importance  we  are  intended  to  attach 
to  particular  events  in  early  Christianity  is  to  be  measured  by 
the  prominence  assigned  to  them  in  the  sacred  records,  we  must 
confess  that  next  after  the  Passion  of  our  blessed  Lord  the  event 
to  which  our  serious  attention  is  especially  called  is  the  conver- 
sion of  Paul.  Besides  various  allusions  to  it  in  his  own  Epistles, 
three  detailed  narratives  of  the  occurrence  are  found  in  the  Acts. 
Once  it  is  related  by  Luke  (ix.) — twice  by  the  apostle  himself, 
in  his  address  to  his  countrymen  at  Jerusalem  (xxii.),  in  his  de- 
fence before  Agrippa  at  Csesarea  (xxvi.).  And  as,  when  the  same 
thing  is  told  in  more  than  one  of  the  holy  Gospels,  the  accounts 
do  not  verbally  agree,  so  it  is  here.  Luke  is  more  brief  than  Paul. 
And  each  of  Paul's  statements  supplies  something  not  found  in 
the  other.  The  peculiar  difference  of  these  two  statements,  in 
their  relation  to  the  circumstances  under  which  they  were  given, 
and  as  they  illustrate  the  apostle's  wisdom  in  pleading  the  cause 
of  the  gospel  and  reasoning  with  his  opponents,  will  be  made  the 
subject  of  some  remarks  in  the  later  chapters  of  this  book.  At 
present  it  is  our  natural  course  simply  to  gather  the  facts  from  the 
apostle's  own  words,  with  a  careful  reference  to  the  shorter  nar- 
rative given  by  Luke. 

In  the  twenty-second  and  twenty-sixth  chapters  of  the  Acts  we 
are  told  that  it  was  about  noon  " — at  mid-day  " — when  the  "  great 
light"  shone  "suddenly"  from  heaven  (xxii.  6;  xxvi.  13).  And 
those  who  have  had  experience  of  the  glare  of  a  mid-day  sun  in 
the  East  will  best  understand  the  description  of  that  light,  which 
is  said  to  have  been  "a  light  above  the  brightness  of  the  sun, 
shining  round  about  Paul  and  them  that  journeyed  with  him." 
All  fell  to  the  ground  in  terror  (xxvi.  14)  or  stood  dumb  with 
amazement  (ix.  7).  Suddenly  surrounded  by  a  light  so  terrible 
and  incomprehensible,  "they  were  afraid."  "They  heard  not  the 
voice  of  Him  that  spake  to  Paul"  (xxii.  9),  or  if  they  heard  a 
voice  "they  saw  no  man"  (ix.  7).  The  whole  scene  was  evidently 
one  of  the  utmost  confusion,  and  the  accounts  are  such  as  to 
express  in  the  most  striking  manner  the  bewilderment  and  alarm 
of  the  travellers. 

But  Avhile  the  others  were  stunned,  stupefied,  and  confused,  a 
clear  light  broke  terribly  on  the  soul  of  one  of  those  who  were 
prostrated  on  the  ground.  A  voice  spoke  articulately  to  him  whict 


A  REAL  VISION  OF  JESUS  CHRIST.  91 

to  the  the  rest  was  a  sound  mysterious  and  indistinct.  He  heard 
what  they  did  not  hear.  He  saw  what  they  did  not  see.  To  them 
the  awful  sound  w^as  without  a  meaning:  he  heard  the  voice  of  the 
Son  of  God.  To  them  it  was  a  bright  light  which  suddenly  sur- 
rounded them:  he  saw  Jesus,  whom  he  was  persecuting.  The 
awful  dialogue  can  only  be  given  in  the  language  of  Scripture. 
Yet  we  may  reverentially  observe  that  the  words  which  Jesus 
spoke  were  "in  the  Hebrew  tongue."  The  same  language  in 
which  during  his  earthly  life  he  spoke  to  Peter  and  John,  to  the 
blind  man  by  the  walls  of  Jericho,  to  the  woman  who  washed  his 
feet  with  her  tears,  the  same  sacred  language  was  used  when  he  spoke 
from  heaven  to  his  persecutor  on  earth.  And  as  on  earth  he  had 
always  spoken  in  parables,  so  it  was  now.  That  voice  which  had 
drawn  lessons  from  the  lilies  that  grew  in  Galilee  and  from  the 
birds  that  flew  over  the  mountain-slopes  near  the  Sea  of  Tiberias, 
was  now  pleased  to  call  his  last  apostle  with  a  figure  of  the  like 
significance :  "  Saul,  Saul,  why  persecutest  thou  me  ?  It  is  hard 
for  thee  to  kick  against  the  goad."  As  the  ox  rebels  in  vain 
against  the  goad  of  its  master,  and  as  all  its  struggles  do  naught 
but  increase  its  distress,  so  is  thy  rebellion  vain  against  the  power 
of  my  grace.  I  have  admonished  thee  by  the  word  of  my  truth, 
by  the  death  of  my  saints,  by  the  voice  of  thy  conscience.  Strug- 
gle no  more  against  conviction,  "lest  a  worse  thing  come  unto 
thee." 

It  is  evident  that  this  revelation  was  not  merely  an  inward 
impression  made  on  the  mind  of  Saul  during  a  trance  or  ecstasy. 
It  was  the  direct  perception  of  the  visible  presence  of  Jesus 
Christ.  This  is  asserted  in  various  passages,  both  positively  and 
incidentally.  In  his  first  letter  to  the  Corinthians,  when  he  con- 
tends for  the  validity  of  his  own  apostleship,  his  argument  is, 
"Am  I  not  an  apostle?  Have  I  not  seen  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lord?" 
And  when  he  adduces  the  evidence  for  the  truth  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, his  argument  is  again,  "He  was  seen  .  .  .  by  Cephas,  ...  by 
James,  ...  by  all  the  apostles,  .  .  .  last  of  all  by  me,  ...  as 
one  born  out  of  due  time"  (xv.  8).  By  Cephas  and  by  James  at 
Jerusalem  the  reality  of  Saul's  conversion  was  doubted  (ix.  27), 
but  "  Barnabas  brought  him  to  the  apostles,  and  related  to  them 
how  he  had  seen  the  Lord  in  the  way,  and  had  spoken  with  him." 
And  similarly  Ananias  had  said  to  him  at  their  first  meeting  in 
Damascus,  "  The  Lord  hath  sent  me,  even  Jesus  who  appeared  to 


92 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


thee  in  the  way  as  thou  earnest"  (ix.  17).  "The  God  of  our  fathers 
hath  chosen  thee  that  thou  shouldest  see  that  just  one,  and  shouldest 
hear  the  voice  of  his  mouth  (xxii.  14).  The  very  words  which 
were  spoken  by  the  Saviour  imply  the  same  important  truth.  He 
does  not  say,  I  am  the  Son  of  God — the  Eternal  Word — the  Lord 
>  of  men  and  of  angels ; "  but "  I  am  Jesus  "  (ix.  5 ;  xxvi.  15),  "  Jesus 
of  Nazareth"  (xxii.  8).  "  I  am  that  man,  whom  not  having  seen 
thou  hatest,  the  despised  prophet  of  Nazareth,  who  was  mocked 
and  crucified  at  Jerusalem,  who  died  and  was  buried.  But  now  I 
appear  to  thee,  that  thou  mayest  know  the  truth  of  my  resurrec- 
tion, that  I  may  convince  thee  of  thy  sin  and  call  thee  to  be  my 
apostle." 

The  direct  and  immediate  character  of  this  call,  without  the  in- 
tervention of  any  human  agency,  is  another  point  on  which  Paul 
himself,  in  the  course  of  his  apostolic  life,  laid  the  utmost  stress, 
and  one,  therefore,  which  it  is  incumbent  on  us  to  notice  here. 
"  A  called  apostle,"  "  an  apostle  by  the  will  of  God,"  an  apostle 
sent  not  from  men,  nor  by  man,  but  by  Jesus  Christ,  and  God  the 
Father,  who  raised  him  from  the  dead," — these  are  the  phrases 
under  which  he  describes  himself  in  the  cases  where  his  authority 
was  in  danger  of  being  questioned.  No  human  instrumentality 
intervened  to  throw  the  slightest  doubt  upon  the  reality  of  the 
communication  between  Christ  himself  and  the  apostle  of  the 
heathen.  And  as  he  was  directly  and  miraculously  called,  so  was 
the  work  immediately  indicated  to  which  he  was  set  apart,  and  in 
which  in  after  years  he  always  gloried — the  work  of  "  preaching 
among  the  Gentiles  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ."  Unless 
indeed  we  are  to  consider  the  words  which  he  used  before  Agrippa 
as  a  condensed  statement  of  all  that  was  revealed  to  him,  both  in 
his  vision  on  the  way  and  afterward  by  Ananias  in  the  city :  "  I 
am  Jesus,  whom  thou  persecutest :  but  rise,  and  stand  upon  thy 
feet;  for  I  have  appeared  unto  thee  for  this  purpose,  to  make  thee 
a  minister  and  a  witness  both  of  these  things  which  thou  hast  seen, 
and  of  those  things  in  which  I  will  appear  unto  thee,  delivering 
thee  from  the  people,  and  from  the  Gentiles,  unto  whom  now  I 
send  thee,  to  open  their  eyes,  and  to  turn  them  from  darkness  to 
light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God,  that  they  may  re- 
ceive forgiveness  of  sins,  and  inheritance  among  them  which  are 
Banctified  by  faith  that  is  in  me." 

But  the  full  intimation  of  all  the  labors  and  sufferings  that  were 


PAUL  I]\  DAMASCUS. 


93 


before  him  was  still  reserved.  He  was  told  to  arise  and  go  iato  the 
city,  and  there  it  should  be  told  him  what  it  had  been  ordained 
that  he  should  do.  He  arose  humbled  and  subdued,  and  ready  to 
obey  whatever  might  be  the  will  of  Him  who  had  spoken  to  him 
from  heaven.  But  when  he  opened  his  eyes  all  was  dark  around 
him.  The  brilliancy  of  the  vision  had  made  him  blind.  Those 
who  were  with  him  saw,  as  before,  the  trees  and  the  sky  and  the 
road  leading  into  Damascus.  But  he  was  in  darkness,  and  they 
led  him  by  the  hand  into  the  city.  Thus  entered  Saul  into  Da- 
mascus— not,  as  he  had  expected,  to  triumph  in  an  enterprise  on 
which  his  soul  was  set,  to  brave  all  difficulties  and  dangers,  to 
enter  into  houses  and  carry  off  prisoners  to  Jerusalem — but  he 
passed,  himself  like  a  prisoner,  beneath  the  gateway  and  throui^h 
the  street  called  "  Straight,'^  where  he  saw  not  the  crowd  of  those 
who  gazed  on  him ;  he  was  led  by  the  hands  of  others,  trembling 
and  helpless  to  the  house  of  Judas,  his  dark  and  solitary  lodging. 

Three  days  the  blindness  continued.  Only  one  other  space  of 
three  days'  duration  can  be  mentioned  of  equal  importance  in  the 
history  of  the  world.  The  conflict  of  Saul's  feelings  was  so  great, 
and  his  remorse  so  piercing  and  so  deep,  that  during  this  time  he 
neither  ate  nor  drank.  He  could  have  no  communion  with  the 
Christians,  for  they  had  been  terrified  by  the  news  of  his  approach. 
And  the  unconverted  Jews  could  have  no  true  sympathy  with  his 
present  state  of  mind.  He  fasted  and  prayed  in  silence.  The  rec- 
ollections of  his  early  years, — the  passages  of  the  ancient  Scrip- 
tures which  he  had  never  understood, — the  thought  of  his  own 
cruelty  and  violence, — the  memory  of  the  last  looks  of  Stephen, 
—all  these  crowded  into  his  mind,  and  made  the  three  days  equal 
to  long  years  of  repentance.  And  if  we  may  imagine  one  feeling 
above  all  others  to  have  kept  possession  of  his  heart,  it  would  be 
the  feeling  suggested  by  Christ's  expostulation :  *^  Why  persecutest 
thou  ME?"  This  feeling  would  be  attended  with  thoughts  of  peace, 
with  hope,  and  with  faith.  He  waited  on  God,  and  in  his  blind- 
ness a  vision  was  granted  to  him.  He  seemed  to  behold  one  who 
came  in  to  him — and  he  knew  by  revelation  that  his  name  was 
Ananias — and  it  appeared  to  him  that  the  stranger  laid  his  hand 
on  him  that  he  might  receive  his  sight. 

The  economy  of  visions,  by  which  God  revealed  and  accom- 
plished his  will,  is  remarkably  similar  in  the  case  of  Ananias  and 
Saul  at  Damascus,  and  in  that  of  Peter  and  Cornelius  at  Joppa 


94 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


and  Csesarea.  The  simultaneous  preparation  of  the  hearts  of 
Ananias  and  Saul,  and  the  simultaneous  preparation  of  those 
of  Peter  and  Cornelius — the  questioning  and  hesitation  of  Peter, 
and  the  questioning  and  hesitation  of  Ananias, — the  one  doubting 
whether  he  might  make  friendship  with  the  Gentiles,  the  other 
doubting  whether  he  might  approach  the  enemy  of  the  Church, — 
the  unhesitating  obedience  of  each  when  the  divine  will  was  made 
clearly  known, — the  state  of  mind  in  which  both  the  Pharisee  and 
the  centurion  were  found,  each  waiting  to  see  what  the  Lord 
would  say  unto  them, — this  close  analogy  will  not  be  forgotten  by 
those  who  reverently  read  the  two  consecutive  chapters  in  which 
the  baptism  of  Saul  and  the  baptism  of  Cornelius  are  narrated  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

And  in  another  respect  there  is  a  close  parallelism  between  the 
two  histories.  The  same  exact  topography  characterizes  them 
both.  In  the  one  case  we  have  the  lodging  with  Simon  the 
tanner"  and  the  house  "by  the  seaside"  (x.  6) ;  in  the  other  we 
have  "the  house  of  Judas"  and  "the  street  called  Straight"  (ix. 
11).  And  as  the  shore  where  "  the  saint  beside  the  ocean  prayed  " 
is  an  unchanging  feature  of  Joppa,  which  will  ever  be  dear  to  the 
Christian  heart,  so  are  we  allowed  to  bear  in  mind  that  the 
thoroughfares  of  Eastern  cities  do  not  change,  and  to  believe  that 
the  "Straight  street"  which  still  extends  through  Damascus  in 
long  perspective  from  the  Eastern  Gate  is  the  street  where  Ananias 
spoke  to  Saul.  More  than  this  we  do  not  venture  to  say.  In  the 
first  days  of  the  Church,  and  for  some  time  afterward,  the  local 
knowledge  of  the  Christians  at  Damascus  might  be  cherished  and 
vividly  retained.  But  now  that  through  long  ages  Christianity  in 
the  East  has  been  weak  and  degraded,  and  Mohammedanism  strong 
and  tyrannical,  we  can  only  say  that  the  spots  still  shown  to 
travellers  as  the  sites  of  the  house  of  Ananias  and  the  house  of 
Judas,  and  the  place  of  baptism,  may  possibly  be  true. 

We  know  nothing  concerning  Ananias  except  what  we  learn 
from  Luke  or  from  Paul.  He  was  a  Jew  who  had  become  a  "dis- 
ciple" of  Christ  (ix.  10),  and  he  was  well  reputed  and  held  to  be 
"devout  according  to  the  Law"  among  "all  the  Jews  who  dwelt 
there  "  (xxii.  12).  He  is  never  mentioned  by  Paul  in  his  Epistles, 
and  the  later  stories  respecting  his  history  are  unsupported  by 
proof.  Though  he  was  not  ignorant  of  the  new  convert's  previous 
.  character,  it  seems  evident  that  he  had  no  personal  acquaintance 


PAUL  PREACHING  IN  DAMASCUS. 


95 


with  him,  or  he  would  hardly  have  been  described  as  "  one  called 
Saul  of  Tarsus  lodging  in  the  house  of  Judas.  He  was  not  an 
apostle  nor  one  of  the  conspicuous  members  of  the  Church.  And 
it  was  not  without  a  deep  significance  that  he  who  was  called  to 
be  an  apostle  should  be  baptized  by  one  of  whom  the  Church 
knows  nothing  but  that  he  was  a  Christian  ^'disciple''  and  had 
been  a    devout "  Jew. 

Ananias  came  into  the  house  where  Saul,  faint  and  exhausted 
with  three  days'  abstinence,  still  remained  in  darkness.  When  he 
laid  his  hands  on  his  head,  as  the  vision  had  foretold,  immediately 
he  would  be  recognized  as  the  messenger  of  God  even  before  the 
w^ords  were  spoken,  Brother  Saul,  the  Lord,  even  Jesus,  that 
appeared  unto  thee  in  the  way  as  thou  camest,  hath  sent  me,  that 
thou  mightest  receive  thy  sight,  and  be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Ghost.''  These  w^ords  were  followed,  as  were  the  words  of  Jesus 
himself  when  he  spoke  to  the  blind,  wdth  an  instantaneous  dissi- 
pation of  darkness:  ^' There  fell  from  his  eyes  as  it  had  been 
scales :  and  he  received  sight  forthwith"  (ix.  18) ;  or,  in  his  own 
more  vivid  expression,  the  same  hour  he  looked  upon  the  face 
of  Ananias"  (xxii.  13).  It  was  a  face  he  had  never  seen  before. 
But  the  expression  of  Christian  love  assured  him  of  reconciliation 
with  God.  He  learnt  that  the  God  of  his  fathers"  had  chosen 
him  "to  know  his  will"— "to  see  that  just  One" — "to  hear  the 
voice  of  his  mouth" — to  be  "his  witness  unto  all  men."  He  was 
baptized,  and  "the  rivers  of  Damascus"  became  more  to  him  than 
"all  the  waters  of  Judah"  had  been.  His  body  was  strengthened 
with  food  and  his  soul  was  made  strong  to  "  suffer  great  things  " 
for  the  name  of  Jesus,  and  to  bear  that  Name  "  before  the  Gentiles 
and  kings  and  the  children  of  Israel." 

He  began  by  proclaiming  the  honor  of  that  name  to  the  children 
of  Israel  in  Damascus.  He  was  "not  disobedient  to  the  heavenly 
vision"  (xxvi.  19),  but  "straightway  preached  in  the  synagogues" 
that  Jesus  was  "the  Son  of  God,"  and  "showed  unto  them  that 
they  should  repent  and  turn  to  God  and  do  works  meet  for  re- 
pentance." His  rabbinical  and  Pharisaic  learning  was  now  used 
to  uphold  the  cause  which  he  came  to  destroy.  The  Jews  were 
astounded.  They  knew  what  he  had  been  at  Jerusalem.  They 
knew  why  he  had  come  to  Damascus.  And  now  they  saw  him 
contradicting  the  whole  previous  course  of  his  life,  and  utterly 
discarding  that  "commission  of  the  high  priests"  which  had  been 


96  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THJ^.  ^POSTLE  PAUL. 


the  authority  of  his  journey.  Yet  it  was  evident  that  his  conduct 
was  not  the  result  of  a  wayward  and  irregular  impulse.  His  con- 
victions never  hesitated,  his  energy  grew  continually  stronger,  as  he 
strove  in  the  synagogues,  maintaining  the  truth  against  the  Jews 
and  "arguing  and  proving  that  Jesus  was  indeed  the  Messiah." 

The  period  of  his  first  teaching  at  Damascus  does  not  seem  to 
have  lasted  long.  Indeed,  it  is  evident  that  his  life  could  not  have 
been  safe  had  he  remained.  The  fury  of  the  Jews  when  they 
recovered  from  their  first  surprise  must  have  been  excited  to  the 
utmost  pitch,  and  they  would  soon  have  received  a  new  com- 
missioner from  Jerusalem  armed  with  full  powers  to  supersede 
and  punish  one  whom  they  must  have  regarded  as  the  most  faithless 
of  apostates.  Saul  left  the  city,  but  not  to  return  to  Jerusalem. 
Conscious  of  his  divine  mission,  he  never  felt  that  it  was  necessary 
to  consult  "those  who  were  apostles  before  him,  but  he  went  into 
Arabia,  and  returned  again  into  Damascus"  (Gal.  i.  17). 

Many  questions  have  been  raised  concerning  this  journey  into 
Arabia.  The  first  question  relates  to  the  meaning  of  the  word. 
From  the  time  when  the  word  "  Arabia"  was  first  used  by  any  of 
the  writers  of  Greece  or  E-ome  it  has  always  been  a  term  of  vague 
and  uncertain  import.  Sometimes  it  includes  Damascus ;  some- 
times it  ranges  over  the  Lebanon  itself,  and  extends  even  to  the 
borders  of  Cilicia.  The  native  geographers  usually  reckon  that 
stony  district  of  which  Petra  was  the  capital  as  belonging  to 
Egypt,  and  that  wide  desert  towards  the  Euphrates  where  the 
Bedouins  of  all  ages  have  lived  in  tents  as  belonging  to  Syria,  and 
have  limited  the  name  to  the  penisnula  between  the  Eed  Sea  and 
the  Persian  Gulf,  where  Yemen,  or  "  Araby  the  Blest,"  is  secluded 
on  the  south.  In  the  threefold  division  of  Ptolemy,  which  remains 
in  our  popular  language  when  we  speak  of  this  still  untravelled 
region,  both  the  first  and  second  of  these  districts  were  included 
under  the  name  of  the  third.  And  we  must  suppose  Paul  to  have 
gone  into  one  of  the  former,  either  that  which  touched  Syria  and 
Mesopotamia,  or  that  which  touched  Palestine  and  Egypt.  If  he 
went  into  the  first,  we  need  not  suppose  him  to  have  travelled  far 
from  Damascus.  For  though  the  strong  powers  of  Syria  and  Meso- 
potamia might  check  the  Arabian  tribes  and  retrench  the  Arabian 
name  in  this  direction,  yet  the  gardens  of  Damascus  were  on  the 
verge  of  the  desert,  and  Damascus  was  almost  as  much  an  Arabian 
as  a  Syrian  town. 


PAUL  tiETIRES  INTO  ARABIA. 


97 


And  if  he  went  into  Petrsean  Arabia,  there  still  remains  the 
question  of  his  motive  for  the  journey  and  his  employment  when 
there.  Either,  retiring  before  the  opposition  at  Damascus,  he  went 
to  preach  the  gospel,  and  then  in  the  synagogues  of  that  singu- 
lar capital,  which  was  built  amidst  the  rocks  of  Edom,  whence 
"  Arabians  "  came  to  the  festivals  at  Jerusalem,  he  testified  of 
Jesus,  or  he  went  for  the  purpose  of  contemplation  and  solitary 
communion  with  God,  to  deepen  his  repentance  and  fortify  his 
soul  with  prayer ;  and  then  perhaps  his  steps  were  turned  to  those 
mountain-heights  by  the  Eed  Sea  which  Moses  and  Elijah  had 
trodden  before  him.  We  cannot  attempt  to  decide  the  question. 
The  views  which  different  inquirers  take  of  it  will  probably  de- 
pend on  their  own  tendency  to  the  practical  or  the  ascetic  life. 
On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  argued  that  such  zeal  could  not  be 
restrained,  that  Saul  could  not  be  silent,  but  that  he  would  rejoice 
in  carrying  into  the  metropolis  of  King  Aretas  the  gospel  which 
his  ethnarch  could  afterward  hinder  at  Damascus.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  may  be  said  that  with  such  convictions  recently  worked 
in  his  mind  he  would  yearn  for  solitude, — that  a  time  of  austere 
meditation  before  the  beginning  of  a  great  work  is  in  conformity 
with  the  economy  of  God, — that  we  find  it  quite  natural  if  Paul 
followed  the  example  of  the  great  lawgiver  and  the  great  prophet, 
and  of  One  greater  than  Moses  and  Elijah,  who  after  his  baptism 
and  before  his  ministry,  "returned  from  Jordan  and  was  led  by 
the  Spirit  into  the  wilderness.^' 

While  Saul  is  in  Arabia,  preaching  the  gospel  in  obscurity  or 
preparing  for  his  varied  work  by  the  intuition  of  sacred  truth,  it 
seems  the  natural  place  for  some  reflections  on  the  reality  and  the 
momentous  significance  of  his  conversion.  It  has  already  been 
remarked,  in  what  we  have  drawn  from  the  statements  of  Scrip- 
ture, that  he  was  called  directly  by  Christ  without  the  intervention 
of  any  other  apostle,  and  that  the  purpose  of  his  call  was  clearly 
indicated  when  Ananias  baptized  him.  He  was  an  apostle  "  not 
of  men,  neither  by  man,''  and  the  Divine  Will  was  to  work 
among  the  Gentiles  by  his  ministry."  But  the  unbeliever  may 
still  say  that  there  are  other  questions  of  primary  importance. 
He  may  suggest  that  this  apparent  change  in  the  current  of  Saul's 
thoughts,  and  this  actual  revolution  in  the  manner  of  his  life,  were 
either  the  contrivance  of  deep  and  deliberate  imposture  or  the 
result  of  wild  and  extravagant  fanaticism.  Both  in  ancient  and 
7 


98  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

modern  times  some  have  been  found  who  have  resolved  this  great 
occurrence  in  the  promptings  of  self-interest  or  have  ventured  to 
call  it  the  offspring  of  delusion.  There  is  an  old  story  mentioned 
by  Epiphanius,  from  which  it  appears  that  the  Ebionites  were  con- 
tent to  find  a  motive  for  the  change  in  an  idle  story  that  he  first 
became  a  Jew  that  he  might  marry  the  high  priest's  daughter,  and 
then  became  the  antagonist  of  Judaism  because  the  high  priest 
deceived  him.  And  there  are  modern  Jews  who  are  satisfied  with 
saying  that  he  changed  rapidly  from  one  passion  to  another,  like 
those  impetuous  souls  who  cannot  hate  or  love  by  halves.  Can 
we  then  say  that  Paul  was  simply  an  enthusiast  or  an  impostor  f 
The  question  has  been  so  well  answered  in  a  celebrated  English 
book  that  we  are  content  to  refer  to  it.  It  will  never  be  possible 
for  any  to  believe  Paul  to  have  been  a  mere  enthusiast  who  duly 
considers  his  calmness,  his  wisdom,  his  prudence,  and,  above  all, 
his  humility — a  virtue  which  is  not  less  inconsistent  with  fanati- 
cism than  with  imposture.  And  how  can  we  suppose  that  he  was 
an  impostor  who  changed  his  religion  for  selfish  purposes  ?  Was 
he  influenced  by  the  ostentation  of  learning  ?  He  suddenly  cast 
aside  all  that  he  had  been  taught  by  Gamaliel  or  acquired  through 
long  years  of  study,  and  took  up  the  opinions  of  the  fishermen  of 
Galilee,  whom  he  had  scarcely  ever  seen  and  who  had  never  been 
educated  in  the  schools.  Was  it  the  love  of  power  which  prompted 
the  change?  He  abdicated  in  a  moment  the  authority  which  he 
possessed  for  power  "  over  a  flock  of  sheep  driven  to  the  slaughter, 
whose  Shepherd  himself  had  been  murdered  a  little  before ; "  and 
all  he  could  hope  from  that  power  was  to  be  marked  out  in  a 
particular  manner  for  the  same  knife  which  he  had  seen  so 
bloodily  drawn  against  them."  Was  it  the  love  of  wealth? 
Whatever  might  be  his  own  worldly  possessions  at  the  time,  he 
joined  himself  to  those  who  were  certainly  poor,  and  the  prospect 
before  him  was  that  which  was  actually  realized,  of  ministering  to 
his  necessities  with  the  labor  of  his  hands.  Was  it  the  love  of 
fame?  His  prophetic  power  must  have  been  miraculous  if  he 
could  look  beyond  the  shame  and  scorn  which  then  rested  on  the 
servants  of  a  crucified  Master  to  that  glory  with  which  Christen- 
dom now  surrounds  the  memory  of  Paul. 

And  if  the  conversion  of  Paul  was  not  the  act  of  an  enthusiast 
or  an  impostor,  then  it  ought  to  be  considered  how  much  this 
wonderful  occurrence  involves.    As  Lord  Lyttelton  observes, 


CONSPIRACY  AT  DAMASCUS. 


99 


*'The  conversion  and  apostleship  of  Paul  alone,  duly  considered, 
is  of  itself  a  demonstration  sufficient  to  prove  Christianity  to  be  a 
divine  revelation."  Saul  was  arrested  at  the  height  of  his  zeal  and 
in  the  midst  of  his  fury.  In  the  words  of  Chrysostom,  "  Christ, 
like  a  skilful  physician,  healed  him  when  his  fever  was  at  the 
worst ; "  and  he  proceeds  to  remark  in  the  same  eloquent  sermon 
that  the  truth  of  Christ's  resurrection  and  the  present  power  of 
Him  who  had  been  crucified  were  shown  far  more  forcibly  than 
they  could  have  been  if  Paul  had  been  otherwise  called.  Nor 
ought  we  to  forget  the  great  religious  lessons  we  are  taught  to 
gather  from  this  event.  We  see  the  value  set  by  God  upon 
honesty  and  integrity,  when  we  find  that  he  "who  was  before  a 
blasphemer  and  a  persecutor  and  injurious  obtained  mercy  because 
he  did  it  ignorantly  in  unbelief."  And  we  learn  the  encourage- 
ment given  to  all  sinners  who  repent,  when  we  are  told  that  "  for 
this  cause  he  obtained  mercy  that  in  him  first  Jesus  Christ  might 
show  forth  all  long-suffering,  for  a  paHern  to  them  which  should 
hereafter  believe  on  him  to  life  everlasting." 

We  return  to  the  narrative.  SauFs  time  of  retirement  in  Arabia 
was  not  of  long  continuance.  He  was  not  destined  to  be  the 
evangelist  of  the  East.  In  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  the  time 
from  his  conversion  to  his  final  departure  from  Damascus  is  said 
to  have  been  three  years,"  which,  according  to  the  Jewish  way 
of  reckoning,  may  have  been  three  entire  years^  or  only  one  year 
with  parts  of  two  others.  Meantime,  Saul  had  "  returned  to  Da- 
mascus, preaching  boldly  in  the  name  of  Jesus"  (ix.  27).  The 
Jews,  being  no  longer  able  to  meet  him  in  controversy,  resorted  to 
that  which  is  the  last  argument  of  a  desperate  cause:  they  resolved 
to  assassinate  him.  Saul  became  acquainted  with  the  conspiracy,  and 
all  due  precautions  were  taken  to  evade  the  danger.  But  the  polit- 
ical circumstances  of  Damascus  at  the  time  made  escape  very 
difficult.  Either  in  the  course  of  the  hostilities  which  prevailed 
along  the  Syrian  frontiers  between  Herod  Antipas  and  the  Romans 
on  one  side,  and  Aretas,  king  of  Petra,  on  the  other,  and  possibly 
in  consequence  of  that  absence  of  Vitellius  which  was  caused  by 
the  emperor's  death,  the  Arabian  monarch  had  made  himself  master 
of  Damascus,  and  the  Jews,  who  sympathized  with  Aretas,  were 
high  in  the  favor  of  his  officer,  the  ethnarch.  Or  Tiberius  had  ceased 
to  reign,  and  his  successor  had  assigned  Damascus  to  the  king  of 
Petra,  and  the  Jews  had  gained  over  his  officer  and  his  soldiers,  as 


100 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Pilate's  soldiers  had  once  been  gained  over  at  Jerusalem.  Paul  at 
least  expressly  informs  us  that  "  the  ethnarch  kept  watch  over  the 
city  with  a  garrison,  purposing  to  apprehend  him."  Luke  says 
that  the  Jews  "  watched  the  city  gates  day  and  night,'  with  the 
intention  of  killing  him."  The  Jews  furnished  the  motive,  the 
ethnarch  the  military  force.  The  anxiety  of  the  "  disciples  "  was 
doubtless  great,  as  when  Peter  was  imprisoned  by  Herod,  "and 
prayer  was  made  without  ceasing  of  the  Church  unto  God  for  him." 
Their  anxiety  became  the  instrument  of  his  safety.  From  an  un- 
guarded part  of  the  wall,  in  the  darkness  of  the  night,  probably 
where  some  overhanging  houses,  as  is  usual  in  Eastern  cities,  opened 
upon  the  outer  country,  they  let  him  down  from  the  window  in  a 
basket.  There  was  something  of  humiliation  in  this  mode  of  escape ; 
and  this,  perhaps,  is  the  reason  why,  in  a  letter  written  "  fourteen 
years"  afterward,  he  specifies  the  details,  "glorying  in  his  infir- 
mities," when  he  is  about  to  speak  of  "  his  visions  and  revelations 
of  the  Lord." 

Thus  already  the  apostle  had  experienced  of  "  perils  by  his  own 
countrymen,  and  perils  in  the  city."  Already  "in  journeyings 
often,  in  weariness  and  painfulness,"  he  began  to  learn  "  how  great 
things  he  was  to  suffer  "  for  the  name  of  Christ.  Preserved  from 
destruction  at  Damascus,  he  turned  his  steps  towards  Jerusalem. 
His  motive  for  the  journey,  as  he  tells  us  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Gala- 
tians,  was  a  desire  to  become  acquainted  with  Peter.  Not  that  he 
was  ignorant  of  the  true  principles  of  the  gospel.  He  expressly 
tells  that  he  neither  needed  nor  received  any  instruction  in  Chris- 
tianity from  those  who  were  "apostles  before  him."  But  he  must 
have  heard  much  from  the  Christians  at  Damascus  of  the  Galilean 
fisherman.  Can  we  wonder  that  he  should  desire  to  see  the  chief 
of  the  Twelve,  the  brother  with  whom  now  he  was  consciously 
united  in  the  bonds  of  a  common  apostleship,  and  who  had  long 
on  earth  been  the  constant  companion  of  his  Lord  ? 

How  changed  was  everything  since  he  had  last  travelled  this 
road  between  Damascus  and  Jerusalem  !  If,  when  the  day  broke, 
he  looked  back  upon  that  city  from  which  he  had  escaped  under 
the  shelter  of  night,  as  his  eye  ranged  over  the  fresh  gardens  and 
the  wide  desert  how  the  remembrance  of  that  first  terrible  vision 
would  call  forth  a  deep  thanksgiving  to  Him  who  had  called  him 
to  be  a  "  partaker  of  his  sufferings  " !  And  what  feelings  must  have 
attended  his  approach  to  Jerusalem  !  "  He  was  returning  to  it  from 


HIS  RETURN  TO  JERUSALEM. 


101 


a  spiritual,  as  Ezra  had  from  a  bodily,  captivity,  and  to  his  renewed 
mind  all  things  appeared  new.  What  an  emotion  smote  his  heart 
at  the  first  distant  view  of  the  temple,  that  house  of  sacrifice,  that 
edifice  of  prophecy !  Its  sacrifices  had  been  realized,  the  Lamb 
of  God  had  been  offered:  its  prophecies  had  been  fulfilled,  the 
Lord  had  come  unto  it.  As  he  approached  the  gates  he  might 
have  trodden  the  very  spot  where  he  had  so  exultingly  assisted  in 
the  death  of  Stephen,  and  he  entered  them  perfectly  content,  were 
it  God's  will,  to  be  dragged  out  through  them  to  the  same  fiite. 
He  would  feel  a  peculiar  tie  of  brotherhood  to  that  martyr,  for 
he  could  not  be  now  ignorant  that  the  same  Jesus  who  in  such 
glory  had  called  him  had  but  a  little  while  before  appeared  in  the 
same  glory  to  assure  the  expiring  Stephen.  The  ecstatic  look  and 
words  of  the  dying  saint  now  came  fresh  upon  his  memory  with 
their  real  meaning.  When  he  entered  into  the  city,  what  deep 
thoughts  were  suggested  by  the  haunts  of  his  youth,  and  by  the 
sight  of  the  spots  where  he  had  so  eagerly  sought  that  knowledge 
which  he  had  now  so  eagerly  abandoned !  What  an  intolerable 
burden  had  he  cast  off*!  He  felt  as  a  glorified  spirit  may  be  sup- 
posed to  feel  on  revisiting  the  scenes  of  its  fleshly  sojourn." 

Yet  not  without  grief  and  awe  could  he  look  upon  that  city  of 
his  forefathers,  over  which  he  now  knew  that  the  judgment  of  God 
was  impending.  And  not  without  sad  emotions  could  one  of  so 
tender  a  nature  think  of  the  alienation  of  those  who  had  once 
been  his  warmest  associates.  The  grief  of  Gamaliel,  the  indig- 
nation of  the  Pharisees,  the  fury  of  the  Hellenistic  synagogues,— 
all  this,  he  knew,  was  before  him.  The  sanguine  hopes,  however, 
springing  from  his  own  honest  convictions,  and  his  fervent  zeal  to 
communicate  the  truth  to  others,  predominated  in  his  mind.  He 
thought  that  they  would  believe  as  he  had  believed.  He  argued 
thus  with  himself:  that  they  well  knew  that  he  had  ''impris- 
oned and  beaten  in  every  synagogue  them  that  believed  in 
Jesus  Christ;"  and  that  "when  the  blood  of  his  martyr  Stephen 
was  shed,  he  also  was  standing  by  and  consenting  unto  his  death, 
and  kept  the  raiment  of  them  that  slew  him  ;"  and  that  when  they 
saw  the  change  which  had  been  produced  in  him,  and  heard  the 
miraculous  history  he  could  tell  them,  they  would  not  refuse  to 
"I'eceive  his  testimony." 

Thus,  with  fervent  zeal  and  sanguine  expectations,  "he  attempted 
to  join  himself  to  the  disciples  "  of  Christ.    But  as  the  Jews  hated 


102         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


him,  so  the  Christians  suspected  him.  His  escape  had  been  too 
hurried  to  allow  of  his  bringing  "letters  of  commendation.'* 
Whatever  distant  rumor  might  have  reached  them  of  an  appa- 
rition on  his  journey,  of  his  conduct  at  Damascus,  of  his  retire- 
ment in  Arabia,  they  could  not  believe  that  he  was  really  a  dis- 
ciple. And  then  it  was  that  Barnabas,  already  known  to  us  as  a 
generous  contributor  of  his  wealth  to  the  poor,  came  forward  again 
as  the  "  Son  of  Consolation,'^  "  took  him  by  the  hand,"  and  brought 
him  to  the  apostles.  It  is  probable  that  Barnabas  and  Saul  were 
acquainted  with  each  other  before.  Cyprus  is  within  a  few  hours' 
sail  from  Cilicia.  The  schools  of  Tarsus  may  naturally  have  at- 
tracted one  who,  though  a  Levite,  was  a  Hellenist;  and  there  the 
friendship  may  have  begun  which  lasted  through  many  vicissitudes 
till  it  was  rudely  interrupted  in  the  dispute  at  Antioch.  When 
Barnabas  related  how  "the  Lord"  Jesus  Christ  had  personally  ap- 
peared to  Saul,  and  had  even  spoken  to  him,  and  how  he  had 
boldly  maintained  the  Christian  cause  in  the  synagogues  of  Da- 
mascus, then  the  apostles  laid  aside  their  hesitation.  Peter's  argu- 
ment must  have  been  what  it  was  on  another  occasion :  "  Foras- 
much as  God  hath  given  unto  him  the  like  gift  as  he  did  unto  me, 
who  am  I  that  I  should  withstand  God?"  He  and  James,  the 
Lord's  brother,  the  only  other  apostle  who  was  in  Jerusalem  at 
the  time,  gave  to  him  "  the  right  hands  of  fellowship."  And  he 
was  with  them,  "  coming  in  and  going  out,"  more  than  forgiven 
for  Christ's  sake,  welcomed  and  beloved  as  a  friend  and  a  brother. 

This  first  meeting  of  the  fisherman  of  Galilee  and  the  tent- 
maker  of  Tarsus,  the  chosen  companion  of  Jesus  on  earth  and  the 
chosen  Pharisee  who  saw  Jesus  in  the  heavens,  the  apostle  of  the 
circumcision  and  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  is  passed  over  in 
Scripture  in  a  few  words.  The  divine  record  does  not  linger  in 
dramatic  description  on  those  passages  which  a  mere  human  writ- 
ing would  labor  to  embellish.  What  took  place  in  the  intercourse 
of  these  two  saints, — what  was  said  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  who 
suffered,  died,  and  was  buried,  and  of  Jesus  the  glorified  Lord 
who  had  risen  and  ascended  and  become  "Head  over  all  things  to 
the  Church," — what  was  felt  of  Christian  love  and  devotion, — 
what  was  learnt,  under  the  Spirit's  teaching,  of  Christian  truth, — 
has  not  been  revealed  and  cannot  be  known.  The  intercourse  was 
full  of  present  comfort  and  full  of  great  consequences.  But  it  did 
not  last  long.    Fifteen  days  passed  away,  and  the  apostles  were 


HIS  VISION  IN  THE  TEMPLE. 


103 


compelled  to  part.  The  same  zeal  which  had  caused  his  voice  to 
be  heard  in  the  Hellenistic  synagogues  in  the  persecution  against 
Stephen  now  led  Saul  in  the  same  synagogues  to  declare  fearlessly 
his  adherence  to  Stephen's  cause.  The  same  fury  which  had  caused 
the  murder  of  Stephen  now  brought  the  murderer  of  Stephen  to 
the  verge  of  assassination.  Once  more,  as  at  Damascus,  the  Jews 
made  a  conspiracy  to  put  Saul  to  death,  and  once  more  he  was 
rescued  by  the  anxiety  of  the  brethren. 

Reluctantly,  and  not  without  a  direct  intimation  from  on  high, 
he  retired  from  the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel  in  Jerusalem. 
As  he  was  praying  one  day  in  the  temple,  it  came  to  pass  that  he 
fell  into  a  trance,  and  in  his  ecstasy  he  saw  Jesus,  who  spoke  to 
him  and  said,  "  Make  haste  and  get  thee  quickly  out  of  Jerusalem ; 
for  they  will  not  receive  thy  testimony  concerning  me."  He  hesi- 
tated to  obey  the  command,  his  desire  to  do  God's  will  leading  him 
to  struggle  against  the  hinderances  of  God's  providence,  and  the 
memory  of  Stephen,  which  haunted  him  even  in  his  trance,  fur- 
nishing him  with  an  argument.  But  the  command  was  more 
peremptory  than  before  :  "  Depart ;  for  I  will  send  thee  far  hence 
unto  the  Gentiles."  The  scene  of  his  apostolic  victories  was  not 
to  be  Jerusalem.  For  the  third  time  it  was  declared  to  him  that 
the  field  of  his  labors  was  among  the  Gentiles.  This  secret  reve- 
lation to  his  soul  conspired  with  the  outward  difiiculties  of  his 
situation.  The  care  of  God  gave  the  highest  sanction  to  the  anx- 
iety of  the  brethren.  And  he  suffered  himself  to  be  withdrawn 
from  the  Holy  City. 

They  brought  him  down  to  Csesarea  by  the  Sea,  and  from  Caesa- 
rea  they  sent  him  to  Tarsus.  His  own  expression  in  the  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians  (i.  21)  is  that  he  went  "  into  the  regions  of  Syria 
and  Cilicia."  From  this  it  has  been  inferred  that  he  went  first 
from  Cicsarea  to  Antioch,  and  then  from  Antioch  to  Tarsus.  And 
such  a  course  would  have  been  perfectly  natural,  for  the  commu- 
nication of  the  city  of  Caesar  and  the  Herods  with  the  metropolis 
of  Syria,  either  by  sea  and  the  harbor  of  Seleucia  or  by  the  great 
coast-road  through  Tyre  and  Sidon,  was  easy  and  frequent.  But 
the  supposition  is  unnecessary.  In  consequence  of  the  range  of 
Mount  Taurus,  Cilicia  has  a  greater  geographical  affinity  with 
Syria  than  with  Asia  Minor.  Hence  it  has  existed  in  frequent 
political  combination  with  it  from  the  time  of  the  old  Persian 
satrapies  to  the  modern  pashalics  of  the  sultan ;  and  "  Syria  and 


l04  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


'Cilicia^^  appears  in  history  almost  as  a  generic  geographical  term, 
the  more  important  district  being  mentioned  first.  Within  the 
limits  of  this  region  Saul's  activities  were  now  exercised  in  study- 
ing and  in  teaching  at  Tarsus,  or  in  founding  those  churches  which 
were  afterward  greeted  in  the  apostolic  letter  from  Jerusalem  as 
the  brethren  in  Antioch,  and  Syria,  and  Cilicia,"  and  which 
Paul  himself  confirmed  after  his  separation  from  Barnabas,  trav- 
elling through  "Syria  and  Cilicia." 

Whatever  might  be  the  extent  of  his  journeys  within  these 
limits,  we  know  at  least  that  he  was  at  Tarsus.  Once  more  we 
find  him  in  the  home  of  his  childhood.  It  is  the  last  time  we  are 
distinctly  told  that  he  was  there.  Now,  at  least,  if  not  before,  we 
may  be  sure  that  he  would  come  into  active  intercourse  with  the 
heathen  philosophers  of  the  place.  In  his  last  residence  at  Tar- 
sus, a  few  years  before,  he  was  a  Jew,  and  not  only  a  Jew,  but  a 
Pharisee,  and  he  looked  on  the  Gentiles  around  him  as  outcasts 
from  the  favor  of  God.  Now  he  was  a  Christian,  and  not  only  a 
Christian,  but  conscious  of  his  mission  as  the  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles. Therefore,  he  would  surely  meet  the  philosophers,  and 
prepare  to  argue  with  them  on  their  own  ground,  as  afterward 
in  the  "market"  at  Athens  with  "the  Epicureans  and  the  Stoics.'* 
Many  Stoics  of  Tarsus  were  men  of  celebrity  in  the  Koman  em- 
pire. Athenodorus,  the  tutor  of  Augustus,  has  been  already  men- 
tioned. He  was  probably  by  this  time  deceased,  and  receiving 
those  divine  honors  which,  as  Lucian  informs  us,  were  paid  to 
him  after  his  death.  The  tutor  of  Tiberius  also  was  a  Tarsian 
and  a  Stoic.  His  name  was  Nestor.  He  was  probably  at  this  time 
alive,  for  he  lingered  to  the  age  of  ninety-two,  and  in  all  likeli- 
hood survived  his  wicked  pupil,  whose  death  we  have  recently 
noticed.  Now,  among  these  eminent  sages  and  instructors  of  hea- 
then emperors  was  one  whose  teaching  was  destined  to  survive 
when  the  Stoic  philosophy  should  have  perished,  and  whose  words 
still  instruct  the  rulers  of  every  civilized  nation.  How  far  Saul's 
arguments  had  any  success  in  this  quarter  we  cannot  even  guess, 
and  we  must  not  anticipate  the  conversion  of  Cornelius.  At  least 
he  was  preparing  for  the  future.  In  the  synagogue  we  cannot 
believe  that  he  was  silent  or  unsuccessful.  In  his  own  family  we 
may  well  imagine  that  some  of  those  Christian  "kinsmen"  whose 
names  are  handed  down  to  us — possibly  his  sister,  the  playmate 
of  his  childhood,  and  his  sister's  son,  who  afterward  saved  his 


Saul's  vocation  recognized. 


105 


life — were  at  this  time  by  his  exertions  gathered  into  the  fold  of 
Christ. 

Here  this  chapter  must  close,  while  Saul  is  in  exile  from  the 
earthly  Jerusalem,  but  diligently  occupied  in  building  up  the 
walls  of  the  Jerusalem  which  is  above."  And  it  was  not  with- 
out one  great  and  important  consequence  that  that  short  fort- 
night had  been  spent  in  Jerusalem.  He  was  now  known  to  Peter 
and  to  James.  His  vocation  was  fully  ascertained  and  recognized 
by  the  heads  of  the  Jud?ean  Christians.  It  is  true  that  he  was  yet 
"  unknown  by  face"  to  the  scattered  churches  of  Judaea.  But  they 
honored  him  of  whom  they  had  heard  so  much.  And  when  the 
news  came  to  them  at  intervals  of  all  that  he  was  doing  for  the 
cause  of  Christ,  they  praised  God  and  said, Behold !  he  who 
was  once  our  persecutor  is  now  bearing  the  glad  tidings  of  that 
faith  which  formerly  he  labored  to  root  out ;"  and  they  glorified 
God  in  him." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


WIDER  DIFFUSION  OF  CHRISTIANITY.— ANTIOCH.— CHRONOLOGY 
OF  THE  ACTS. — REIGN  OF  CALIGULA. — CLAUDIUS  AND  HEROD 
AGRIPPA  I.— THE  YEAR  44. — CONVERSION  OF  THE  GENTILES. 
— PETER  AND  CORNELIUS. — JOPPA  AND  CJESAREA. — PETER'S 
VISION. — BAPTISM  OF  CORNELIUS. — INTELLIGENCE  FROM  AN- 
TIOCH. — MISSION  OF  BARNABAS.— SAUL  WITH  BARNABAS  AT 
ANTIOCH. — THE  NAME  ''CHRISTIAN." — DESCRIPTION  AND  HIS- 
TORY OF  ANTIOCH.  —  CHARACTER  OF  ITS  INHABITANTS. — 
EARTHQUAKES. — FAMINE. — BARNABAS  AND  SAUL  AT  JERUSA- 
LEM.— DEATH  OF  JAMES  AND  OF  HEROD  AGRIPPA. — RETURN 
WITH  MARK  TO  ANTIOCH.— PROVIDENTIAL  PREPARATION  OF 
PAUL. — RESULTS  OF  HIS  MISSION  TO  JERUSALEM. 

Hitherto,  the  history  of  the  Christian  Church  has  been  con- 
fined withii>  Jewish  limits.  We  have  followed  its  progress  beyond 
the  walls  of  Jerusalem,  but  hardly  yet  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
Palestine.  If  any  traveller  from  a  distant  country  has  been  ad- 
mitted into  the  community  of  believers,  the  place  of  his  baptism 
has  not  been  more  remote  than  the  ''  desert"  of  Gaza.  If  any 
"  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of  Israel"  have  been  admitted  to 
the  citizenship  of  the  spiritual  Israelites,  they  have  been  "  stran- 
gers" who  dwell  among  the  hills  of  Samaria.  But  the  time  is 
rapidly  approaching  when  the  knowledge  of  Christ  must  spread 
more  rapidly, — when  those  who  possessed  not  that  Book  which 
caused  perplexity  on  the  road  to  Ethiopia  will  hear  and  adore  his 
name,  and  greater  strangers  than  those  who  drew  water  from  the 
well  of  Sychar  will  come  nigh  to  the  Fountain  of  Life.  The  same 
dispersion  which  gathered  in  the  Samaritans  will  gather  in  the 
Gentiles  also.  The  ^'middle  wall  of  partition"  being  ntterly 
broken  down,  all  will  be  called  by  the  new  and  glorious  name  of 
Christian." 

And  as  we  follow  the  progress  of  events,  and  find  that  all  move- 

106 


CHRONOLOGY  OF  THE  ACTS. 


107 


ments  in  the  Church  begin  to  have  more  and  more  reference  to 
the  heathen,  we  observe  that  these  movements  begin  to  circulate 
more  and  more  round  a  new  centre  of  activity.  Not  Jerusalem, 
but  Antioch,  not  the  Holy  City  of  God's  ancient  people,  but  the 
profane  city  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  is  the  place  to  which  the 
student  of  sacred  history  is  now  directed.  During  the  remainder 
of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  our  attention  is  at  least  divided  between 
Jerusalem  and  Antioch,  until  at  last,  after  following  Paul's  many 
journeys,  we  come  with  him  to  Eome.  For  some  time  Constanti- 
nople must  remain  a  city  of  the  future,  but  we  are  more  than  once 
reminded  of  the  greatness  of  Alexandria;  and  thus  evenin  the  life 
of  the  apostle  we  find  prophetic  intimations  of  four  of  the  five 
great  centres  of  the  early  catholic  Church. 

At  present  we  are  occupied  with  Antioch,  and  the  point  before 
us  is  that  particular  moment  in  the  Church's  history  when  it  was 
first  called  Christian."  Both  the  place  and  the  event  are  remark- 
able ;  and  the  time,  if  we  are  able  to  determine  it,  is  worthy  of  our 
attention.  Though  we  are  following  the  course  of  an  individual 
biography,  it  is  necessary  to  pause  on  critical  occasions  to  look 
around  on  what  is  passing  in  the  empire  at  large.  And,  happily, 
we  are  now  arrived  at  a  point  where  we  are  able  distinctly  to  see 
the  path  of  the  apostle's  life  intersecting  the  general  history  of  the 
period.  This,  therefore,  is  the  right  place  for  a  few  chronological 
remarks.  A  few  such  remarks,  made  once  for  all,  may  justify 
what  has  gone  before,  and  prepare  the  way  for  subsequent  chapters. 

Some  readers  may  be  surprised  that  up  to  this  point  we  have 
made  no  attempts  to  ascertain  or  to  state  exact  chronological 
details.  But  theologians  are  well  aware  of  the  difficulties  with 
which  such  inquiries  are  attended  in  the  beginnings  of  Paul's 
biography.  The  early  chapters  in  the  Acts  are  like  the  narratives 
in  the  Gospels.  It  is  often  hardly  possible  to  learn  how  far  the 
events  related  were  contemporary  or  consecutive.  It  is  impossible 
to  determine  the  relations  of  time  which  subsist  between  Paul's 
retirement  into  Arabia  and  Peter's  visit  to  the  converted  Samari- 
tans, or  between  the  journey  of  one  apostle  from  Joppa  to  Ca3sarea 
and  the  journey  of  the  other  from  Jerusalem  to  Tarsus.  Still  less 
have  we  sufficient  data  for  pronouncing  upon  the  absolute  chro- 
nology of  the  earliest  transactions  in  the  Church.  No  one  can  tell 
wliat  particular  folly  or  crime  was  engaging  Caligula's  attention 
when  Paul  was  first  made  a  Christian  at  Damascus.    No  one  can 


108 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


tell  on  what  work  of  love  the  Christians  were  occupied  when  the 
emperor  was  inaugurating  his  bridge  at  Puteoli  or  exhibiting  his 
fantastic  pride  on  the  shores  of  the  British  Sea.  In  a  work  of  this 
kind  it  is  better  to  place  the  events  of  the  apostle's  life  in  the 
broad  light  cast  by  the  leading  features  of  the  period  than  to 
attempt  to  illustrate  them  by  the  help  of  dates,  which,  after  all, 
can  be  only  conjectural.  Thus  we  have  been  content  to  say  that 
he  was  born  in  the  strongest  and  most  flourishing  period  of  the 
reign  of  Augustus,  and  that  he  was  converted  from  the  religion  of 
the  Pharisees  about  the  time  when  Caligula  succeeded  Tiberius. 
But  soon  after  we  enter  on  the  reign  of  Claudius  we  encounter  a 
coincidence  which  arrests  our  attention.  We  must  first  take  a 
rapid  glance  at  the  reign  of  his  predecessor.  Though  the  cruelty 
of  that  reign  stung  the  Jews  in  every  part  of  the  empire,  and  pro- 
duced an  indignation  which  never  subsided,  one  short  paragraph 
will  be  enough  for  all  that  need  be  said  concerning  the  abominable 
tyrant. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  year  37  Tiberius  died,  and  at  the  close 
of  the  same  year  Nero  was  born.  Between  the  reigns  of  these  two 
emperors  are  those  of  Caligula  and  Claudius.  The  four  years 
during  which  Caligula  sat  on  the  throne  of  the  world  were  miser- 
able for  all  the  provinces,  both  in  the  West  and  in  the  East.  In 
Gaul  his  insults  were  aggravated  by  his  personal  presence.  In 
Syria  his  caprices  were  felt  more  remotely,  but  not  less  keenly. 
The  changes  of  administration  w^ere  rapid  and  various.  In  the 
year  36  the  two  great  actors  in  the  crime  of  the  crucifixion  had 
disappeared  from  the  public  places  of  Judaea.  Pontius  Pilate  had 
been  dismissed  by  Vitellius  to  Eome,  and  Marcellus  sent  to  govern 
in  his  stead:  Caiaphas  had  been  deposed  by  the  same  secular 
authority,  and  succeeded  by  Jonathan.  Now,  in  the  year  37, 
Vitellius  was  recalled  from  Syria,  and  Petronius  came  to  occupy 
the  governor's  residence  at  Antioch.  Marcellus  at  Csesarea  made 
way  for  Marullus,  and  Theophilus  was  made  high  priest  at  Jeru- 
salem in  the  place  of  his  brother  Jonathan.  Agrippa,  the  grand- 
son of  Herod  the  Great,  was  brought  out  of  the  prison  where 
Tiberius  had  confined  him,  and  Caligula  gave  a  royal  crown,  with 
the  tetrarchies  of  two  of  his  uncles,  to  the  frivolous  friend  of  his 
youth.  And  as  this  reign  began  with  restless  change,  so  it  ended 
in  cruelty  and  impiety.  The  emperor,  in  the  career  of  his  blas- 
phemous arrogance,  attempted  to  force  the  Jews  to  worship  him 


HEROD  AGRIPPA  T. 


109 


as  God.  One  universal  feeling  of  horror  pervaded  the  scattered 
Israelites,  who,  though  they  had  scorned  the  Messiah  promised  to 
their  fathers,  were  unable  to  degrade  themselves  by  a  return  to 
idolatry.  Petronius,  who  foresaw  what  the  struggle  must  be, 
wrote  letters  of  expostulation  to  his  master ;  Agrippa,  who  was 
then  in  Italy,  implored  his  patron  to  pause  in  what  he  did ;  an 
embassy  was  sent  from  Alexandria,  and  the  venerable  and  learned 
Philo  was  himself  commissioned  to  state  the  inexorable  require- 
ments of  the  Jewish  religion.  Everything  appeared  to  be  hopeless 
w^hen  the  murder  of  Caligula,  on  the  24th  of  January  in  the  year 
41,  gave  a  sudden  relief  to  the  persecuted  people. 

With  the  accession  of  Claudius  (a.  d.  41)  the  Holy  Land  had  a 
king  once  more.  Judaea  was  added  to  the  tetrarchies  of  Philip 
and  Antipas,  and  Herod  Agrippa  I.  ruled  over  the  wide  territory 
which  had  been  governed  by  his  grandfather.  With  the  alleviation 
of  the  distress  of  the  Jews  proportionate  suffering  came  upon  the 
Christians.  The  "rest"  which  in  the  distractions  of  Caligula's 
reign  the  churches  had  enjoyed  "  throughout  all  Judsea,  and  Galilee, 
and  Samaria "  was  now  at  an  end.  "  About  this  time  Herod  the 
king  stretched  forth  his  hands  to  vex  certain  of  the  Church."  He 
slew  one  apostle,  and,  "  because  he  saw  it  pleased  the  Jews,"  he 
proceeded  to  imprison  another.  But  he  was  not  long  spared  to 
seek  popularity  among  the  Jews  or  to  murder  and  oppress  the 
Christians.  In  the  year  44  he  perished  by  that  sudden  and  dreadful 
death  which  is  recorded  in  detail  by  Josephus  and  Luke.  In  close 
coincidence  with  this  event  we  have  the  mention  of  a  certain 
journey  of  Paul  to  Jerusalem.  Here,  then,  we  have  one  of  those 
lines  of  intersection  between  the  sacred  history  and  the  general 
liistory  of  the  world  on  which  the  attention  of  intelligent  Chris- 
tians ought  to  be  fixed.  This  year,  44  A.  D.,  and  another  year,  the 
year  60  A.  D.  (in  which  Felix  ceased  to  be  governor  of  Judiea,  and, 
leaving  Paul  bound  at  Csesarea,  was  succeeded  by  Festus),  are  the 
two  chronological  pivots  of  the  apostolic  history.  By  help  of  them 
we  find  its  exact  place  in  the  general  history  of  the  world.  Between 
these  two  limits  the  greater  part  of  what  we  are  told  of  Paul  is 
situated  and  included. 

LTsing  the  year  44  as  a  starting-point  for  the  future,  we  gain  a 
new  light  for  tracing  the  apostle's  steps.  It  is  evident  that  we  have 
only  to  ascertain  the  successive  intervals  of  his  life  in  order  to  see 
him  at  every  point  in  his  connection  with  the  transactions  of  the 


110         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

empire.  We  shall  observe  this  often  as  we  proceed.  At  present 
it  is  more  important  to  remark  that  the  same  date  throws  some 
light  on  that  earlier  part  of  the  apostle's  path  which  is  confessedly 
obscure  Eeckoning  backward,  we  remember  that  "three  years" 
intervened  between  his  conversion  and  return  to  Jerusalem.  Those 
who  assign  the  former  event  to  39  or  40,  and  those  who  fix  on  37 
or  some  earlier  year,  differ  as  to  the  length  of  time  he  spent  at 
Tarsus  or  in  "  Syria  and  Cilicia."  All  that  we  can  say  with  cer- 
tainty is,  that  Paul  was  converted  more  than  three  years  before 
the  year  44. 

The  date  thus  important  for  all  students  of  Bible  chronology  is 
worthy  of  special  regard  by  the  Christians  of  Britain,  for  in  that 
year  the  emperor  Claudius  returned  from  the  shores  of  this  island 
to  the  metropolis  of  his  empire.  He  came  here  in  command  of  a 
military  expedition,  to  complete  the  work  which  the  landing  of 
Caesar,  a  century  before,  had  begun  or  at  least  predicted.  When 
Claudius  came  to  Britain  its  inhabitants  were  not  Christian.  They 
could  hardly  in  any  sense  be  said  to  have  been  civilized.  He 
came,  as  he  thought,  to  add  a  barbarous  province  to  his  already 
gigantic  empire,  but  he  really  came  to  prepare  the  way  for  the 
silent  progress  of  the  Christian  Church.  His  troops  were  the 
instruments  of  bringing  among  our  barbarous  ancestors  those 
charities  which  were  just  then  beginning  to  display  themselves  in 
Antioch  and  Jerusalem.  A  new  name^^  was  faintly  rising  on  the' 
Syrian  shore  which  was  destined  to  spread  like  the  cloud  seen  by 
the  prophet's  servant  from  the  brow  of  Mount  Carmel.  A  better 
civilization,  a  better  citizenship,  than  that  of  the  Roman  empire 
was  preparing  for  us  and  for  many.  One  apostle  at  Tarsus  was 
waiting  for  his  call  to  proclaim  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the  Gen- 
tiles. Another  apostle  at  Joppa  was  receiving  a  divine  intimation 
that  "God  is  no  respecter  of  persons,  but  that  in  every  nation 
he  that  feareth  him  and  worketh  righteousness  is  accepted  with 
him." 

If  we  could  ascertain  the  exact  chronological  arrangement  of 
these  passages  of  apostolical  history,  great  light  would  be  thrown 
on  the  circumstantial  details  of  the  admission  of  Gentiles  to 
the  Church,  and  on  the  growth  of  the  Church's  conviction  on  this 
momentous  subject.  We  should  then  be  able  to  form  some  idea 
of  the  meaning  and  results  of  the  fortnight  spent  by  Paul  and 
Peter  together  at  Jerusalem.    But  it  is  not  permitted  to  us  to 


CONVERSION  OF  THE  GENTILES. 


Ill 


know  the  manner  and  degree  in  which  the  different  apostles  were 
illuminated.  We  have  not  been  informed  whether  Paul  ever  felt 
the  difficulty  of  Peter, — whether  he  knew  from  the  first  the  full 
significance  of  his  call, — whether  he  learnt  the  truth  by  visions  or 
by  the  gradual  workings  of  his  mind  under  the  teaching  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  All  we  can  confidently  assert  is,  that  he  did  not 
learn  from  Peter  the  mystery  "  which  in  other  ages  was  not  made 
known  unto  the  sons  of  men,  as  it  was  now  revealed  unto  God's 
holy  apostles  by  the  Spirit — that  the  Gentiles  should  be  fellow- 
heirs,  and  of  the  same  body,  and  partakers  of  his  promise  in 
Christ  by  the  gospel." 

If  Paul  was  converted  in  39  or  40,  and  if  the  above-mentioned 
rest  of  the  churches  was  in  the  last  years  of  Caligula  (A.  D.  39-41), 
and  if  this  rest  was  the  occasion  of  that  journey  to  Lydda  and 
Joppa  which  ultimately  brought  Peter  to  Caesarea,  then  it  is  evi- 
dent that  Paul  was  at  Damascus  or  in  Arabia  when  Cornelius  was 
baptized.  Paul  was  summoned  to  evangelize  the  heathen,  and 
Peter  began  the  work,  almost  simultaneously.  The  great  transac- 
tion of  admitting  the  Gentiles  to  the  Church  was  already  accom- 
plished when  the  two  apostles  met  at  Jerusalem.  Paul  would 
thus  learn  that  the  door  had  been  opened  to  him  by  the  hand  of 
another ;  and  when  he  went  to  Tarsus  the  later  agreement  (Gal. 
ii.  9)  might  then  have  been  partially  adopted,  that  he  should  '*go 
to  the  heathen"  while  Peter  remained  as  the  apostle  of  "  the  cir- 
cumcision." 

If  we  are  to  bring  down  the  conversion  of  Cornelius  nearer  to 
the  year  44,  and  to  place  it  in  that  interval  of  time  which  Paul 
spent  at  Tarsus,  then  it  is  natural  to  suppose  that  his  conversations 
prepared  Peter's  mind  for  the  change  which  was  at  hand,  and 
sowed  the  seeds  of  that  revolution  of  opinion  of  which  the  vision 
at  Joppa  was  the  crisis  and  completion.  Paul  might  learn  from 
Peter  (as  possibly  also  from  Barnabas)  many  of  the  details  of  our 
blessed  Saviour's  life.  And  Peter,  meanwhile,  might  gather  from 
him  some  of  those  higher  views  concerning  the  gospel  which  pre- 
pared him  for  the  miracles  which  he  afterward  saw  in  the  house- 
hold of  the  Roman  centurion.  Whatever  might  be  the  obscurity 
of  Paul's  early  knowledge — whether  it  was  revealed  to  him  or  not 
that  the  Gentile  converts  would  be  called  to  overleap  the  ceremo- 
nies of  Judaism  on  their  entrance  into  the  Church  of  Christ — he 
could  not  fail  to  have  a  clear  understanding  that  his  own  work  was 


112  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

to  lie  among  the  Gentiles.    This  had  been  announced  to  him 
his  first  conversion  (Acts  xxvi.  17,  18)  in  the  words  of  Ananias 
(Acts  ix.  15)  ;  and  in  the  vision  preceding  his  retirement  to 
Tarsus  (Acts  xxii.  21),  the  words  which  commanded  him  to  go 
were,    Depart,  for  I  will  send  thee  far  hence  to  the  Gentiles.'' 

In  considering,  then,  the  conversion  of  Cornelius  to  have  hap- 
pened after  this  journey  from  Jerusalem  to  Tarsus,  and  before  the 
mission  of  Barnabas  to  Antioch,  we  are  adopting  the  opinion 
most  in  accordance  with  the  independent  standing-point  occupied 
by  Paul.  And  this,  moreover,  is  the  view^  which  harmonizes  best 
with  the  narrative  of  Scripture,  where  the  order  ought  to  be 
reverently  regarded  as  well  as  the  words.  In  the  order  of  Scrip- 
ture narration,  if  it  cannot  be  proved  that  the  preaching  of  Peter 
at  Caesarea  was  chronologically  earlier  than  the  preaching  of 
Paul  at  Antioch,  it  is  at  least  brought  before  us  theologically  as 
the  beginning  of  the  gospel  made  known  to  the  heathen.  When 
an  important  change  is  at  hand,  God  usually  causes  a  silent 
preparation  in  the  minds  of  men,  and  some  great  fact  occurs 
which  may  be  taken  as  a  type  and  symbol  of  the  general  move- 
ment. Such  a  fact  was  the  conversion  of  Cornelius,  and  so  we 
must  consider  it. 

The  whole  transaction  is  related  and  reiterated  with  so  much 
minuteness  that  if  we  were  writing  a  history  of  the  Church  we 
should  be  required  to  dwell  on  it  at  length.  But  here  we  have 
only  to  do  with  it  as  the  point  of  union  between  Jews  and 
Gentiles  and  as  the  bright  starting-point  of  Paul's  career.  A  few 
words  may  be  allowed  which  are  suggested  by  this  view  of  the 
transaction  as  a  typical  fact  in  the  progress  of  God's  dispensations. 
The  two  men  to  whom  the  revelations  were  made,  and  even  the 
places  where  the  divine  interferences  occurred,  were  characteristic 
of  the  event.  Cornelius  was  in  Csesarea  and  Peter  in  Joppa — the 
Roman  soldier  in  the  modern  city  which  was  built  and  named  in 
the  emperor's  honor — the  Jewish  apostle  in  the  ancient  seaport 
which  associates  its  name  with  the  early  passages  of  Hebrew  his- 
tory— with  the  voyage  of  Jonah,  the  building  of  the  temple,  the 
wars  of  the  Maccabees.  All  the  splendor  of  Csesarea,  its  buildings 
and  its  ships,  and  the  temple  of  Borne  and  the  emperor  which  the 
sailors  saw  far  out  at  sea, — all  has  long  since  vanished.  Herod's 
itnagnificent  city  is  a  wreck  on  the  shore.  A  few  ruins  are  all  that 
temain  of  the  harbor.    Joppa  lingers  on,  like  the  Jewish  people 


PETER  AND  CORNELIUS. 


113 


dejected  but  not  destroyed.  Csesarea  has  perished,  like  the  Eoman 
empire  which  called  it  into  existence. 

And  no  men  could  well  be  more  contrasted  with  each  other  than 
those  two  men,  in  whom  the  heathen  and  Jewish  worlds  met  and 
were  reconciled.  We  know  what  Peter  was — a  Galilean  fisherman, 
brought  up  in  the  rudest  district  of  an  obscure  province,  with  no 
learning  but  such  as  he  might  have  gathered  in  the  synagogue  of 
his  native  town.  All  his  early  days  he  had  dragged  his  nets  in  the 
Lake  of  Gennesareth.  And  now  he  was  at  Joppa,  lodging  in  the 
house  of  Simon  the  tanner,  the  apostle  of  a  religion  that  was  to 
change  the  world.  Cornelius  was  an  officer  in  the  Eoman  army. 
No  name  was  more  honorable  at  Rome  than  that  of  the  Cornelian 
House.  It  was  the  name  borne  by  the  Scipios,  and  by  Sulla,  and 
the  mother  of  the  Gracchi.  In  the  Roman  army,  as  in  the  army  of 
modern  Austria,  the  soldiers  were  drawn  from  different  countries 
and  spoke  different  languages.  Along  the  coast  of  which  we  are 
speaking  many  of  them  were  recruited  from  Syria  and  Judsea. 
But  the  corps  to  which  Cornelius  belonged  seems  to  have  been  a 
cohort  of  Italians  separate  from  the  legionary  soldiers,  and  hence 
called  the  "Italian  cohort.''  He  was  no  doubt  a  true-born  Italian. 
Educated  in  Rome  or  some  provincial  town,  he  had  entered  upon 
a  soldier's  life,  dreaming  perhaps  of  military  glory,  but  dreaming 
as  little  of  that  better  glory  which  now  surrounds  the  Cornelian 
name, — as  Peter  dreamt  at  the  Lake  of  Gennesareth  of  becoming 
the  chosen  companion  of  the  Messiah  of  Israel,  and  of  throwing 
open  the  doors  of  the  catholic  Church  to  the  dwellers  in  Asia  and 
Africa,  to  the  barbarians  on  the  remote  and  unvisited  shores  of 
Europe,  and  to  the  undiscovered  countries  of  the  West. 

But  to  return  to  our  ppoper  narrative.  When  intelligence  came 
to  Jerusalem  that  Peter  had  broken  through  the  restraints  of  the 
Jewish  law,  and  had  even  "eaten"  at  the  table  of  the  Gentiles, 
there  was  general  surprise  and  displeasure  among  "those  of  the 
circumcision."  But  when  he  explained  to  them  all  the  trans- 
action, they  approved  his  conduct  and  praised  God  for  his  mercy 
to  the  heathen.  And  soon  news  came  from  a  greater  distance 
which  showed  that  the  same  unexpected  change  was  operating 
more  widely.  We  have  seen  that  the  persecution  in  which  Stephen 
was  killed  resulted  in  a  general  dispersion  of  the  Christians. 
Wherever  they  went  they  spoke  to  their  Jewish  brethren  of  their 
faith  that  the  promises  had  been  fulfilled  in  the  life  and  resurrection 
8 


Il4  LIFE  AND  EPISTLrrS  or   xfTE  aP05T1.E  PAUL. 


of  Jesus  Christ.  This  dispersion  and  preaching  of  the  gospel 
extended  even  to  the  isle  of  Cyprus  and  along  the  Phoenician  coast 
as  far  as  Antioch.  For  some  time  the  glad  tidings  were  made 
known  only  to  the  scattered  children  of  Israel.  But  at  length 
some  of  the  Hellenistic  Jews,  natives  of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene, 
spoke  to  the  Greeks  themselves  at  Antioch,  and  the  Divine  Spirit 
gave  such  power  to  the  word  that  avast  number  ^'believed  and 
turned  to  the  Lord."  The  news  was  not  long  in  travelling  to 
Jerusalem.  Perhaps  some  message  was  sent  in  haste  to  the 
apostles  of  the  Church.  The  Jewish  Christians  in  Antioch  might 
be  perplexed  how  to  deal  with  their  new  Gentile  converts ;  and  it 
is  not  unnatural  to  suppose  that  the  presence  of  Barnabas  might 
be  anxiously  desired  by  the  fellow-missionaries  of  his  native 
island. 

We  ought  to  observe  the  honorable  place  which  the  island  of 
Cyprus  was  permitted  to  occupy  in  the  first  work  of  Christianity. 
We  shall  soon  trace  the  footsteps  of  the  apostle  of  the  heathen  in 
the  beginning  of  his  travels  over  the  length  of  this  island,  and  see 
here  the  first  earthly  potentate  converted  and  linking  his  name  for 
ever  with  that  of  Paul.  Now,  while  Saul  is  yet  at  Tarsus  men  of 
Cyprus  are  made  the  instruments  of  awakening  the  Gentiles:  one 
of  them  might  be  that"Mnason  of  Cyprus"  who  afterward  (then 
"a  disciple  of  old  standing")  was  his  host  at  Jerusalem;  and 
Joses  the  Levite  of  Cyprus,  whom  the  apostles  had  long  ago  called 
"  the  son  of  consolation,"  and  who  had  removed  all  the  prejudice 
which  looked  suspiciously  on  Saul's  conversio»,  is  the  first  teacher 
sent  by  the  mother-Church  to  the  new  disciples  at  Antioch.  "  He 
was  a  good  man,  and  full  of  the  Holy  Ghost  and  of  faith."  He 
rejoiced  when  he  saw  what  God's  grace  .was  doing ;  he  exhorted 
all  to  cling  fast  to  the  Saviour  whom  they  had  found,  and  he 
labored  himself  with  abundant  success.  But  feeling  the  greatness 
of  the  work,  and  remembering  the  zeal  and  strong  character  of  his 
friend,  whose  vocation  to  this  particular  task  of  instructing  the 
heathen  was  doubtless  well  known  to  him,  "  he  departed  to  Tarsus 
to  seek  Saul." 

Whatever  length  of  time  had  elapsed  since  Saul  came  from  Jeru- 
salem to  Tarsus,  and  however  that  time  had  been  employed  by 
him, — whether  he  had  already  founded  any  of  those  churches  in 
his  native  Cilicia  which  we  read  of  soon  after  (Acts  xv.  41), — 
whether  he  had  there  undergone  any  of  those  manifold  labors  and 


THE  NAME  "CHRISTIAN." 


115 


sufferings  recorded  by  himself  (2  Cor.  xi.),  but  omitted  by  Luke, — 
whether  by  active  intercourse  with  the  Gentiles,  by  study  of  their 
literature,  by  travelling,  by  discoursing  with  the  philosophers,  he 
had  been  making  himself  acquainted  with  their  opinions  and  their 
prejudices,  and  so  preparing  his  mind  for  the  work  that  was  before 
him, — or  whether  he  had  been  waiting  in  silence  for  the  call  of 
God's  providence,  praying  for  guidance  from  above,  reflecting  on 
the  condition  of  the  Gentiles,  and  gazing  more  and  more  closely 
on  the  plan  of  the  world's  redemption, — however  this  may  be,  it 
must  have  been  an  eventful  day  when  Barnabas,  having  come 
across  the  sea  from  Seleucia  or  round  by  the  defiles  of  Mount 
Amanus,  suddenly  appeared  in  the  streets  of  Tarsus.  The  last 
time  the  two  friends  met  was  in  Jerusalem.  All  that  they  then 
hoped,  and  probably  more  than  they  then  thought  possible,  had 
occurred.  "  God  had  granted  to  the  Gentiles  repentance  unto 
life"  (xi.  18).  Barnabas  had  ''seen  the  grace  of  God"  (xi.  23) 
with  his  own  eyes  at  Antioch,  and  under  his  own  teaching  "a 
great  multitude  "  (xi.  24)  had  been  "  added  to  the  Lord."  But  he 
needed  assistance.  He  needed  the  presence  of  one  whose  wisdom 
was  higher  than  his  own,  whose  zeal  was  an  example  to  all,  and 
whose  peculiar  mission  had  been  miraculously  declared.  Saul 
recognized  the  voice  of  God  in  the  words  of  Barnabas,  and  the  two 
friends  travelled  in  all  haste  to  the  Syrian  metropolis. 

There  they  continued  "  a  whole  year,"  actively  prosecuting  the 
sacred  work,  teaching  and  confirming  those  who  joined  themselves 
to  the  assemblies  of  the  ever-increasing  Church.  As  new  converts 
in  vast  numbers  came  in  from  the  ranks  of  the  Gentiles,  the 
Church  began  to  lose  its  ancient  appearance  of  a  Jewish  sect,  and 
to  stand  out  in  relief  as  a  great  self-existent  community  in  the  face 
both  of  Jews  and  Gentiles.  Hitherto  it  had  been  possible,  and 
even  natural,  that  the  Christians  should  be  considered — by  the 
Jews  themselves,  and  by  the  Gentiles  whose  notice  they  attracted — 
as  only  one  among  the  many  theological  parties  which  prevailed 
in  Jerusalem  and  in  the  Dispersion.  But  when  Gentiles  began  to 
listen  to  what  was  preached  concerning  Christ, — when  they  were 
united  as  brethren  on  equal  terms,  and  admitted  to  baptism  with- 
out the  necessity  of  previous  circumcision, — when  the  Mosaic 
features  of  this  society  were  lost  in  the  wider  character  of  the  New 
Covenant, — then  it  became  evident  that  these  men  were  something 
more  than  the  Pharisees  or  Sadducees,  the  Essenes  or  Herodians, 


116          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

or  any  sect  or  party  among  the  Jews.  Thus  a  new  term  in  the 
vocabulary  of  the  human  race  came  into  existence  al  Antioch 
about  the  year  44.  Thus  Jews  and  Gentiles  who  under  the  teach- 
ing of  Paul  believed  that  Jesus  of  Nazareth  was  the  Saviour  of 
the  world  '^were  first  called  Christians." 

It  is  not  likely  that  they  received  this  name  from  the  Jews.  The 
"Children  of  Abraham"  employed  a  term  much  more  expressive 
of  hatred  and  contempt.  They  called  them  "  the  sect  of  the  Naza- 
renes."  These  disciples  of  Jesus  traced  their  origin  to  Nazareth 
in  Galilee,  and  it  was  a  proverb  that  nothing  good  could  come  from 
Nazareth.  Besides  this,  there  was  a  further  reason  why  the  Jews 
would  not  have  called  the  disciples  of  Jesus  by  the  name  of  "  Chris- 
tians." The  word  "  Christ "  has  the  same  meaning  with  Messiah." 
And  the  Jews,  however  blinded  and  prejudiced  on  this  subject, 
would  never  have  used  so  sacred  a  word  to  point  an  expression  of 
mockery  and  derision ;  and  they  could  not  have  used  it  in  grave 
and  serious  earnest  to  designate  those  whom  they  held  to  be  the 
followers  of  a  false  Messiah,  a  fictitious  Christ.  Nor  is  it  likely 
that  the  "  Christians  "  gave  this  name  to  themselves.  In  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  and  in  their  own  letters  we  find  them  designating 
themselves  as  "brethren,"  "disciples,"  "believers,"  "saints."  Only 
in  two  places  do  we  find  the  term  "  Christians ;"  and  in  both  in- 
stances it  is  implied  to  be  a  term  used  by  those  who  are  without. 
There  is  little  doubt  that  the  name  originated  with  the  Gentiles, 
who  began  to  see  now  that  this  new  sect  was  so  far  distinct 
from  the  Jews  that  it  might  naturally  receive  a  new  designation. 
And  the  form  of  the  word  impRes  that  it  came  from  the  Romans, 
not  from  the  Greeks.  The  word  "  Christ "  was  often  in  the  con- 
versation of  the  believers,  as  we  know  it  to  have  been  constantly 
in  their  letters.  "  Christ  was  the  title  of  Him  whom  they  avowed 
as  their  Leader  and  their  Chief.  They  confessed  that  this  Christ 
had  been  crucified,  but  they  asserted  that  he  was  risen  from  the 
dead,  and  that  he  guided  them  by  his  invisible  power.  Thus, 
"  Christian  "  was  the  name  which  naturally  found  its  place  in  the 
reproachful  language  of  their  enemies.  In  the  first  instance,  we 
have  every  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  a  term  of  ridicule  and 
derision.  And  it  is  remarkable  that  the  people  of  Antioch  were 
notorious  for  inventing  names  of  derision  and  for  turning  their 
wit  into  the  channels  of  ridicule.  And  in  every  way  there  is  some- 
thing very  significant  in  the  place  where  we  first  received  the  name 


THE  CITY  OF  ANTIOCH. 


117 


we  hear.  Not  in  Jerusalem,  the  city  of  the  Old  Covenant,  the 
city  of  the  people  who  were  chosen  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others, 
but  in  a  heathen  city,  the  Eastern  centre  of  Greek  fashion  and 
Boman  luxury,  and  not  till  it  was  shown  that  the  New  Covenant 
was  inclusive  of  all  others, — then  and  there  we  were  first  called 
Christians,  and  the  Church  received  from  the  world  its  true  and 
honorable  name. 

In  narrating  the  journeys  of  Paul  it  will  now  be  our  duty  to 
speak  of  Antioch,  not  Jerusalem,  as  his  point  of  departure  and 
return.  Let  us  look  more  closely  than  has  hitherto  been  necessary 
at  its  character,  its  history,  and  its  appearance.  The  position 
which  it  occupied  near  the  abrupt  angle  formed  by  the  coasts  of 
Syria  and  Asia  Minor,  and  in  the  opening  where  the  Orontes  passes 
between  the  ranges  of  Lebanon  and  Taurus,  has  already  been  no- 
ticed. And  we  have  mentioned  the  numerous  colony  of  Jews 
which  Seleucus  introduced  into  his  capital  and  raised  to  an  equal- 
ity of  civil  rights  with  the  Greeks.  There  was  everything  in  the 
situation  and  circumstances  of  this  city  to  make  it  a  place  of  con- 
course for  all  classes  and  kinds  of  people.  By  its  harbor  of  Seleu- 
cia  it  was  in  communication  with  all  the  trade  of  the  Mediterra- 
nean, and  through  the  open  country  behind  the  Lebanon  it  was^ 
conveniently  approached  by  the  caravans  from  Mesopotamia  and 
Arabia.  It  united  the  inland  advantages  of  Aleppo  with  the  mar- 
itime opportunities  of  Smyrna.  It  was  almost  an  Oriental  Eome, 
in  which  all  the  forms  of  the  civilized  life  of  the  empire  found 
some  representative.  Through  the  first  two  centuries  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  it  was  what  Constantinople  became  afterward,  ''^the  Gate 
of  the  East."  And  indeed  the  glory  of  the  city  of  Ignatius  was 
only  gradually  eclipsed  by  that  of  the  city  of  Chrysostom.  That 
great  preacher  and  commentator  himself,  who  knew  them  both  by 
familiar  residence,  always  speaks  of  Antioch  with  peculiar  reve- 
rence as  the  patriarchal  city  of  the  Christian  name. 

There  is  something  curiously  prophetic  in  the  stories  which  are 
told  of  the  first  founding  of  this  city.  Like  Eomulus  on  the  Pala- 
tine, Seleucus  is  said  to  have  watched  the  flight  of  birds  from 
the  summit  of  Mount  Casius.  An  eagle  took  a  fragment  of  the 
flesh  of  his  sacrifice  and  carried  it  to  a  point  on  the  sea- shore  a 
little  to  the  north  of  the  mouth  of  the  Orontes.  There  he  founded 
a  city,  and  called  it  Seleucia,  after  his  own  name.  This  was  on  the 
23d  of  April.    Again,  on  the  1st  of  May  he  sacrificed  on  the  hill 


118  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Silphius,  and  then  repeated  the  ceremony  and  watched  the  auguries 
at  the  city  of  Antigonia,  which  his  vanquished  rival,  Antigonus, 
had  begun  and  left  unfinished.  An  eagle  again  decided  that  this 
was  not  to  be  his  own  metropolis,  and  carried  the  flesh  to  the  hill 
Silphius,  which  is  on  the  south  side  of  the  river,  about  the  place 
where  it  turns  from  the  north  to  the  west.  Five  or  six  thousand 
Athenians  and  Macedonians  were  ordered  to  convey  the  stones  and 
timber  of  Antigonia  down  the  river,  and  Antioch  was  founded  by 
Seleucus  and  called  after  his  father's  name. 

This  fable,  invented  perhaps  to  give  a  mythological  sanction  to 
what  was  really  an  act  of  sagacious  prudence  and  princely  ambi- 
tion, is  well  worth  remembering.  Seleucus  was  not  slow  to  recog- 
nize the  wisdom  of  Antigonus  in  choosing  a  site  for  his  capital 
which  should  place  it  in  ready  communication  both  with  the  shores 
of  Greece  and  with  his  Eastern  territories  on  the  Tigris  and  Eu- 
phrates ;  and  he  followed  the  example  promptly  and  completed  his 
work  with  sumptuous  magnificence.  Few  princes  have  ever  lived 
with  so  great  a  passion  for  the  building  of  cities;  and  this  is  a  fea- 
ture of  his  character  which  ought  not  to  be  unnoticed  in  this  narra- 
tive. Two  at  least  of  his  cities  in  Asia  Minor  have  a  close  con- 
nection with  the  life  of  Paul.  These  are  the  Pisidian  Antioch  and 
the  Phrygian  Laodicea — one  called  by  the  name  of  his  father,  the 
other  of  his  mother.  He  is  said  to  have  built  in  all  nine  Seleucias, 
sixteen  Antiochs,  and  six  Laodiceas.  This  love  of  commemorating 
the  members  of  his  family  was  conspicuous  in  his  works  by  the 
Orontes.  Besides  Selucia  and  Antioch,  he  built  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  a  Laodicea  in  honor  of  his  mother,  and  an  Apamea  in 
honor  of  his  wife.  But  by  far  the  most  famous  of  these  four  cities 
was  the  Syrian  Antioch. 

We  must  allude  to  its  edifices  and  ornaments  only  so  far  as  they 
are  due  to  the  Greek  kings  of  Syria  and  the  first  five  Csesars  of 
Rome.  If  we  were  to  allow  our  description  to  wander  to  the  times 
of  Justinian  or  the  Crusaders,  though  these  are  the  times  of  An- 
tioch's  greatest  glory,  we  should  be  transgressing  on  a  period  of 
history  which  does  not  belong  to  us.  Strabo,  in  the  time  of  Au- 
gustus, describes  the  city  as  a  tetrapolis,  or  union  of  four  cities. 
The  two  first  were  erected  by  Seleucus  Nicator  himself  in  the  sit- 
uation already  described,  between  Mount  Silphius  and  the  river, 
on  that  wide  space  of  level  ground  where  a  few  poor  habitations 
still  remain  by  the  banks  of  the  Orontes.    The  river  has  gradually 


I^ESriilPTION  ANTIOCH. 


119 


changed  its  course  and  appearance  as  the  city  has  decayed.  Once 
it  flowed  round  an  island,  which,  like  the  island  in  the  Seine,  by 
its  thoroughfares  and  bridges  and  its  own  noble  buildings,  became 
a  part  of  a  magnificent  whole.  But  in  Paris  the  old  city  is  on  the 
island ;  in  Antioch  it  was  the  new  city,  built  by  the  second  Seleu- 
cus  and  the  third  Antiochus.  Its  chief  features  were  a  palace  and 
an  arch  like  that  of  Napoleon.  The  fourth  and  last  part  of  the 
tetrapolis  was  built  by  Antiochus  Epiphanes  where  Mount  Sil- 
phius  rises  abruptly  on  the  south.  On  one  of  its  craggy  summits 
he  placed,  in  the  fervor  of  his  Eomanizing  mania,  a  temple  ded- 
icated to  Jupiter  Capitolinus,  and  on  another  a  strong  citadel, 
which  dwindled  to  the  Saracen  castle  of  the  first  Crusade.  At  the 
rugged  bases  of  the  mountain  the  ground  was  levelled  for  a  glori- 
ous street  which  extended  for  four  miles  across  the  length  of  the 
city,  and  where  sheltered  crowds  could  walk  through  continuous 
colonnades  from  the  eastern  to  the  w^estern  suburb.  The  whole 
was  surrounded  by  a  wall  which,  ascending  to  the  heights  and  re- 
turning to  the  river,  does  not  deviate  very  widely  in  its  course 
from  the  wall  of  the  Middle  Ages,  which  can  still  be  traced  by  the 
fragments  of  ruined  towers.  This  wall  is  assigned  by  a  Byzantine 
writer  to  Tiberius,  but  it  seems  more  probable  that  the  emperor 
only  repaired  what  Antiochus  Epiphanes  had  built.  Turning  now 
to  the  period  of  the  empire,  we  find  that  Antioch  had  memorials 
of  all  the  great  Komans  whose  names  have  been  mentioned  as  yet 
in  this  biography.  When  Pompey  was  defeated  by  Csesar,  the 
conqueror's  name  was  perpetuated  in  this  Eastern  city  by  an  aque- 
duct and  by  baths,  and  by  a  basilica  called  Caesarium.  In  the 
reign  of  Augustus,  Agrippa  built  in  all  cities  of  the  empire,  and 
Herod  of  Judaea  followed  the  example  to  the  utmost  of  his  power. 
Both  found  employment  for  their  munificence  at  Antioch.  A  gay 
suburb  rose  under  the  patronage  of  the  one,  and  the  other  con- 
tributed a  road  and  a  portico.  The  reign  of  Tiberius  was  less  re- 
markable for  great  architectural  works,  but  the  Syrians  by  the 
Orontes  had  to  thank  him  for  many  improvements  and  restora- 
tions in  their  city.  Even  the  four  years  of  his  successor  left  be- 
hind them  the  aqueduct  and  the  baths  of  Caligula. 

The  character  of  the  inhabitants  is  easily  inferred  from  the  in- 
fluences which  presided  over  the  city's  growth.  Its  successive 
enlargement  by  the  Seleucidse  proves  that  their  numbers  rapidly 
increased  from  the  first.    The  population  swelled  still  further 


120  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

when,  instead  of  the  metropolis  of  the  Greek  kings  of  Syria,  it 
became  the  residence  of  Roman  governors.  The  mixed  multitude 
received  new  and  important  additions  in  the  officials  who  were 
connected  with  the  details  of  provincial  administration.  Luxu- 
rious Romans  were  attracted  by  its  beautiful  climate.  New  wants 
continually  multiplied  the  business  of  its  commerce.  Its  gardens 
and  houses  grew  and  extended  on  the  north  side  of  the  river. 
Many  are  the  allusions  to  Antioch  in  the  history  of  those  times 
as  a  place  of  singular  pleasure  and  enjoyment.  Here  and  there 
an  elevating  thought  is  associated  with  its  name.  Poets  have 
spent  their  young  days  at  Antioch,  great  generals  have  died  there, 
emperors  have  visited  and  admired  it.  But  for  the  most  part 
its  population  was  a  worthless  rabble  of  Greeks  and  Orientals. 
The  frivolous  amusements  of  the  theatre  were  the  occupation  of 
their  life.  Their  passion  for  races,  and  the  ridiculous  party-quar- 
rels connected  with  them,  were  the  patterns  of  those  which  after- 
ward became  the  disgrace  of  Byzantium.  The  Oriental  element 
of  superstition  and  imposture  was  not  less  active.  The  Chaldean 
astrologers  found  their  most  credulous  disciples  in  Antioch.  Jew- 
ish impostors,  sufficiently  common  throughout  the  East,  found 
their  best  opportunities  here.  It  is  probable  that  no  populations 
have  ever  been  more  abandoned  than  those  of  Oriental  Greek 
cities  under  the  Roman  empire,  and  of  these  cities  Antioch  was 
the  greatest  and  the  worst.  If  we  wish  to  realize  the  appearance 
and  reality  of  the  complicated  heathenism  of  the  first  Christian 
century,  we  must  endeavor  to  imagine  the  scene  of  that  suburb, 
the  famous  Daphne,  with  its  fountains  and  groves  of  bay  trees, 
its  bright  buildings,  its  crouds  of  licentious  votaries,  its  statue  of 
Apollo,  where,  under  the  climate  of  Syria  and  the  wealthy  patron- 
age of  Rome,  all  that  was  beautiful  in  Nature  and  in  Art  had 
created  a  sanctuary  for  a  perpetual  festival  of  vice. 

Thus,  if  any  city  in  the  first  century  was  worthy  to  be  called 
the  heathen  queen  and  metropolis  of  the  East,  that  city  was  An- 
tioch. She  was  represented  in  a  famous  allegorical  statue  as  a 
female  figure  seated  on  a  rock  and  crowned,  with  the  river  Orontes 
at  her  feet.  There  is  no  excuse  for  continuing  our  description  to 
the  age  of  Vespasian  and  Titus,  when  Judsea  was  taken  and  the 
western  gate,  decorated  with  the  spoils,  was  called  the  ^'Gate  of 
the  Cherubim,'^  or  to  the  Saracen  age,  when,  after  many  years  of 
Christian  history  and  Christian  mythology,  we  find  the  "  Gate  of 


FAMINE  IN  THE  REIGN  OF  CLAUDIUS. 


121 


St.  Paul"  placed  opposite  the  "  Gate  of  St.  George,"  and  when 
Duke  Godfrey  pitched  his  camp  between  the  river  and  the  city  wall. 
And  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  earthquakes,  the  constant 
enemy  of  the  people  of  Antioch,  have  so  altered  the  very  appear- 
ance of  its  site  that  such  a  description  would  be  of  little  use.  As 
the  Vesuvius  of  Virgil  or  Pliny  would  hardly  be  recognized  in 
the  angry  neighbor  of  modern  Naples,  so  it  is  more  than  probable 
that  the  dislocated  crags  which  still  rise  above  the  Orontes  are 
greatly  altered  in  form  from  the  fort-crowned  heights  of  Seleucus 
or  Tiberius,  Justinian  or  Tancred. 

Earthquakes  occurred  in  each  of  the  reigns  of  Caligula  and 
Claudius.  And  it  is  likely  that  when  Saul  and  Barnabas  were 
engaged  in  their  apostolic  work  parts  of  the  city  had  something 
of  that  appearance  which  still  makes  Lisbon  dreary,  new  and 
handsome  buildings  being  raised  in  close  proximity  to  the  ruins 
left  by  the  late  calamity.  It  is  remarkable  how  often  great  physi- 
cal calamities  are  permitted  by  God  to  follow  in  close  succession 
to  each  other.  That  age,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  had  been  visited 
by  earthquakes,  was  presently  visited  by  famine.  The  reign  of 
Claudius,  from  bad  harvests  or  other  causes,  was  a  period  of  gen- 
eral distress  and  scarcity  "  over  the  whole  world."  In  the  fourth 
year  of  his  reign  we  are  told  by  Josephus  that  the  famine  was  so 
severe  that  the  price  of  food  became  enormous  and  great  numbers 
perished.  At  this  time  it  happened  that  Helena,  the  mother  of 
Izates,  king  of  Adiabene,  and  a  recent  convert  to  Judaism,  came 
to  worship  at  Jerusalem.  Moved  with  compassion  for  the  misery 
she  saw  around  her,  she  sent  to  purchase  corn  from  Alexandria 
and  figs  from  Cyprus  for  distribution  among  the  poor.  Izates 
himself  (who  had  also  been  converted  by  one  who  bore  the  same 
name  with  him  w^ho  baptized  Paul)  shared  the  charitable  feelings 
of  his  mother,  and  sent  large  sums  of  money  to  Jerusalem. 

While  this  relief  came  from  Assyria,  from  Cyprus,  and  from 
Africa  to  the  Jewish  suiTerers  in  Judaea,  God  did  not  suffer  his  own 
Christian  people,  probably  the  poorest  and  certainly  the  most  dis- 
regarded in  that  country,  to  perish  in  the  general  distress.  And 
their  relief  also  came  from  nearly  the  same  quarters.  While 
Barnabas  and  Saul  were  evangelizing  the  Syrian  capital,  and 
gathering  in  the  harvest,  the  first  seeds  of  which  had  been  sown 
by  "  men  of  Cyprus  and  Cyrene,"  certain  prophets  came  down 
from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch,  and  one  of  them  named  Agabus 


122         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


announced  that  a  time  of  famine  was  at  hand.  The  Gentile  disci- 
ples felt  that  they  were  bound  by  the  closest  link  to  those  Jewish 
brethren  whom,  though  they  had  never  seen,  they  loved;  **for  if 
the  Gentiles  had  been  made  partakers  of  their  spiritual  things, 
their  duty  was  also  to  minister  unto  them  in  carnal  things.''  No 
time  was  lost  in  preparing  for  the  coming  calamity.  All  the 
members  of  the  Christian  community,  according  to  their  means, 
^'  determined  to  send  relief,''  Saul  and  Barnabas  being  chosen  to 
take  the  contribution  to  the  elders  at  Jerusalem. 

About  the  time  when  these  messengers  came  to  the  Holy  City 
on  their  errand  of  love  a  worse  calamity  than  that  of  famine  had 
fallen  upon  the  Church.  One  apostle  had  been  murdered,  and 
another  was  in  prison.  There  is  something  touching  in  the  con- 
trast between  the  two  brothers,  James  and  John.  One  died  before 
the  middle  of  the  first  Christian  century,  the  other  lived  on  to  its 
close.  One  was  removed  just  when  his  Master's  kingdom,  concern- 
ing which  he  had  so  eagerly  inquired,  was  beginning  to  show  its 
real  character;  he  probably  never  heard  the  word  "  Christian " 
pronounced.  Zebedee's  other  son  remained  till  the  Antichristian 
enemies  of  the  faith  were  "  already  come,"  and  w\as  laboring 
against  them  when  his  brother  had  been  fifty  years  at  rest  in  the 
Lord.  He  who  had  foretold  the  long  service  of  John  revealed  to 
Peter  that  he  should  die  by  a  violent  death.  But  the  time  was 
not  yet  come.  Herod  had  bound  him  with  two  chains.  Besides 
the  soldiers  who  watched  his  sleep,  guards  were  placed  before  the 
door  of  the  prison.  And  ^' after  the  Passover"  the  king  intended 
to  bring  him  out  and  gratify  the  people  with  his  death.  But 
Herod's  death  was  nearer  than  Peter's.  For  a  moment  we  see  the 
apostle  in  captivity  and  the  king  in  the  plenitude  of  his  power. 
But  before  the  autumn  a  dreadful  change  had  taken  place.  On 
the  1st  of  August  (we  follow  a  probable  calculation,  and  borrow 
some  qircumstances  from  the  Jewish  historian)  there  was  a  great 
commemoration  in  Csesarea.  Some  say  it  was  in  honor  of  the 
emperor's  safe  return  from  the  island  of  Britain.  However  this 
might  be,  the  city  was  crowded,  and  Plerod  was  there.  On  the 
second  day  of  the  festival  he  came  into  the  theatre.  That  theatre 
had  been  erected  by  his  grandfather,  who  had  murdered  the 
Innocents  ;  and  now  the  grandson  was  there,  who  had  murdered 
an  apostle.  The  stone  seats,  rising  in  a  great  semicircle  tier  above 
tier,  were  covered  with  an  excited  multitude.    The  king  came  in 


RETURNS  WITH  MARK  TO  ANTIOCH. 


123 


clothed  in  magnificent  robes,  of  which  silver  was  the  costly  and 
brilliant  material.  It  was  early  in  the  day,  and  the  sun's  rays  fell 
upon  the  king,  so  that  the  eyes  of  the  beholders  were  dazzled  with 
the  brightness  which  surrounded  him.  Voices  from  the  crowd 
here  and  there  exclaimed  that  it  was  the  apparition  of  something 
divine.  And  when  he  spoke  and  made  an  oration  to  the  people, 
they  gave  a  shout,  saying,  "  It  is  the  voice  of  a  god,  and  not  of  a 
man.''  But  in  the  midst  of  this  idolatrous  ostentation  the  angel 
of  God  suddenly  smote  him,  and  on  the  6th  of  August  he  died. 

This  was  that  year  44  on  w^hich  we  have  said  so  much.  The 
country  was  placed  again  under  Eoman  governors,  and  hard  times 
w^ere  at  hand  for  the  Jews.  Herod  Agrippa  had  courted  their 
favor.  He  had  done  much  for  them,  and  was  preparing  to  do 
more.  Josephus  tells  us  that  "he  had  begun  to  encompass  Jeru- 
salem with  a  wall,  which,  had  it  been  brought  to  perfection,  would 
have  made  it  impracticable  for  the  Romans  to  take  it  by  siege ;  but 
his  death,  which  happened  at  Csesarea  before  he  had  raised  the 
walls  to  their  due  height,  prevented  him."  That  part  of  the  city 
which  this  boundary  was  intended  to  enclose  was  a  suburb  when 
Paul  was  converted.  The  work  w^as  not  completed  till  the  Jews 
were  preparing  for  their  final  struggle  with  the  Romans ;  and  the 
apostle,  when  he  came  from  Antioch  to  Jerusalem,  must  have 
noticed  the  unfinished  wall  to  the  north  and  west  of  the  old 
Damascus  Gate.  We  cannot  determine  the  season  of  the  year 
when  he  passed  this  w^ay.  We  are  not  sure  whether  the  year  itself 
was  44  or  45.  It  is  not  probable  that  he  was  in  Jerusalem  at  the 
Passover,  when  Peter  was  in  prison,  or  that  he  Avas  praying  with 
those  anxious  disciples  at  the  "house  of  Mary  the  mother  of  John, 
whose  surname  was  Mark."  But  there  is  this  link  of  interesting 
connection  between  that  house  and  Paul,  that  it  was  the  familiar 
home  of  one  who  was  afterward  (not  always  without  cause  for 
anxiety  or  reproof)  a  companion  of  his  journeys.  When  Barnabas 
and  Saul  returned  to  Antioch,  they  were  attended  by  "John,  whose 
surname  was  Mark."  With  the  love  of  Abraham  for  Lot,  his 
uncle  Barnabas  withdrew  from  the  scene  of  persecution.  We  need 
not  doubt  that  higher  motives  were  added — that  at  the  first,  as  at 
the  last,  Paul  regarded  him  as  "  profitable  to  him  for  the  ministry." 

Thus  attended,  he  willingly  retraced  his  steps  towards  Antioch. 
A  field  of  noble  enterprise  was  before  him.  He  could  not  doubt 
that  God,  who  had  so  prepared  him,  would  work  by  his  means 


124  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


great  conversions  among  the  heathen.  At  this  point  of  his  lifo 
we  cannot  avoid  noticing  those  circumstances  of  inward  and  out- 
ward preparation  which  fitted  him  for  his  peculiar  position  of 
standing  between  the  Jews  and  Gentiles.  He  was  not  a  Sadducee, 
he  had  never  Hellenized,  he  had  been  educated  at  Jerusalem:  ev- 
erything conspired  to  give  him  authority  when  he  addressed  his 
countrymen  as  a  "  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews."  At  the  same  time, 
in  his  apostolical  relation  to  Christ  he  was  quite  disconnected  with 
the  other  apostles  ;  he  had  come  in  silence  to  a  conviction  of  the 
truth  at  a  distance  from  the  Judaizing  Christians,  and  had  early 
overcome  those  prejudices  which  impeded  so  many  in  their  ap- 
proaches to  the  heathen.  He  had  been  long  enough  at  Jerusalem 
to  be  recognized  and  welcomed  by  the  apostolic  college,  but  not 
long  enough  to  be  known  by  face  "  unto  the  churches  in  Judaea." 
He  had  been  withdrawn  into  Cilicia  till  the  baptism  of  the  Gentiles 
was  a  notorious  and  familiar  fact  to  those  very  churches.  He  could 
hardly  be  blamed  for  continuing  what  Peter  had  already  begun. 

And  as  if  the  Spirit  of  God  had  prepared  him  for  building  up  the 
united  Church  of  Jews  and  Gentiles,  and  the  providence  of  God 
had  directed  all  the  steps  of  his  life  to  this  one  result,  we  are 
called  on  to  notice  the  singular  fitness  of  this  last  employment, 
on  which  we  have  seen  him  engaged,  for  assuaging  the  suspicious 
feeling  which  separated  the  two  great  branches  of  the  Church. 
In  quitting  for  a  time  his  Gentile  converts  at  Antioch,  and  carry- 
ing a  contribution  of  money  to  the  Jewish  Christians  at  Jerusalem, 
he  was  by  no  means  leaving  the  higher  work  for  the  lower.  He 
was  building  for  after-times.  The  interchange  of  mutual  benevo- 
lence was  a  safe  foundation  for  future  confidence.  Temporal 
comfort  was  given  in  gratitude  for  spiritual  good  received.  The 
Churches  first  days  were  christened  with  charity.  No  sooner  was 
its  new  name  received  in  token  of  the  union  of  Jews  and  Gentiles 
than  the  sympathy  of  its  members  was  asserted  by  the  work  of 
practical  benevolence.  We  need  not  hesitate  to  apply  to  that 
work  the  words  which  Paul  used  after  many  years  of  another  col- 
lection for  the  poor  Christians  in  Judaea :  "  The  administration 
of  this  service  not  only  supplieth  the  want  of  the  saints,  but  is 
abundant  also  by  many  thanksgivings  unto  God ;  whiles  by  the 
experiment  of  this  ministration  they  glorify  God  for  your  professed 
subjection  unto  the  gospel  of  Christ,  and  for  your  liberal  distri- 
bution unto  them." 


CHAPTEE  V. 


SECOND  PAET  OF  THE  ACTS  OF  THE  APOSTLES. — EEYELATION  AT 
ANTIOCH. — PUBLIC  DEVOTIONS. — DEPARTURE  OF  BARNABAS 
AND  SAUL. — THE  ORONTES. — HISTORY  AND  DESCRIPTION  OF 
SELEUCIA. — VOYAGE  TO  CYPRUS. — SALAMIS. — ROMAN  PROVIN- 
CIAL SYSTEM. — PROCONSULS  AND  PROPR^TORS. — SERGIUS  PAU- 
LUS. — ORIENTAL  IMPOSTORS  AT  ROME  AND  IN  THE  PROVINCES. 
— ELYMAS  BARJESUS. — HISTORY  OF  JEWISH  NAMES. — SAUL  AND 
PAUL. 

The  second  part  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  generally  reckoned 
to  begin  with  the  thirteenth  chapter.  At  this  point  Paul  begins 
to  appear  as  the  principal  character,  and  the  narrative,  gradually 
widening  and  expanding  with  his  travels,  seems  intended  to 
describe  to  us  in  minute  detail  the  communication  of  the  gospel 
to  the  Gentiles.  The  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  chapters  embrace 
a  definite  and  separate  subject ;  and  this  subject  is  the  first  journey 
of  the  first  Christian  missionaries  to  the  heathen.  These  two 
chapters  of  the  inspired  record  are  the  authorities  for  the  present 
and  the  succeeding  chapters  of  this  work,  in  which  we  intend  to 
follow  the  steps  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  in  their  circuit  through 
Cyprus  and  the  southern  part  of  Lesser  Asia. 

The  history  begins  suddenly  and  abruptly.  We  are  told  that 
there  were  in  the  Church  at  Antioch  ^'prophets  and  teachers,'' 
and  among  the  rest  Barnabas,"  with  whom  we  are  already 
familiar.  The  others  were  Simeon,  who  was  surnamed  Niger," 
and  "Lucius  of  Cyrene,"  and  "Manaen,  the  foster-brother  of 
Herod  the  tetrarch,"  and  "Saul,"  who  still  appears  under  his 
Hebrew  name.  We  observe,  moreover,  not  only  that  he  is  men- 
tioned after  Barnabas,  but  that  he  occupies  the  lowest  place  in 
this  enumeration  of  "prophets  and  teachers."  The  distinction 
between  these  two  ofiices  in  the  apostolic  Church  will  be  discussed 
hereafter.  At  present  it  is  sufiicient  to  remark  that  the  "  proph- 
ecy" of  the  New  Testament  does  not  necessarily  imply  a  know- 

125 


126  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


ledge  of  things  to  come,  but  rather  a  gift  of  exhorting  with  a 
peculiar  force  of  inspiration.  In  the  Church's  early  miraculous 
days  the  prophet"  appears  to  have  been  ranked  higher  than  the 
"  teacher."  And  we  may  perhaps  infer  that  up  to  this  point  of 
the  history  Barnabas  had  belonged  to  the  rank  of  '^^rophets,"  and 
Saul  to  that  of  ^' teachers ;"  which  would  be  in  strict  conformity 
w^ith  the  inferiority  of  the  latter  to  the  former,  which,  as  we  have 
seen,  has  been  hitherto  observed. 

Of  the  other  three  who  are  grouped  with  these  two  chosen  mis- 
sionaries we  do  not  know  enough  to  justify  any  long  disquisition. 
But  we  may  remark  in  passing  that  there  is  a  certain  interest 
attaching  to  each  one  of  them.  Simeon  is  one  of  those  Jews  who 
bore  a  Latin  surname  in  addition  to  their  Hebrew  name,  like 
"  John,  whose  surname  was  Mark,"  mentioned  in  the  last  verse  of 
the  preceding  chapter,  and  like  Saul  himself,  whose  change  of 
appellation  will  presently  be  brought  under  notice.  Lucius — 
probably  the  same  who  is  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans 
— is  a  native  of  Cyrene,  that  African  city  which  has  already  been 
mentioned  as  abounding  in  Jews,  and  which  sent  to  Jerusalem 
our  Saviour's  cross-bearer,  Manaen  is  spoken  of  as  the  foster- 
brother  of  Herod  the  tetrarch :  this  was  Herod  Antipas,  the 
tetrarch  of  Galilee ;  and  since  we  learn  from  Josephus  that  this 
Herod  and  his  brother  Archelaus  were  children  of  the  same 
mother,  and  afterward  educated  together  at  Rome,  it  is  probable 
that  this  Christian  prophet  or  teacher  had  spent  his  early  child- 
hood with  those  t^vo  princes,  who  were  now  both  banished  from 
Palestine  to  the  banks  of  the  Rhone. 

These  were  the  most  conspicuous  persons  in  the  Church  of  Antioch 
when  a  revelation  w\as  received  of  the  utmost  importance.  The 
occasion  on  which  the  revelation  was  made  seems  to  have  been  a 
fit  preparation  for  it.  The  Christians  were  engaged  in  religious 
services  of  peculiar  solemnity.  The  Holy  Ghost  spoke  to  them  as 
they  ministered  unto  the  Lord  and  fasted."  The  word  here  trans- 
lated "  ministered  "  has  been  taken  by  opposite  controversialists  to 
denote  the  celebration  of  the  "  sacrifice  of  the  mass  "  on  the  one 
hand,  or  the  exercise  of  the  office  of  "  preaching  "  on  the  other. 
It  will  be  safer  if  we  say  simply  that  the  Christian  community  at 
Antioch  were  engaged  in  one  united  act  of  prayer  and  humiliation. 
That  this  solemnity  would  be  accompanied  by  words  of  exhortation, 
and  that  it  would  be  crowned  and  completed  by  the  holy  com- 


THE  LAYING-ON  OF  HANDS. 


12T 


munion,  is  more  than  probable;  that  it  was  accompanied  with 
fasting  we  are  expressly  told.  These  religious  services  might  have 
had  a  special  reference  to  the  means  which  were  to  be  adopted  foi 
the  spread  of  the  gospel,  now  evidently  intended  for  all ;  and  the 
words,  *^  Separate  me  now  Barnabas  and  Saul  for  the  work  where- 
unto  I  have  called  them/'  may  have  been  an  answer  to  specific 
prayers.  How  this  revelation  was  made — whether  by  the  mouth 
of  some  of  the  prophets  who  were  present,  or  by  the  impulse  of  a 
simultaneous  and  general  inspiration ;  whether  the  route  to  be 
taken  by  Barnabas  and  Saul  was  at  this  time  precisely  indicated  ; 
and  whether  they  had  previously  received  a  conscious  personal  call, 
of  which  this  was  the  public  ratification — it  is  useless  to  inquire. 
A  definite  work  was  pointed  out  as  now  about  to  be  begun  under 
the  counsel  of  God ;  tv/o  definite  agents  in  this  work  were  publicly 
singled  out;  and  we  soon  see  them  sent  forth  to  their  arduous  un- 
dertaking with  the  sanction  of  the  Church  at  Antioch. 

Their  final  consecration  and  departure  were  the  occasion  of 
another  religious  solemnity.  A  fast  was  appointed  and  prayers 
were  offered  up;  and  with  that  simple  ceremony  of  ordination 
which  we  trace  through  the  earlier  periods  of  Jewish  history,  and 
w^hich  we  here  see  adopted  under  the  highest  authority  in  the 
Christian  Church,  "  they  laid  their  hands  on  them,  and  sent  them 
away.''  The  words  are  wonderfully  simple,  but  those  who  devoutly 
reflect  on  this  great  occasion,  and  on  the  position  of  the  first  Chris- 
tians at  Antioch,  will  not  find  it  difficult  to  imagine  the  thoughts 
which  occupied  the  hearts  of  the  disciples  during  the  first  "Em- 
ber Days  "  of  the  Church, — their  deep  sense  of  the  importance  of 
the  work  which  was  now  beginning, — their  faith  in  God,  on  whom 
they  could  rely  in  the  midst  of  such  difficulties, — their  suspense 
during  the  absence  of  those  by  whom  their  own  faith  had  been 
fortified, — their  anxiety  for  the  intelligence  they  might  bring  on 
their  return. 

Their  first  point  of  destination  was  the  island  of  Cyprus.  It  is 
not  necessary,  though  quite  allowable,  to  suppose  that  this  partic- 
ular course  was  divinely  indicated  in  the  original  revelation  at 
Antioch.  Four  reasons  at  least  can  be  stated  which  may  have  in- 
duced the  apostles,  in  the  exercise  of  a  wise  discretion,  to  turn  in 
the  first  instance  to  this  island.  It  is  separated  by  no  great  distance 
from  the  mainland  of  Syria ;  its  high  mountain-summits  are  easily 
seen  in  clear  weather  from  the  coast  near  the  mouth  of  the  Orontes ; 


128 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


and  in  the  summer  season  many  vessels  must  often  have  been  pass- 
ing and  repassing  between  Salamis  and  Seleucia.  Besides  this,  it 
was  the  native  place  of  Barnabas.  Since  the  time  when  ^'Andrew 
found  his  brother  Simon,  and  brought  him  to  Jesus,"  and  the  Sa- 
viour was  beloved  in  the  house  of  "  Martha  and  her  sister  and  Laz- 
arus," the  ties  of  family  relationship  had  not  been  without  effect  on 
the  progress  of  the  gospel.  It  could  not  be  unnatural  to  suppose 
that  the  truth  would  be  welcomed  in  Cyprus  when  it  was  brought  by 
Barnabas  and  his  kinsman  Mark  to  their  own  connections  or  friends. 
Moreover,  the  Jews  were  numerous  in  Salamis.  By  sailing  to  that 
city  they  were  following  the  track  of  the  synagogues.  Their  mis- 
sion, it  is  true,  was  chiefly  to  the  Gentiles,  but  their  surest  course 
for  reaching  them  was  through  the  medium  of  the  proselytes  and 
the  Hellenizing  Jews.  To  these  considerations  we  must  add,  in 
the  fourth  place,  that  some  of  the  Cypriotes  were  already  Christians. 
No  one  place  out  of  Palestine,  with  the  exception  of  Antioch,  had 
been  so  honorably  associated  with  the  work  of  successful  evange- 
lization. 

The  palaces  of  Antioch  were  connected  with  the  sea  by  the  river 
Orontes.  Strabo  says  that  in  his  time  they  sailed  up  the  stream 
in  one  day ;  and  Pausanias  speaks  of  great  Eoman  works  which 
had  improved  the  navigation  of  the  channel.  Probably  it  was 
navigable  by  vessels  of  some  considerable  size,  and  goods  and 
passengers  were  conveyed  by  water  between  the  city  and  the  sea. 
Even  in  our  own  day,  though  there  is  now  a  bar  at  the  mouth  of 
the  river,  there  has  been  a  serious  project  of  uniting  it  by  a  canal 
with  the  Euphrates,  and  so  of  re-establishing  one  of  the  old  lines 
of  commercial  intercourse  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Indian  Sea.  The  Orontes  comes  from  the  valley  between  Lebanon 
and  Anti-Lebanon,  and  does  not,  like  many  rivers,  vary  caprici- 
ously between  a  winter  torrent  and  a  thirsty  watercourse,  but 
flows  on  continually  to  the  sea.  Its  waters  are  not  clear,  but  they 
are  deep  and  rapid.  Their  course  has  been  compared  to  that  of 
the  Wye.  They  wind  round  the  bases  of  high  and  precipitous 
clifis,  or  by  richly  cultivated  banks,  where  the  vegetation  of  the 
South,  the  vine  and  the  fig  tree,  the  myrtle,  the  bay,  the  ilex,  and 
the  arbutus,  are  mingled  with  dwarf  oak  and  English  sycamore. 
If  Barnabas  and  Saul  came  down  by  water  from  Antioch,  this  was 
the  course  of  the  boat  which  conveyed  them.  If  they  travelled 
the  five  or  six  leagues  by  land,  they  crossed  the  river  at  the  north 


SELEUCIA  BY  THE  SEA. 


129 


side  of  Antiocli,  and  came  along  the  base  of  the  Pierian  hills  by  a 
route  which  is  now  roughly  covered  with  fragrant  and  picturesque 
shrubs,  but  which  then  doubtless  was  a  track  well  worn  by 
travellers,  like  the  road  from  the  Pirseus  to  Athens  or  from  Ostia 
to  Eome. 

Seleucia  united  the  two  characters  of  a  fortress  and  a  seaport. 
Tt  was  situated  on  a  rocky  eminence,  which  is  the  southern 
extremity  of  an  elevated  range  of  hills  projecting  from  Mount 
Amanus.  From  the  south-east,  where  the  ruins  of  the  Antioch 
Gate  are  still  conspicuous,  the  ground  rose  towards  the  north-east 
into  high  and  craggy  summits,  and  round  the  greater  part  of  the 
circumference  of  four  miles  the  city  was  protected  by  its  natural 
position.  The  harbor  and  mercantile  suburb  were  on  level  ground 
towards  the  west;  but  here,  as  on  the  only  weak  point  at  Gibral- 
ter,  strong  artificial  defences  had  made  compensation  for  the  weak- 
ness of  Nature.  Seleucus,  who  had  named  his  metropolis  in  his 
father's  honor,  gave  his  own  name  to  this  maritime  fortress;  and 
here,  around  his  tomb,  his  successors  contended  for  the  key  of 
Syria.  Seleucia  by  the  Sea "  was  a  place  of  great  importance 
under  the  Seleucidae  and  the  Ptolemies,  and  so  it  remained  under 
the  sway  of  the  Eomans.  In  consequence  of  its  bold  resistance  to 
Tigranes  when  he  was  in  possession  of  all  the  neighboring  country 
Pompey  gave  it  the  privileges  of  a  "  free  city ; "  and  a  contem- 
porary of  Paul  speaks  of  it  as  having  those  privileges  still. 

The  most  remarkable  work  among  the  extant  remains  of  Seleucia 
is  an  immense  excavation — probably  the  same  with  that  which  is 
mentioned  by  Polybius — leading  from  the  upper  part  of  the  ancient 
city  to  the  sea.  It  consists  alternately  of  tunnels  and  deep  open 
cuttings.  It  is  difficult  to  give  a  confident  opinion  as  to  the  uses 
for  which  it  was  intended.  But  the  best  conjecture  seems  to  be 
that  it  was  constructed  for  the  purpose  of  drawing  off  the  water 
which  might  otherwise  have  done  mischief  to  the  houses  and  ship- 
ping in  the  lower  part  of  the  town,  and  so  arranged  at  the  same 
time  as,  when  needful,  to  supply  a  rush  of  water  to  clear  out  the 
port.  The  inner  basin  or  dock  is  now  a  morass,  but  its  dimensions 
can  be  measured  and  the  walls  that  surrounded  it  can  be  distinctly 
traced.  The  position  of  the  ancient  flood-gates,  and  the  passage 
through  which  the  vessels  were  moved  from  the  inner  to  the  outer 
harbor,  can  be  accurately  marked.  The  very  piers  of  the  outer 
harbor  are  still  to  be  seen  under  the  water.  The  southern  jetty 
9 


130 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


takes  the  wider  sweep  and  overlaps  the  northern,  forming  a  secure 
entrance  and  a  well-protected  basin.  The  stones  are  of  great  size, 
some  of  them  twenty  feet  long,  five  feet  deep,  and  six  feet  wide," 
and  they  were  fastened  to  each  other  with  iron  clamps.  The  ma- 
sonry of  ancient  Beleucia  is  still  so  good  that  not  long  since  a 
Turkish  pasha  conceived  the  idea  of  clearing  out  and  repairing 
the  harbor. 

These  piers  were  unbroken  when  Saul  and  Barnabas  came  down 
to  Seleucia,  and  the  large  stones  fastened  by  their  iron  clamps  pro- 
tected the  vessels  in  the  harbor  from  the  swell  of  the  western  sea. 
Here,  in  the  midst  of  unsympathizing  sailors,  the  two  missionary 
apostles,  with  their  younger  companion,  stepped  on  board  the 
vessel  which  was  to  convey  them  to  Salamis.  As  they  cleared  the 
port  the  whole  sweep  of  the  Bay  of  Antioch  opened  on  their  left, 
the  low  ground  by  the  mouth  of  the  Orontes,  the  wild  and  woody 
country  beyond  it,  and  then  the  peak  of  Mount  Casius,  rising  sym- 
metrically from  the  very  edge  of  the  sea  to  a  height  of  five  thou- 
sand feet.  On  the  right,  in  the  south-west  horizon,  if  the  day  was 
clear,  they  saw  the  island  of  Cyprus  from  the  first.  The  current 
sets  northerly  and  north-east  between  the  island  and  the  Syrian 
coast.  But  with  a  fair  wind  a  few  hours  would  enable  them  to 
run  down  from  Seleucia  to  Salamis,  and  the  land  would  rapidly 
rise  in  forms  well  known  and  familiar  to  Barnabas  and  Mark. 

Until  recently  we  have  not  been  in  possession  of  accurate  charts 
of  the  coast  near  Salamis.  Almost  every  island  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, except  Crete  and  Cyprus,  has  been  minutely  surveyed  and 
described  by  British  naval  officers.  The  soundings  of  the  coast  of 
Crete  are  as  yet  comparatively  unknown,  but  the  charts  of  Cyprus 
are  on  the  eve  of  publication.  From  Cape  St.  Andrea,  the  north- 
eastern point  of  the  island,  the  coast  trends  rapidly  to  the  west  till 
it  reaches  Cape  Grego,  the  south-east  extremity.  The  wretched 
modern  town  of  Famagousta  is  nearer  the  latter  point  than  the 
former,  and  the  ancient  Salamis  was  situated  a  short  distance  to 
the  north  of  Famagousta.  Near  Cape  St.  Andrea  are  two  or  three 
small  islands,  anciently  called  "The  Keys."  These,  if  they  were 
seen  at  all,  would  soon  be  lost  to  view.  Cape  Grego  is  distinguished 
by  a  singular  promonotory  of  table-land.  The  rough,  lofty,  table- 
shaped  eminence  "  which  Strabo  mentions  in  his  description  of  the 
coast  has  been  identified  with  the  Idalium  of  the  classical  poets. 

The  ground  lies  low  in  the  neighborhood  of  Salamis,  and  the 


THE  CITY  OF  SALAMIS. 


131 


town  was  situated  on  a  bight  of  tlie  coast  to  tlie  nortli  of  the  river 
Pediseus.  This  low  land  is  the  largest  plain  in  Cyprus,  and  the 
Pediseus  is  the  only  true  river  in  the  island,  the  rest  being  only 
winter  torrents,  flowing  in  the  w^et  season  from  the  two  mountain- 
ranges  w^hich  intersect  it  from  east  to  w^est.  This  plain  probably 
represents  the  kingdom  of  Teucer,  which  is  familiar  to  us  in  the 
early  stories  of  legendary  Greece.  It  stretches  inward  between 
the  two  mountain-ranges  to  the  very  heart  of  the  country,  where 
the  modern  Turkish  capital,  Nicosia,  is  situated.  In  the  days  of 
historical  Greece,  Salamis  was  the  capital.  Under  the  Eoman 
empire,  if  not  the  seat  of  government,  it  was  at  least  the  most 
importiant  mercantile  towm.  We  have  the  best  reasons  for  believ- 
ing that  the  harbor  was  convenient  and  capacious.  Thus  we  can 
form  to  ourselves  some  idea  of  the  appearance  of  the  place  in  the 
reign  of  Claudius.  A  large  city  by  the  seashore,  a  widespread 
plain  with  cornfields  and  orchards,  and  the  blue  distance  of  moun- 
tains beyond  composed  the  view  on  w'hich  the  eyes  of  Barnabas 
and  Saul  rested  when  they  came  to  anchor  in  the  Bay  of  Salamis. 

The  Jews,  as  we  should  have  been  prepared  to  expect,  were 
numerous  in  Salamis.  This  fact  is  indicated  to  us  in  the  sacred 
narrative,  for  we  learn  that  this  city  had  several  synagogues,  while 
other  cities  had  often  only  one.  They  had  doubtless  been  estab- 
lished here  in  considerable  numbers  in  the  active  period  which 
succeeded  the  death  of  Alexander.  The  unparalleled  productive- 
ness of  Cyprus,  and  its  trade  in  fruit,  wine,  flax,  and  honey,  would 
naturally  attract  them  to  the  mercantile  port.  The  farming  of  the 
copper-mines  by  Augustus  to  Herod  may  probably  have  swelled 
their  numbers.  One  of  the  most  conspicuous  passages  in  the  his- 
tory of  Salamis  was  the  insurrection  of  the  Jews  in  the  reign  of 
Trajan,  when  a  great  part  of  the  city  was  destroyed.  Its  demo- 
lition was  completed  by  an  earthquake.  It  was  rebuilt  by  a  Chris- 
tian emperor,  from  whom  it  received  its  medinevil  name  of 
Constantia. 

It  appears  that  the  proclamation  of  the  gospel  was  confined  by 
Barnabas  and  Saul  to  the  Jews  and  the  synagogues.  We  have  no 
information  of  the  length  of  their  stay  or  the  success  of  their 
labors.  Some  stress  seems  to  be  laid  on  the  fact  that  John  (?*.  e, 
Mark)  "was  their  minister."  Perhaps  we  are  to  infer  from  this 
that  his  hands  baptized  the  Jews  and  proselytes  who  were  con- 
vinced by  the  preaching  of  the  apostles. 


132         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

From  Salamis  tliey  travelled  to  Paphos,  at  the  other  extremity 
of  the  island.  The  two  towns  were  probably  connected  together 
by  a  well-travelled  and  frequented  road.  It  is  indeed  likely  that 
even  under  the  empire  the  islands  of  the  Greek  part  of  the  Medi- 
terranean, as  Crete  and  Cyprus,  were  not  so  completely  provided 
with  lines  of  internal  communication  as  those  which  were  nearer 
the  metropolis  and  had  been  longer  under  Eoman  occupation, 
such  as  Corsica  and  Sardinia.  But  we  cannot  help  believing  that 
Roman  roads  were  laid  down  in  Cyprus  and  Crete  after  the  man- 
ner of  the  modern  English  roads  in  Corfu  and  the  other  Ionian 
islands;  which  islands,  in  their  social  and  political  condition, 
present  many  points  of  resemblance  to  those  which  were  under 
the  Eoman  sway  in  the  time  of  Paul.  On  the  whole,  there  is  lit- 
tle doubt  that  his  journey  from  Salamis  to  Paphos,  a  distance 
from  east  to  west  of  not  more  than  a  hundred  miles,  was  accom- 
plished in  a  short  time  and  without  difficulty. 

Paphos  was  the  residence  of  the  Roman  governor.  The  ap- 
pearance of  the  place  (if  due  allowance  is  made  for  the  differences 
of  the  nineteenth  century  and  the  first)  may  be  compared  with 
that  of  the  town  of  Corfu  in  the  present  day,  with  its  strong  gar- 
rison of  imperial  soldiers  in  the  midst  of  a  Greek  population, 
with  its  mixture  of  two  languages,  with  its  symbols  of  a  strong 
and  steady  power  side  by  side  with  frivolous  amusements,  and 
with  something  of  the  style  of  a  court  about  the  residence  of  its 
governor.  All  the  occurrences  which  are  mentioned  at  Paphos  as 
taking  place  on  the  arrival  of  Barnabas  and  Saul  are  grouped  so 
entirely  round  the  governor's  person  that  our  attention  must  be 
turned  for  a  time  to  the  condition  of  Cyprus  as  a  Roman  province, 
and  the  position  and  character  of  Sergius  Paulus. 

From  the  time  when  Augustus  united  the  w^orld  under  his  own 
power  the  provinces  were  divided  into  two  different  classes.  The 
business  of  the  first  emperor's  life  was  to  consolidate  the  imperial 
system  under  the  show  of  administering  a  republic.  He  retained 
the  names  and  semblances  of  those  liberties  and  rights  w^hich 
Rome  had  once  enjoyed.  He  found  two  names  in  existence,  the 
one  of  which  was  henceforth  inseparably  blended  with  the  im- 
perial dignity  and  military  command,  the  other  with  the  author- 
ity of  the  senate  and  its  civil  administration.  The  first  of  these 
names  was  "prsetor,"  the  second  was  "consul."  Both  of  them 
were  retained  in  Italy,  and  both  were  reproduced  in  the  provinces 


ROxMAN  PROVINCIAL  SYSTEM.  133 

as  propraetor''  and  "  proconsul."  He  told  the  senate  and  peo- 
ple that  he  would  relieve  them  of  all  the  anxiety  of  military  pro- 
ceedings, and  that  he  would  resign  to  them  those  provinces  where 
soldiers  were  unnecessary  to  secure  the  fruits  of  a  peaceful  admin- 
istration. He  would  take  upon  himself  all  the  care  and  risk  of 
governing  the  other  provinces,  where  rebellion  might  be  appre- 
hended and  where  the  proximity  of  warlike  tribes  made  the 
presence  of  the  legions  perpetually  necessary.  These  were  his 
professions  to  the  senate,  but  the  real  purpose  of  this  ingenious 
arrangement  was  the  disarming  of  the  republic,  and  the  securing 
to  himself  the  absolute  control  of  the  whole  standing  army  of  the 
empire.  The  scheme  was  sufficiently  transparent,  but  there  w^as 
no  sturdy  national  life  in  Italy  to  resist  his  despotic  innovations, 
and  no  foreign  civilized  powers  to  arrest  the  advance  of  imperial 
aggrandizement;  and  it  thus  came  to  pass  that  Augustus,  though 
totally  destitute  of  the  military  genius  of  either  Cromwell  or  Napo- 
leon, transmitted  to  his  successors  a  throne  guarded  by  an  invin- 
cible army  and  a  system  of  government  destined  to  endure  through 
several  centuries. 

Hence  we  find  in  the  reign  not  only  of  Augustus,  but  of  each 
of  his  successors  from  Tiberius  to  Nero,  the  provinces  divided  into 
these  two  classes.  On  the  one  side  we  have  those  which  are 
supposed  to  be  under  the  senate  and  people.  The  governor  is 
appointed  by  lot,  as  in  the  times  of  the  old  republic.  He  carries 
with  him  the  lictors  and  fasces,  the  insignia  of  a  consul,  but  he  is 
destitute  of  military  power.  His  office  must  be  resigned  at  the 
expiration  of  a  year.  He  is  styled  "  proconsul,"  and  the  Greeks, 
translating  the  term,  call  him  dvOvirarog.  On  the  other  side  are 
the  provinces  of  Caesar.  The  governor  may  be  styled  "  propraetor," 
or  avTLaTpdrrjyog^  but  he  is  more  properly  "  legatus,"  or  Trpeodevryg^  the 
representative  or  "  commissioner  "  of  the  emperor.  He  goes  out 
from  Italy  with  all  the  pomp  of  a  military  commander,  and  he 
does  not  return  till  the  emperor  recalls  him.  And  to  complete  the 
symmetry  and  consistency  of  the  system,  the  subordinate  districts 
of  these  imperial  provinces  are  regulated  by  the  emperor's  "  pro- 
curator "  {kmrpoTTOQ)^  or  ^'  high  steward."  The  New  Testament,  in 
the  strictest  conformity  with  the  other  historical  authorities  of 
the  period,  gives  us  examples  of  both  kinds  of  provincial  admin- 
istration. We  are  told  by  Strabo  and  by  Dio  Cassius  that  Asia" 
and  "  Achaia"  were  assigned  to  the  senate,  and  the  title  which  in 


134 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


dach  case  is  given  to  tlie  governor  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is 
"  proconsuL''  The  same  authorities  inform  us  that  Syria  was  an 
imperial  province,  and  no  such  title  as  "proconsul"  is  assigned  by 
the  sacred  writers  to  "  Cyrenius,  governor  of  Syria,"  or  to  Pilate, 
Festus,  and  Felix,  the  procurators  of  Judaea,  v/liich,  as  we  have 
seen,  was  a  dependency  of  that  great  and  unsettled  province. 

Dio  Cassius  informs  us,  in  the  same  passage  where  he  tells  us 
that  Asia  and  Achaia  were  provinces  of  the  senate,  that  Cyprus 
was  retained  by  the  emperor  for  himself.  If  we  stop  here,  we 
naturally  ask  the  question — and  some  have  asked  the  question 
rather  hastily — How  comes  it  to  pass  that  Luke  speaks  of  Sergius 
Paulus  by  the  style  of  proconsul "  ?  But  any  hesitation  con- 
cerning the  strict  historical  accuracy  of  the  sacred  historian^s 
language  is  immediately  set  at  rest  by  the  very  next  sentence  of 
the  secular  historian,  in  which  he  informs  us  that  Augustus  re- 
stored Cyprus  to  the  senate  in  exchange  for  another  district  of  the 
empire — a  statement  which  he  again  repeats  in  a  later  passage  of 
his  work.  It  is  evident,  then,  that  the  governor's  style  and  title 
from  this  time  forward  would  be  "  proconsul."  But  this  evidence, 
however  satisfactory,  is  not  all  that  we  possess.  A  coin  distinctly 
presents  to  us  a  Cyprian  proconsul  of  the  reign  of  Claudius ;  and 
the  inscription  which  will  be  found  at  the  end  of  this  chapter 
supplies  us  with  the  names  of  two  additional  governors  who  were 
among  the  predecessors  or  successors  of  Sergius  Paulus. 

It  is  remarkable  that  two  men  called  Sergius  Paulus  are  de- 
scribed in  very  similar  terms  by  two  physicians  who  wrote  in 
Greek — the  one  a  heathen,  the  other  a  Christian.  The  heathen 
waiter  is  Galen.  He  speaks  of  his  contemporary  as  a  man  inter- 
ested and  well  versed  in  philosophy.  The  Christian  writer  is 
Luke,  who  tells  us  here  that  the  governor  of  Cyprus  was  a  "pru- 
dent "  man,  ^vho  "  desired  to  hear  the  w^ord  of  God."  This  gov- 
ernor seems  to  have  been  of  a  candid  and  inquiring  mind ;  nor 
will  this  philosophical  disposition  be  thought  inconsistent  with 
his  connection  with  the  Jewish  impostor  whom  Saul  and  Barnabas 
found  at  the  Paphian  court  by  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the 
intellectual  and  religious  tendencies  of  the  age. 

For  many  years  before  this  time,  and  many  years  after,  impos- 
tors from  the  East,  pretending  to  magical  powers,  had  great  influ- 
ence over  the  Roman  mind.  All  the  Greek  and  Roman  literature 
of  the  empire,  from  Horace  to  Lucian,  abounds  in  proof  of  the 


ORIENTAL  IMPOSTORS  IN  ROME. 


135 


prevalent  credulity  of  this  sceptical  period.  Unbelief,  when  it  has 
become  conscious  of  its  weakness,  is  often  glad  to  give  its  hand  to 
superstition.  The  faith  of  educated  Komans  was  utterly  gone. 
We  can  hardly  wonder  when  the  East  was  thrown  open — the  land 
of  mystery,  the  fountain  of  the  earliest  migrations,  the  cradle 
of  the  earliest  religions — that  the  imagination  both  of  the  populace 
and  the  aristocracy  of  Rome  became  fanatically  excited,  and  that 
they  greedily  welcomed  the  most  absurd  and  degrading  supersti- 
tions. Not  only  was  the  metropolis  of  the  empire  crowded  with 
hungry  Greeks,"  but  "Syrian  fortune-tellers'^  flocked  into  all 
the  haunts  of  public  amusement.  Athens  and  Corinth  did  not 
now  contribute  the  greatest  or  the  worst  part  of  the  "  dregs of 
Rome,  but  (to  adopt  Juvenal's  use  of  that  river  of  Antioch  we 
have  lately  been  describing)  ^'  the  Orontes  itself  flow^ed  into  the 
Tiber." 

Every  part  of  the  East  contributed  its  share  to  the  general 
superstition.  The  gods  of  Egypt  and  Phrygia  found  unfailing 
votaries.  Before  the  close  of  the  republic  the  temples  of  Isis  and 
Serapis  had  been  more  than  once  erected,  destroyed,  and  renewed. 
Josephus  tells  us  that  certain  disgraceful  priests  of  Isis  were  cruci- 
fied at  Rome  by  the  second  emperor,  but  this  punishment  was  only 
a  momentary  check  to  their  sway  over  the  Roman  mind.  The 
more  remote  districts  of  Asia  Minor  sent  their  itinerant  sooth- 
sayers; Syria  sent  her  music  and  her  medicines;  Chaldcea  her 
Babylonian  numbers "  and  "  mathematical  calculations."  To 
these  corrupters  of  the  people  of  Romulus  we  must  add  one  more 
Asiatic  nation — the  nation  of  the  Israelites ;  and  it  is  an  instruc- 
tive employment  to  observe  that  while  some  members  of  the  Jewish 
people  were  rising  by  the  divine  power  to  the  highest  position  ever 
occupied  by  men  on  earth,  others  were  sinking  themselves,  and 
others  along  with  them,  to  the  lowest  and  most  contemptible  deg- 
radation. The  treatment  and  influence  of  the  Jews  at  Rome  were 
often  too  similar  to  those  of  other  Orientals.  One  year  we  find 
them  banished  (Acts  xviii.  2),  another  year  we  see  them  quietly 
re-established  (Acts  xxviii.  17).  The  Jewish  beggar-woman  was 
the  gypsy  of  the  first  century,  shivering  and  crouching  in  the  out- 
skirts of  the  city,  and  telling  fortunes,  as  Ezekiel  said  of  old,  "for 
handfuls  of  barley  and  for  pieces  of  bread."  All  this  catalogue  of 
Oriental  impostors,  whose  influx  into  Rome  was  a  characteristic 
of  the  period,  we  can  gather  from  that  revolting  satire  of  Juvenal 


136 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OP  THiJ  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


in  which  he  scourges  the  follies  and  vices  of  the  Eoman  women. 
But  not  only  were  the  women  of  Rome  drawn  aside  into  this  varied 
and  multiplied  fanaticism,  but  the  eminent  men  of  the  declining 
republic  and  the  absolute  sovereigns  of  the  early  empire  were 
tainted  and  enslaved  by  the  same  superstitions.  The  great  Marius 
had  in  his  camp  a  Syrian,  probably  a  Jewish  prophetess,  by  whose 
divinations  he  regulated  the  progress  of  his  campaigns.  As  Bru- 
tus, at  the  beginning  of  the  republic,  had  visited  the  oracle  of 
Delphi,  so  Pompey,  Crassus,  and  Caesar  at  the  close  of  the  repub- 
lic, when  the  oracles  were  silent,  sought  information  from  Oriental 
astrology.  No  picture  in  the  great  Latin  satirist  is  more  power- 
fully drawn  than  that  in  which  he  shows  us  the  emperor  Tiberius 
"sitting  on  the  rock  of  Capri  with  his  flock  of  Chaldaeans  around 
him."  No  sentence  in  the  great  Latin  historian  is  more  bitterly 
emphatic  than  that  in  which  he  says  that  the  astrologers  and  sor- 
cerers are  a  class  of  men  who  "will  always  be  discarded  and 
always  cherished." 

What  we  know,  from  the  literature  of  the  period,  to  have  been 
the  case  in  Eome  and  in  the  empire  at  large,  we  see  exemplified 
in  a  province  in  the  case  of  Sergius  Paulus.  He  had  attached 
himself  to  "a  certain  sorcerer,  a  false  prophet,  a  Jew,  whose  name 
was  Barjesus,"  and  who  had  given  himself  the  Arabic  name  of 
"  Elymas,"  or  "  the  Wise."  But  the  proconsul  was  not  so  deluded 
by  the  false  prophet  as  to  be  unable  or  unwilling  to  listen  to  the 
true.  "  He  sent  for  Barnabas  and  Saul,"  of  whose  arrival  he  was 
informed,  and  whose  free  and  public  declaration  of  the  "  word  of 
God  "  attracted  his  inquiring  mind.  Elymas  used  every  exertion 
to  resist  them  and  to  hinder  the  proconsul's  mind  from  falling 
under  the  influence  of  their  divine  doctrine.  Truth  and  falsehood 
were  brought  into  visible  conflict  with  each  other.  It  is  evident, 
from  the  graphic  character  of  the  narrative — the  description  of 
Paul  "  setting  his  eyes  "  on  the  sorcerer,  "  the  mist  and  darkness  " 
which  fell  on  Barjesus,  the  "groping  about  for  some  one  to  lead 
him  " — that  the  opposing  wonder-workers  stood  face  to  face  in  the 
presence  of  the  proconsul,  as  Moses  and  Aaron  withstood  the 
magicians  at  the  Egyptian  court;  Sergius  Paulus  being  in  this 
respect  difierent  from  Pharaoh,  that  he  did  not  "  harden  his  heart." 

The  miracles  of  the  New  Testament  are  generally  distinguished 
from  those  of  the  Old  by  being  for  the  most  part  works  of  mercy 


ELYMAS  BARJESUS. 


137 


and  restoration,  not  of  punishment  and  destruction.  Two  only 
of  our  Lord's  miracles  were  inflictions  of  severity,  and  these  were 
attended  with  no  harm  to  the  bodies  of  men.  The  same  law  of 
mercy  pervades  most  of  those  interruptions  of  the  course  of  Nature 
which  he  gave  his  servants,  the  apostles,  power  to  effect.  One 
miracle  of  WTath  is  mentioned  as  worked  in  his  name  by  each 
of  the  great  apostles,  Peter  and  Paul ;  and  we  can  see  sufficient 
reasons  why  liars  and  hypocrites  like  Ananias  and  Sapphira,  and 
powerful  impostors  like  Elymas  Barjesus,  should  be  publicly 
punished  in  the  face  of  the  Jewish  and  Gentile  worlds,  and  made 
the  examples  and  warnings  of  every  subsequent  age  of  the 
Church.  A  different  passage  in  the  life  of  Peter  presents  a 
parallel  which  is  closer  in  some  respects  with,  this  interview  of 
Paul  with  the  sorcerer  in  Cyprus.  As  Simon  Magus — who  had 
"long  time  bewitched  the  people  of  Samaria  with  his  sorceries'' — 
was  denounced  by  Peter  "as  still  in  the  gall  of  bitterness  and  bond 
of  iniquity,"  and  solemnly  told  that  "  his  heart  was  not  right  in 
the  sight  of  God,"  so  Paul,  conscious  of  his  apostolic  power  and 
under  the  impulse  of  immediate  inspiration,  rebuked  Barjesus  as 
a  child  of  that  devil  who  is  the  father  of  lies,  as  a  worker  of 
deceit  and  mischief,  and  as  one  who  sought  to  pervert  and  distort 
that  which  God  saw  and  approved  as  right.  He  proceeded  to 
denounce  an  instantaneous  judgment,  and,  according  to  his 
prophetic  word,  the  "  hand  of  the  Lord  "  struck  the  sorcerer  as  it 
had  once  struck  the  apostle  himself  on  the  way  to  Damascus  ;  the 
sight  of  Elymas  began  to  waver,  and  presently  a  darkness  settled 
on  it  so  thick  that  he  ceased  to  behold  the  sun's  light.  This 
blinding  of  the  false  prophet  opened  the  eyes  of  Sergius  Paulus. 
That  which  had  been  intended  as  an  opposition  to  the  gospel 
proved  the  means  of  its  extension.  We  are  ignorant  of  the  degree 
of  this  extension  in  the  island  of  Cyprus.  But  we  cannot  doubt 
that  when  the  proconsul  was  converted  his  influence  would  make 
Christianity  reputable,  and  that  from  this  moment  the  Gentiles  of 
the  island,  as  well  as  the  Jews,  had  the  news  of  salvation  brought 
home  to  them. 

And  now,  from  this  point  of  the  apostolical  history,  Paul  ap- 
pears as  the  great  figure  in  every  picture.  Barnabas  henceforward 
is  always  in  the  background.  The  great  apostle  now  enters  on  his 
work  as  the  preacher  to  the  Gentiles,  and  simultaneously  with  his 


138  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

active  occupation  of  the  field  in  which  he  was  called  to  labor  his 
name  is  suddenly  changed.  As  ^^Abram"  was  changed  into 
'^Abraham''  when  God  promised  that  he  should  be  the  father 
of  many  nations,"  as  Simon  "  was  changed  into  "  Peter  "  when 
it  was  said,  "On  this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church,"  so  *'Saul  "  is 
changed  into  "Paul"  at  the  moment  of  his  first  great  victory 
among  the  heathen.  What  "the  plains  of  Mamre  by  Hebron" 
were  to  the  patriarch,  what  "  Csesarea  Philippi "  by  the  fountains 
of  the  Jordan  was  to  the  fisherman  of  Galilee,  that  was  the  city 
of  Pai3hos  on  the  coast  of  Cyprus  to  the  tentmaker  of  Tarsus. 
Are  we  to  suppose  that  the  name  was  now  really  given  him  for 
the  first  time,  that  he  adopted  it  himself  as  significant  of  his  own 
feelings,  or  that  Sergius  Paulus  conferred  it  on  him  in  grateful 
commemoration  of  the  benefits  he  had  received  ?  or  that  "  Paul," 
having  been  a  Gentile  form  of  the  apostle's  name  in  early  life 
conjointly  v/ith  the  Hebrew  "  Saul,"  was  now  used  to  the  exclusion 
of  the  other  to  indicate  that  he  had  receded  from  his  position  as  a 
Jewish  Christian  to  become  the  friend  and  teacher  of  the  Gen- 
tiles? All  these  opinions  have  found  their  supporters  both  in 
ancient  and  modern  times.  The  question  has  been  alluded  to  be- 
fore in  this  work.  It  will  be  well  to  devote  some  further  space  to 
it  now,  once  for  all. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  words  in  Acts  xiii.  9,  "  Saul,  who 
is  also  Paul,"  are  the  line  of  separation  between  two  very  distinct 
portions  of  Luke's  biography  of  the  apostle,  in  the  former  of  which 
he  is  uniformly  called  "Saul,"  while  in  the  latter  he  receives,  with 
equal  consistency,  the  name  of  "  Paul."  It  must  also  be  observed 
that  the  apostle  always  speaks  of  himself  under  the  latter  desig- 
nation in  every  one  of  his  Epistles,  without  any  exception ;  and 
not  only  so,  but  the  apostle  Peter,  in  the  only  passage  where  he 
has  occasion  to  allude  to  him,  speaks  of  him  as  ^'  our  beloved 
brother  Paul."  We  are,  however,  inclined  to  adopt  the  opinion 
that  the  Cilician  apostle  had  this  Eoman  name,  as  well  as  his 
other  Hebrew  name,  in  his  earlier  days,  and  even  before  he  was  a 
Christian.  This  adoption  of  a  Gentile  name  is  so  far  from  being 
alien  to  the  spirit  of  a  Jewish  family  that  a  similar  practice  may 
be  traced  through  all  the  periods  of  Hebrew  history.  Beginning 
with  the  Persian  epoch  (b.  c.  550-350)  we  find  such  names  as 
"Nehemiah,"  "  Schammai,"  "  Belteshazzar,"  which  betray  an 


HISTORY  OF  JEWISH  NAMES. 


139 


Oriental  origin,  and  show  that  Jewish  appellatives  follow^ed  the 
growth  of  the  living  language.  In  the  Greek  period  we  encounter 
the  names  of  "  Philip  "  and  his  son  "  Alexander,"  and  of  Alex- 
ander's successors,  "Antiochus,"  "Lysimachus,''  "Ptolemy,'' 
''Antipater the  names  of  Greek  philosophers,  such  as  "Zeno'' 
and  "Epicurus;"'  even  Greek  mythological  names,  as  "Jason" 
and  "  Menelaus."  Some  of  these  words  w^ill  have  been  recognized 
as  occurring  in  the  New  Testament  itself.  When  we  mention 
Eoman  names  adopted  by  the  Jews,  the  coincidence  is  still  more 
striking.  " Crispus,"  "Justus,"  " Niger,"  are  found  in  Josephus 
as  well  as  in  the  Acts.  "Drusilla"  and  "Priscilla"  might  have 
been  Roman  matrons.  The  "Aquila"  of  Paul  is  the  counter- 
part of  the  "  Apella  "  of  Horace.  Nor  need  we  end  our  survey  of 
Jewish  names  with  the  early  Roman  empire,  for,  passing  by  the 
destruction  of  Jerusalem,  we  see  Jews  in  the  earlier  part  of  the 
Middle  Ages  calling  themselves  "Basil,"  "Leo,"  " Theodosius," 
"  Sophia,"  and  in  the  latter  part  "Albert,"  "  Benedict,"  "  Crispin," 
"  Denys."  We  might  pursue  our  inquiry  into  the  nations  of  mod- 
ern Europe,  but  enough  has  been  said  to  show  that  as  the  Jews 
have  successively  learnt  to  speak  Chaldee,  Greek,  Latin,  or  Ger- 
man, so  they  have  adopted  into  their  families  the  appellations  of 
those  Gentile  families  among  whom  they  have  lived.  It  is  indeed 
remarkable  that  the  !^  separated  nation  "  should  bear,  in  the  very 
names  recorded  in  its  annals,  the  trace  of  every  nation  with  whom 
it  has  come  in  contact  and  never  united. 

It  is  important  to  our  present  purpose  to  remark  that  double 
names  often  occur  in  combination — the  one  national,  the  other 
foreign.  The  earliest  instances  are  "  Belteshazzar-Daniel "  and 
"  Esther-Hadasa."  Frequently  there  was  no  resemblance  or  natu- 
ral connection  between  the  two  words,  as  in  "  Herod-Agrippa," 
" Salome- Alexandra,"  "  Juda- Aristobulus,"  "Simon-Peter."  Some- 
times the  meaning  was  reproduced,  as  in  "  Malich-Kleodemus."  At 
other  times  an  alliterating  resemblance  of  sound  seems  to  have  dic- 
tated the  choice,  as  in  "  Jose- Jason,"  "  Hillel- Julus,"  Saul-Paulus^* 
— "  SomI,  who  is  also  FauU^ 

Thus  it  seems  to  us  that  satisfactory  reasons  can  be  adduced  for 
the  double  name  borne  by  the  apostle,  w^ithout  having  recourse  to 
the  hypothesis  of  Jerome,  who  suggests  that,  as  Scipio  was  called 
Africanus  from  the  conquest  of  Africa,  and  Metellus  Creticus  from 


140 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


the  conquest  of  Crete,  so  Saul  carried  away  his  new  name  as  a 
trophy  of  his  victory  over  the  heathenism  of  the  proconsul  Paulus, 
or  to  that  notion  which  Augustine  applies  with  much  rhetorical  effect 
in  various  parts  of  his  writings,  where  he  alludes  to  the  literal  mean- 
ing of  the  word  "  Paulus,^^  and  contrasts  Saul,  the  unbridled  king, 
the  proud,  self-confident  persecutor  of  David,  with  Paul,  the  lowly, 
the  penitent,  who  deliberately  wished  to  indicate  by  his  very  name 
that  he  was  the  least  of  the  apostles"  and  "te  than  the  least 
of  all  saints."  Yet  we  must  not  neglect  the  coincident  occur- 
rence of  these  two  names  in  this  narrative  of  the  events  which 
happened  in  Cyprus.  We  need  not  hesitate  to  dwell  on  the  asso- 
ciations which  are  connected  with  the  name  of  "Paulus,"  or  on 
the  thoughts  which  are  naturally  called  up  when  we  notice  the 
critical  passage  in  the  sacred  history  where  it  is  first  given  to  Saul 
of  Tarsus.  It  is  surely  not  unworthy  of  notice  that,  as  Peter^s  first 
Gentile  convert  was  a  member  of  the  Cornelian  Home,  so  the  sur- 
name of  the  noblest  family  of  the  JEmilian  House  was  the  link  be- 
tween the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  and  his  convert  at  Paphos.  Nor 
can  we  find  a  nobler  Christian  version  of  any  line  of  a  heathen 
poet  than  by  comparing  what  Horace  says  of  him  who  fell  at 
Cannae — animce  magnce  prodigum  Paulum^^ — with  the  words  of 
him  who  said  at  Miletus,  "  /  count  not  my  life  dear  unto  myself,  so 
that  I  might  finish  my  course  with  joy,  and  .the  ministry  which  I 
have  received  of  the  Lord  Jesus." 

And  though  we  imagine,  as  we  have  said  above,  that  Saul  had 
the  name  of  Paul  at  an  earlier  period  of  his  life,  and  should  be 
inclined  to  conjecture  that  the  appellation  came  from  some  con- 
nection of  his  ancestors  (perhaps  as  manumitted  slaves)  with  some 
member  of  the  Eoman  family  of  the  jiEmilian  Pauli,  yet  we  cannot 
believe  it  accidental  that  the  words  which  have  led  to  this  discus- 
sion occur  at  this  particular  point  of  the  inspired  narrative.  The 
heathen  name  rises  to  the  surface  at  the  moment  when  Paul  visibly 
enters  on  his  ofiice  as  the  apostle  of  the  heathen.  The  Poman 
name  is  stereotyped  at  the  moment  when  he  converts  the  Roman 
governor.  And  the  place  where  this  occurs  is  Paphos,  the  favorite 
sanctuary  of  a  shameful  idolatry.  At  the  very  spot  which  was 
notorious  throughout  the  world  for  that  which  the  gospel  forbids 
and  destroys,  there,  before  he  sailed  for  Perga,  having  achieved  his 
victory,  the  apostle  erected  his  trophy;  as  Moses,  when  Amalek 


A  GREEK  INSCRIPTION. 


141 


was  discomfited,  "  built  an  altar  and  called  the  name  of  it  Jehovah- 
nissi — the  Lord  my  banner." 


KAAYAini  KAI2API  SEBASTQI 
rEPMANIKI2I  APXIEPEI  MEPISTm 
AHMAPXIXH2  EE0Y2IA2  AYTOKPATOPI 
HATPI  HATPIAOS  KOYPIEfiN  H  HGAIS 
AHO  TfiN  nPOKEK[P]lMENn[N  Y]nO  lOYAIOY 
KOPAOY  ANeYHATOY  A0YKI02  ANNI02  BA2[202  AN©]Y 
HATOS  KAeiEPfiSEN-  IB. 

DfSCKIPTION  FOUND  AT  CURIUM,  IN  CYPEUS  (SEE  PAGE  134). 


CHAPTEE  VI. 


OLD  AND  NEW  PAPHOS. — DEPAHTUPvE  FROM  CYPRUS. — COAST  OP 
PAMPHYLIA. — PEEGA. — MARK'S  RETURN  TO  JERUSALEM  — 
MOUNTAIN-SCENERY  OF  PISIDIA. — SITUATION  OF  ANTIOCH. — 
THE  SYNAGOGUE. — ADDRESS  TO  THE  JEWS. — PREACHING  TO 
THE  GENTILES. — PERSECUTION  BY  THE  JEWS. — HISTORY  iiND 
DESCRIPTION  OF  ICONIUM. — LYCAONIA. — DERBE  AND  LYSTRA. 
— HEALING  OF  THE  CRIPPLE. — IDOLATROUS  WORSHIP  OFFERED 
TO  PAUL  AND  BARNABAS. — ADDRESS  TO  THE  GENTILES.— 
PAUL  STONED. — TIMOTHEUS. — THE  APOSTLES  RETRACE  THEIR 
JOURNEY. — PERGA  AND  ATTALEIA. — RETURN  TO  SYRIA. 

The  banner  of  the  gospel  was  now  displayed  on  the  coasts  of  the 
heathen.  The  glad  tidings  had  "passed  over  to  the  isles  of 
Chittim,"  and  had  found  a  willing  audience  in  that  island,  which^ 
in  the  vocabulary  of  the  Jewish  prophets,  is  the  representative  of 
the  trade  and  civilization  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea.  Cyprus  was 
the  early  meeting-place  of  the  Oriental  and  Greek  forms  of  social 
life.  Originally  colonized  from  Phoenicia,  it  was  successively  sub- 
ject to  Egypt,  to  Assyria,  and  to  Persia ;  the  settlements  of  the 
Greeks  on  its  shores  had  begun  in  a  remote  period,  and  their  in- 
fluence gradually  advanced  till  the  older  links  of  connection  were 
entirely  broken  by  Alexander  and  his  successors.  But  not  only  in 
political  and  social  relations,  by  the  progress  of  conquest  and 
commerce  was  Cyprus  the  meeting-place  of  the  Greeks  and  the 
East.  Here  also  their  forms  of  idolatrous  worship  met  and  became 
blended  together.  Paphos  was,  indeed,  a  sanctuary  of  Greek 
religion ;  on  this  shore  the  fabled  goddess  first  landed  when  she 
rose  from  the  sea;  this  was  the  scene  of  a  worship  celebrated  in 
the  classical  poets  from  the  age  of  Homer  down  to  the  time  when 
Titus,  the  son  of  Vespasian,  visited  the  spot  with  the  spirit  of  a 
heathen  pilgrim  on  his  way  to  subjugate  Judsea.  But  the  polluted 
worship  was  originally  introduced  from  Assyria  or  Phoenicia; 
the  Oriental  form  under  which  the  goddess  was  worshipped  is 
142 


OLD  AND  NEW  PAPHOS. 


143 


represented  on  Greek  coins;  the  temple  bore  a  curious  resemblance 
to  those  of  Astarte  at  Carthage  or  Tyre;  and  Tacitus  pauses  to 
describe  the  singularity  of  the  altar  and  the  ceremonies  before  he 
proceeds  to  narrate  the  campaign  of  Titus.  And  here  it  was  that 
we  have  seen  Christianity  firmly  established  by  Paul — in  the  very 
spot  where  the  superstition  of  Syria  had  perverted  man's  natu- 
ral veneration  and  love  of  mystery,  and  where  the  beautiful  crea- 
tions of  Greek  thought  had  administered  to  what  Athanasius, 
when  speaking  of  Paphos,  well  describes  as  the  deification  of 
lust." 

The  Paphos  of  the  poets — or  Old  Paphos^  as  it  was  afterward 
called — was  situated  on  an  eminence  at  a  distance  of  nearly  two 
miles  from  the  sea.  Neiu  Paphos  was  on  the  sea-shore,  about  ten 
miles  to  the  north.  But  the  old  town  still  remained  as  the  sanc- 
tuary which  was  visited  by  heathen  pilgrims ;  profligate  proces- 
sions at  stated  seasons  crowded  the  road  between  the  two  towns, 
as  they  crowded  the  road  between  Antioch  and  Daphne;  and 
small  models  of  the  mysterious  image  were  sought  as  eagerly  by 
strangers  as  the  little  "silver  shrines'*  of  Diana  at  Ephesus. 
Doubtless  the  position  of  the  old  town  was  an  illustration  of  the 
early  custom,  mentioned  by  Thucydides,  of  building  at  a  safe 
distance  from  the  shore  at  a  time  when  the  sea  was  infested  by 
pirates,  and  the  new  town  had  been  established  in  a  place  con- 
venient for  commerce  when  navigation  had  become  more  secure. 
It  was  situated  on  the  verge  of  a  plain  smaller  than  that  of  Sala- 
mis,  and  watered  by  a  scantier  stream  than  the  Pediseus.  Not 
long  before  the  visit  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  it  had  been  destroyed 
by  an  earthquake.  Augustus  had  rebuilt  it,  and  from  him  it  had 
received  the  name  of  Augusta,  or  Sebaste.  But  the  old  name 
still  retained  its  place  in  popular  usage,  and  has  descended  to 
modern  times.  The  "Paphos"  of  Strabo,  Ptolemy,  and  Luke  be- 
came the  "  Papho"  of  the  Venetians  and  the  "  Baffa"  of  the  Turks. 
A  second  series  of  Latin  architecture  has  crumbled  into  decay. 
Mixed  up  with  the  ruins  of  palaces  and  churches  are  the  poor 
dwellings  of  the  Greek  and  Mohammedan  inhabitants,  partly  on 
the  beach,  but  chiefly  on  a  low  ridge  of  sandstone  rock  about  two 
miles  from  the  ancient  port,  for  the  marsh  which  once  formed  the 
limit  of  the  port  makes  the  shore  unhealthy  during  the  heats  of 
summer  by  its  noxious  exhalations.  One  of  the  most  singular 
features  of  the  neighborhood  consists  of  the  curious  caverns  ex- 


144  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

cavated  in  the  rocks,  which  have  been  used  both  for  tombs  and 
for  dwellings.  The  port  is  now  almost  blocked  up,  and  affords 
only  shelter  for  boats.  "The  Venetian  stronghold  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  western  mole  is  now  fast  crumbling  into  ruins. 
The  mole  itself  is  broken  up,  and  every  year  the  massive  stones 
of  which  it  was  constructed  are  rolled  over  from  their  original 
position  into  the  port."  The  approaches  to  the  harbor  can  never 
have  been  very  safe,  in  consequence  of  the  ledge  of  rocks  which 
extends  some  distance  into  the  sea.  At  present  the  eastern  en- 
trance to  the  anchorage  is  said  to  be  the  safer  of  the  two.  The 
western,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  would  be  more  convenient 
for  a  vessel  clearing  out  of  the  port  and  about  to  sail  for  the  Gulf 
of  Pamphylia. 

We  have  remarked  in  the  last  chapter  that  it  is  not  difficult  to 
imagine  the  reasons  which  induced  Paul  and  Barnabas,  on  their 
departure  from  Seleucia,  to  visit  first  the  island  of  Cyprus.  It  is 
not  quite  so  easy  to  give  an  opinion  upon  the  motives  which 
directed  their  course  to  the  coast  of  Pamphylia  when  they  had 
passed  through  the  native  island  of  Barnabas  from  Salamis  to 
Paphos.  It  might  be  one  of  those  circumstances  which  we  call 
accidents,  and  which,  as  they  never  influence  the  actions  of  ordi- 
nary men  without  the  predetermining  direction  of  Divine  Provi- 
dence, so  were  doubtless  used  by  the  same  Providence  to  determine 
the  course  even  of  apostles.  As  Paul  many  years  afterward  joined 
at  Myra  that  vessel  in  which  he  was  shipwrecked,  and  then  was 
conveyed  to  Puteoli  in  a  ship  which  had  accidentally  wintered  at 
Malta,  so  on  this  occasion  there  might  be  some  small  craft  in  the 
harbor  at  Paphos  bound  for  the  opposite  Gulf  of  Attaleia  when 
Paul  and  Barnabas  were  thinking  of  their  future  progress.  The 
distance  is  not  great,  and  frequent  communication,  both  political 
and  commercial,  must  have  taken  place  between  the  towns  of 
Pamphylia  and  those  of  Cyprus.  It  is  possible  that  Paul,  hav- 
ing already  preached  the  gospel  in  Cilicia,  might  wish  now  to 
extend  it  among  those  districts  which  lay  more  immediately  con- 
tiguous, and  the  population  of  which  was,  in  some  respects,  similar 
to  that  of  his  native  province.  He  might  also  reflect  that  the 
natives  of  a  comparatively  unsophisticated  district  might  be  more 
likely  to  receive  the  message  of  salvation  than  the  inhabitants  of 
those  provinces  which  were  more  completely  penetrated  with  the 
corrupt  civilization  of  Greece  and  Kome.    Or  his  thoughts  might 


COAST  OF  PAMPHYLIA. 


145 


be  turning  to  those  numerous  families  of  Jews  whom  he  well  knew 
to  be  settled  in  the  great  towns  beyond  Mount  Taurus,  such  as 
Antioch  in  Pisidia  and  Iconium  in  Lycaonia,  with  the  hope  that 
his  Master^s  cause  would  be  most  successfully  advanced  among 
those  Gentiles  who  flocked  there,  as  everywhere,  to  the  worship 
of  the  synagogue.  Or,  finally,  he  may  have  had  a  direct  revela- 
tion from  on  high,  and  a  vision,  like  that  which  had  already  ap- 
peared to  him  in  the  temple  or  like  that  which  he  afterward  saw 
on  the  confines  of  Europe  and  Asia,  may  have  directed  the  course 
of  his  voyage.  Whatever  may  have  been  the  calculations  of  his 
own  wisdom  and  prudence,  or  whatever  supernatural  intimations 
may  have  reached  him,  he  sailed,  with  his  companions  Barnabas 
and  John,  in  some  vessel,  of  which  the  size,  the  cargo,  and  the 
crew  are  unknown  to  us,  past  the  promontories  of  Drepanum  and 
Acamas,  and  then  across  the  waters  of  the  Pamphylian  Sea,  leav- 
ing on  the  right  the  cliffs  which  are  the  western  boundary  of  Cili- 
cia,  to  the  innermost  bend  of  the  Bay  of  Attaleia. 

This  bay  is  a  remarkable  feature  in  the  shore  of  Asia  Minor, 
and  it  is  not  without  some  important  relations  with  the  history  of 
this  part  of  the  world.  It  forms  a  deep  indentation  in  the  general 
coast-line,  and  is  bordered  by  a  plain  which  retreats  itself  like  a 
bay  into  the  mountains.  From  the  shore  to  the  mountains,  across 
the  widest  part  of  the  plain,  the  distance  is  a  journey  of  eight  or 
nine  hours.  Three  principal  rivers  intersect  this  level  space — the 
Catarrhactes,  which  falls  over  the  sea-cliffs  near  Attaleia  in  the 
waterfalls  which  suggested  its  name,  and  farther  to  the  east  the 
Oestrus  and  Eurymedon,  which  flow  by  Perga  and  Aspendus  to  a 
low  and  sandy  shore.  About  the  banks  of  these  rivers  and  on  the 
open  waters  of  the  bay,  whence  the  eye  ranges  freely  over  the 
ragged  mountain-summits  which  enclose  the  scene,  armies  and 
fleets  had  engaged  in  some  of  those  battles  of  which  the  results 
w^ere  still  felt  in  the  day  of  Paul.  From  the  base  of  that  steep 
shore  on  the  west,  where  a  rugged  knot  of  mountains  is  piled  up 
into  snowy  heights  above  the  rocks  of  Phaselis,  the  united  squadron 
of  the  Romans  and  Rhodians  sailed  across  the  bay  in  the  year  190 
B,  c,  and  it  was  in  rounding  that  promontory  near  Side  on  the  east 
that  they  caught  sight  of  the  fleet  of  Antiochus,  as  they  came  on 
by  the  shore,  with  the  dreadful  Hannibal  on  board.^  And  close  to 
the  same  spot  where  the  Latin  power  had  defeated  the  Greek  king 
of  Syria  another  battle  had  been  fought  at  an  earlier  period,  ia 
10 


146  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

which  the  Greeks  gave  one  of  their  last  blows  to  the  retreating 
force  of  Persia,  and  the  Athenian  Cimon  gained  a  victory  both  by- 
land  and  sea;  thus  winning,  according  to  the  boast  of  Plutarch,  in 
one  day  the  laurels  of  Platsea  and  Salamis.  On  that  occasion  a 
large  navy  sailed  up  the  river  Eurymedon  as  far  as  Aspendus. 
Now  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  would  make  this  impossible. 
The  same  is  the  case  with  the  river  Oestrus,  which  Strabo  says 
was  navigable  in  his  day  for  sixty  stadia,  or  seven  miles,  to  the 
city  of  Perga.  Ptolemy  calls  this  city  an  inland  town  of  Pam- 
phylia,  but  so  he  speaks  of  Tarsus  in  Oilicia.  And  we  have  seen 
that  Tarsus,  though  truly  called  an  inland  town,  as  being  some 
distance  from  the  coast,  was  nevertheless  a  mercantile  harbor.  Its 
relation  with  the  Oydnus  was  similar  to  that  of  Perga  with  the 
Oestrus,  and  the  vessel  which  brought  Paul  to  win  more  glorious 
victories  than  those  of  the  Greek  and  Roman  battles  of  the  Eurym- 
edon came  up  the  course  of  the  Oestrus  to  her  moorings  near  the 
temple  of  Diana. 

All  that  Strabo  tells  us  of  this  city  is  that  the  temple  of  Diana 
was  on  an  eminence  at  some  short  distance,  and  that  an  annual 
festival  was  held  in  honor  of  the  goddess.  The  chief  associations 
of  Perga  are  with  the  Greek  rather  than  the  Roman  period,  and 
its  existing  remains  are  described  as  being  "  purely  Greek,  there 
being  no  trace  of  any  later  inhabitants.''  Its  prosperity  was 
probably  arrested  by  the  building  of  Attaleia  after  the  death  of 
Alexander  in  a  more  favorable  situation  on  the  shore  of  the  bay. 
Attaleia  has  never  ceased  to  be  an  important  town  since  the  day 
of  its  foundation  by  Attalus  Philadelphus.  But  when  the  trav- 
eller pitches  his  tent  at  Perga,  he  finds  only  the  encampments  of 
shepherds,  who  pasture  their  cattle  amidst  the  ruins.  These  ruins 
are  walls  and  towers,  columns  and  cornices,  a  theatre  and  a 
stadium,  a  broken  aqueduct  encrusted  with  the  calcareous  deposit 
of  the  Pamphylian  streams,  and  tombs  scattered  on  both  sides  of 
the  site  of  the  town.  Nothing  else  remains  of  Perga  but  the 
beauty  of  its  natural  situation,  "  between  and  upon  the  sides  of 
two  hills,  with  an  extensive  valley  in  front,  watered  by  the  river 
Oestrus,  and  backed  by  the  mountains  of  the  Taurus." 

The  coins  of  Perga  are  a  lively  illustration  of  its  character  as  a 
city  of  the  Greeks.  We  have  no  memorial  of  its  condition  as  a 
city  of  the  Romans,  nor  does  our  narrative  require  us  to  delay  any 
longer  in  describing  it.    The  apostles  made  no  long  stay  in  Perga. 


mark's  return  to  JERUSALEM. 


147 


This  seems  evident,  not  only  from  the  words  used  at  this  point  of 
the  history,  but  from  the  marked  manner  in  which  we  are  told  that 
they  did  stay  on  their  return  from  the  interior.  One  event,  how- 
ever, is  mentioned  as  occurring  at  Perga,  which,  though  noticed 
incidentally  and  in  a  few  words,  was  attended  with  painful  feelings 
at  the  time  and  involved  the  most  serious  consequences.  It  must 
have  occasioned  deep  sorrow  to  Paul  and  Barnabas,  and  possibly  even 
then  some  mutual  estrangement ;  and  afterward  it  became  the  cause 
of  their  quarrel  and  separation.  Mark  "  departed  from  them  from 
Pamphylia,  and  went  not  with  them  to  the  work."  He  came  with 
them  up  the  Oestrus  as  far  as  Perga,  but  there  he  forsook  them, 
and,  taking  advantage  of  some  vessel  which  was  sailing  towards 
Palestine,  he  "  returned  to  Jerusalem,"  which  had  been  his  home 
in  earlier  years.  We  are  not  to  suppose  that  this  implied  an  abso- 
lute rejection  of  Ohristianity.  A  soldier  who  has  wavered  in  one 
battle  may  live  to  obtain  a  glorious  victory.  Mark  was  afterward 
not  unwilling  to  accompany  the  apostles  on  a  second  missionary 
journey,  and  actually  did  accompany  Barnabas  again  to  Oyprus. 
Nor  did  Paul  always  retain  his  unfavorable  judgment  of  him  (Acts 
XV.  38),  but  long  afterward,  in  his  Eoman  imprisonment,  com- 
mended him  to  the  Oolossians  as  one  who  was  a  fellow-worker 
unto  the  kingdom  of  God"  and  "a  comfort"  to  himself;  and  in 
his  latest  letter,  just  before  his  death,  he  speaks  of  him  again  as 
one  "  profitable  to  him  for  the  ministry."  Yet  if  we  consider  all 
the  circumstances  of  his  life  we  shall  not  find  it  difficult  to  blame 
his  conduct  in  Pamphylia,  and  to  see  good  reasons  why  Paul  should 
afterward,  at  Antioch,  distrust  the  steadiness  of  his  character. 
The  child  of  a  religious  mother  who  had  sheltered  in  her  house 
the  Ohristian  disciples  in  a  fierce  persecution,  he  had  joined  him- 
self to  Barnabas  and  Saul  when  they  travelled  from  Jerusalem  to 
Antioch  on  their  return  from  a  mission  of  charity.  He  had  been 
a  close  spectator  of  the  wonderful  power  of  the  religion  of  Ohrist ; 
he  had  seen  the  strength  of  faith  under  trial  in  his  mother's  home ; 
he  had  attended  his  kinsman  Barnabas  in  his  labors  of  zeal  and 
love ;  he  had  seen  the  word  of  Paul  sanctioned  and  fulfilled  by 
miracles;  he  had  even  been  the  "minister"  of  apostles  in  their 
successful  enterprise ;  and  now  he  forsook  them  when  they  were 
about  to  proceed  through  greater  difficulties  to  more  glorious  suc- 
cess. We  are  not  left  in  doubt  as  to  the  real  character  of  his 
departure.    He  was  drawn  from  the  work  of  God  by  the  attraction 


148  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


of  an  earthly  home.  As  he  looked  up  from  Perga  to  the  Gentile 
mountains  his  heart  failed  him  and  turned  back  with  desire  towards 
Jerusalem.  He  could  not  resolve  to  continue  persevering  "in 
journeyings  often,  in  perils  of  rivers,  in  perils  of  robbers." 

"  Perils  of  rivers  "  and  "  perils  of  robbers — these  words  express 
the  very  dangers  which  Paul  would  be  most  likely  to  encounter  on 
his  journey  from  Perga  in  Pamphylia  to  Antioch  in  Pisidia.  The 
lawless  and  marauding  habits  of  the  population  of  those  moun- 
tains which  separate  the  table-lands  in  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor 
from  the  plains  on  the  south  coast  were  notorious  in.  all  parts  of 
ancient  history.  Strabo  uses  the  same  strong  language  both  of 
the  Isaurians,  who  separated  Cappadocia  from  Cilicia,  and  of  their 
neighbors  the  Pisidians,  whose  native  fortresses  were  the  barrier 
between  Phrygia  and  Pamphylia.  We  have  the  same  character 
of  the  latter  of  these  robber  tribes  in  Xenophon,  who  is  the  first 
to  mention  them,  and  in  Zosimus,  who  relieves  the  history  of  the 
later  empire  by  telling  us  of  the  adventures  of  a  robber  chief  who 
defied  the  Romans  and  died  a  desperate  death  in  these  mountains. 
Alexander  the  Great,  when  he  heard  that  Memnon's  fleet  was  in 
the  ^gean,  and  marched  from  Perga  to  rejoin  Parmenio  in  Phryg- 
ia, found  some  of  the  worst  difficulties  of  his  whole  campaign  in 
penetrating  through  this  district.  The  scene  of  one  of  the  roughest 
campaigns  connected  with  the  wars  of  Antiochus  the  Great  was 
among  the  hill-forts  near  the  upper  waters  of  the  Oestrus  and 
Eurymedon.  No  population  through  the  midst  of  which  Paul 
ever  travelled  abounded  more  in  those  "  perils  of  robbers "  of 
which  he  himself  speaks  than  the  wild  and  lawless  clans  of  the 
Pisidian  highlands. 

And  if  on  this  journey  he  was  exposed  to  dangers  from  the 
attacks  of  men,  there  might  be  other  dangers,  not  less  imminent, 
arising  from  the  natural  character  of  the  country  itself.  To 
travellers  in  the  East  there  is  a  reality  in  perils  of  rivers  "  which 
we  in  America  are  hardly  able  to  understand.  Unfamiliar  with 
the  sudden  flooding  of  thirsty  watercourses,  we  seldom  comprehend 
the  full  force  of  some  of  the  most  striking  images  in  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments.  The  rivers  of  Asia  Minor,  like  all  the  rivers  in 
the  Levant,  are  liable  to  violent  and  sudden  changes.  And  no 
district  in  Asia  Minor  is  more  singularly  characterized  by  its 
"water-floods''  than  the  mountainous  tract  of  Pisidia,  where 
rivers  burst  out  at  the  bases  of  huge  clifls  or  dash  down  wildly 


Paul's  journey  in  pisidia. 


149 


through  narrow  ravines.  The  very  notice  of  the  bridges  in  Strabo, 
when  he  tells  us  how  the  Oestrus  and  Eurymedon  tumble  down 
from  the  heights  and  precipices  of  Selge  to  the  Pamphylian  Sea, 
is  more  expressive  than  any  elaborate  description.  We  cannot 
determine  the  position  of  any  bridges  which  the  apostle  may  have 
crossed,  but  his  course  was  never  far  from  the  channels  of  these 
two  rivers ;  and  it  is  an  interesting  fact  that  his  name  is  still  tra- 
ditionally connected  with  one  of  them,  as  we  learn  from  the  infor- 
mation recently  given  to  an  English  traveller  by  the  archbishop 
of  Pisidia. 

Such  considerations  respecting  the  physical  peculiarities  of  the 
country  now  traversed  by  Paul  naturally  lead  us  into  various 
trains  of  thought  concerning  the  scenery,  the  climate,  and  the 
seasons.  And  there  are  certain  probabilities  in  relation  to  the 
time  of  the  year  when  the  apostle  may  be  supposed  to  have  jour- 
neyed this  way  which  may  well  excuse  some  remarks  on  these 
subjects.  And  this  is  all  the  more  allowable  because  we  are  abso- 
lutely without  any  data  for  determining  the  year  in  which  this 
first  missionary  expedition  was  undertaken.  All  that  we  can 
assert  with  confidence  is  that  it  must  have  taken  place  somewhere 
in  the  interval  between  the  years  45  and  50.  But  this  makes  us 
all  the  more  desirous  to  determine,  by  any  reasonable  conjectures, 
the  movements  of  the  apostle  in  reference  to  a  better  chronology 
than  that  which  reckons  by  successive  years — the  chronology 
which  furnishes  us  with  the  real  imagery  round  his  path,  the 
chronology  of  the  seasons. 

Now,  we  may  well  suppose  that  he  might  sail  from  Seleucia  to 
Salamis  at  the  beginning  of  spring.  In  that  age  and  in  those 
waters  the  commencement  of  a  voyage  was  usually  determined  by 
the  advance  of  the  season.  The  sea  was  technically  said  to  be 
"open''  in  the  month  of  March.  If  Paul  began  his  journey  in 
that  month,  the  lapse  of  two  months  might  easily  bring  him  to 
Perga,  and  allow  sufficient  time  for  all  that  we  are  told  of  his  pro- 
ceedings at  Salamis  and  Paphos.  If  we  suppose  him  to  have  been 
at  Perga  in  May,  this  would  have  been  exactly  the  most  natural 
time  for  a  journey  to  the  mountains.  Earlier  in  the  spring  the 
passes  would  have  been  filled  with  snow.  In  the  heat  of  summer 
the  weather  would  have  been  less  favorable  for  the  journey.  In 
the  autumn  the  disadvantages  would  have  been  still  greater,  from 
the  approaching  difficulties  of  winter.    But  again :  if  Paul  was  at 


150         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Perga  in  May,  a  further  reason  may  be  given  why  he  did  not  stay 
there,  but  seized  all  the  advantages  of  the  season  for  prosecuting 
his  journey  to  the  interior.  The  habits  of  a  people  are  always 
determined  or  modified  by  the  physical  peculiarities  of  their 
country;  and  a  custom  prevails  among  the  inhabitants  of  this 
part  of  Asia  Minor  which  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  has  been 
unbroken  for  centuries.  At  the  beginning  of  the  hot  season  they 
move  up  from  the  plains  to  the  cool  basin-like  hollows  on  the 
mountains.  These  yailahs  or  summer  retreats  are  always  spoken 
of  with  pride  and  satisfaction,  and  the  time  of  the  journey  antici- 
pated with  eager  delight.  When  the  time  arrives  the  people  may 
be  seen  ascending  to  the  upper  grounds,  men,  women,  and  children, 
with  flocks  and  herds,  camels  and  asses,  like  the  patriarchs  of  old. 
If,  then,  Paul  was  at  Perga  in  May,  he  would  find  the  inhabitants 
deserting  its  hot  and  silent  streets.  They  would  be  moving  in  the 
direction  of  his  own  intended  journey.  He  would  be  under  no 
temptation  to  stay.  And  if  we  imagine  him  as  joining  some  such 
company  of  Pamphylian  families  on  his  way  to  the  Pisidian 
mountains,  it  gives  much  interest  and  animation  to  the  thought 
of  this  part  of  his  progress. 

Perhaps  it  was  in  such  company  that  the  apostle  entered  the 
first  passes  of  the  mountainous  district,  along  some  road  formed 
partly  by  an  artificial  pavement  and  partly  by  the  native  marble, 
with  high  cliffs  frowning  on  either  hand,  with  tombs  and  in- 
scriptions, even  then  ancient,  on  the  projecting  rocks  around, 
and  with  copious  fountains  bursting  out  "among  thickets  of 
pomegranates  and  oleanders."  The  oleander,  "the  favorite  flower 
of  the  Levantine  midsummer,"  abounds  in  the  lower  watercourses ; 
and  in  the  month  of  May  it  borders  all  the  banks  with  a  line  of 
brilliant  crimson.  As  the  path  ascends  the  rocks  begin  to  assume 
the  wilder  grandeur  of  mountains,  the  richer  fruit  trees  begin  to 
disappear,  and  the  pine  and  walnut  succeed,  though  the  plane 
tree  still  stretches  its  wide  leaves  over  the  stream  which  dashes 
wildly  down  the  ravine,  crossing  and  recrossing  the  dangerous 
road.  The  alteration  of  climate  which  attends  on  the  traveller's 
progress  is  soon  perceptible.  A  few  hours  will  make  the  difference 
of  weeks  or  even  months.  When  the  corn  is  in  the  ear  on  the 
lowlands,  ploughing  and  sowing  are  hardly  well  begun  upon  the 
highlands.  Spring  flowers  may  be  seen  in  the  mountains  by  the 
very  edge  of  the  snow  when  the  anemone  is  withered  in  the  plain 


TABLE-LAND  OF  ASIA  MINOR. 


151 


and  the  pink  veins  in  the  white  asphodel  flower  are  shrivelled  by 
the  heat.  When  the  cottages  are  closed  and  the  grass  is  parched, 
and  everything  is  silent  below  in  the  purple  haze  and  stillness  of 
midsummer,  clouds  are  seen  drifting  among  the  Pisidian  precipices, 
and  the  cavern  is  often  a  welcome  shelter  from  a  cold  and  pen- 
etrating wind.  The  upper  part  of  this  district  is  a  wild  region  of 
cliffs,  often  isolated  and  bare,  and  separated  from  each  other  by 
valleys  of  sand,  which  the  storm  drives  with  blinding  violence 
among  the  shivered  points.  The  trees  become  fewer  and  smaller 
at  every  step.  Three  belts  of  vegetation  are  successively  passed 
through  in  ascending  from  the  coast — first,  the  oak  woods,  then 
the  forests  of  pine,  and  lastly  the  dark  scattered  patches  of  the 
cedar-juniper;  and  then  we  reach  the  treeless  plains  of  the  in- 
terior, which  stretch  in  dreary  extension  to  the  north  and  the  east. 

After  such  a  journey  as  this,  separating  we  know  not  where  from 
the  companions  they  may  have  joined,  and  often  thinking  of  that 
Christian  companion  who  had  withdrawn  himself  from  their 
society  w^hen  they  needed  him  most,  Paul  and  Barnabas  emerged 
from  the  rugged  mountain-passes  and  came  upon  the  central  table- 
land of  Asia  Minor.  The  whole  interior  region  of  the  peninsula 
may  be  correctly  described  by  this  term ;  for,  though  intersected 
in  various  directions  by  mountain-ranges,  it  is,  on  the  whole,  a 
vast  plateau,  elevated  higher  than  the  summit  of  Ben  Nevis  above 
the  level  of  the  sea.  This  is  its  general  character,  though  a  long 
journey  across  the  district  brings  the  traveller  through  many 
varieties  of  scenery.  Sometimes  he  moves  for  hours  along  the 
dreary  margin  of  an  inland  sea  of  salt ;  sometimes  he  rests  in  a 
cheerful,  hospitable  town  by  the  shore  of  a  fresh-water  lake.  In 
some  places  the  ground  is  burnt  and  volcanic,  in  others  green  and 
fruitful.  Sometimes  it  is  depressed  into  watery  hollows,  where 
wild  swans  visit  the  pools  and  stork  are  seen  fishing  and  feeding 
among  the  weeds  ;  more  frequently  it  is  spread  out  into  broad, 
open  downs  like  Salisbury  Plain,  which  afford  an  interminable 
})asture  for  flocks  of  sheep.  To  the  north  of  Pamphylia  the 
elevated  plain  stretches  through  Phrygia  for  a  hundred  miles  from 
Mount  Olympus  to  Mount  Taurus.  The  southern  portion  of  these 
bleak  uplands  was  crossed  by  Paul's  track  immediately  before  his 
arrival  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia.  The  features  of  human  life  which 
he  had  around  him  are  probably  almost  as  unaltered  as  the  scenery 
of  the  country — dreary  villages  with  flat-roofed  huts  and  cattle- 


152          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

sheds  in  the  day,  and  at  night  an  encampment  of  tents  of  goat^s 
hair,  tents  of  cilicium — a  blazing  fire  in  the  midst,  horses  fastened 
around,  and  in  the  distance  the  moon  shining  on  the  snowy  sum- 
mits of  Taurus. 

The  Sultan  Tareek,  or  Turkish  royal  road,  from  Adalia  to  Kiu- 
tayah  and  Constantinople,  passes  nearly  due  north  by  the  beautiful 
Lake  of  Buldur.  The  direction  of  Antioch  in  Pisidia  bears  more 
to  the  east.  After  passing  somewhere  near  Selge  and  Sagalassus, 
Paul  approached  by  the  margin  of  the  much  larger  though  perhaps 
not  less  beautiful  Lake  of  Eyerdir.  The  position  of  the  city  is  not 
far  from  the  northern  shore  of  this  lake,  at  the  base  of  a  mountain- 
range  which  stretches  through  Phrygia  in  a  south-easterly  direction. 
It  is,  however,  not  many  years  since  the  statement  could  be  confi- 
dently made.  Strabo,  indeed,  describes  its  position  with  remark- 
able clearness  and  precision.  His  words  are  as  follows:  *'In  the 
district  of  Phrygia  called  Paroreia  there  is  a  certain  mountain- 
ridge  stretching  from  east  to  west.  On  each  side  there  is  a  large 
plain  below  this  ridge,  and  it  has  two  cities  in  its  neighborhood — 
Philomelium  on  the  north,  and  on  the  other  side  Antioch,  called 
Antioch  near  Pisidia.  The  former  lies  entirely  in  the  plain,  the 
latter  (which  has  a  Eoman  colony)  is  on  a  height."  With  this 
description  before  him,  and  taking  into  account  certain  indications 
of  distance  furnished  by  ancient  authorities,  Colonel  Leake,  who 
has  perhaps  done  more  for  the  elucidation  of  classical  topography 
than  any  other  man,  felt  that  Ak-Sher,  the  position  assigned  to 
Antioch  by  D'Anville  and  other  geographers,  could  not  be  the  true 
place :  Ak-Sher  is  on  the  north  of  the  ridge,  and  the  position  could 
not  be  made  to  harmonize  with  the  Tables.  But  he  was  not  in 
possession  of  any  information  which  could  lead  him  to  the  true 
position,  and  the  problem  remained  unsolved  till  Mr.  Arundell 
started  from  Smyrna  in  1833  with  the  deliberate  purpose  of  dis- 
covering the  scene  of  PauPs  labors.  He  successfully  proved  that 
Ak-Sher  is  Philomelium,  and  that  Antioch  is  at  Jalobatch,  on  the 
other  side  of  the  ridge.  The  narrative  of  his  successful  journey  is 
very  interesting,  and  every  Christian  ought  to  sympathize  in  the 
pleasure  .Tith  which,  knowing  that  Antioch  was  seventy  miles  from 
Apamea  and  forty-five  miles  from  Apollonia,  he  first  succeeded  in 
identifying  Apollonia,  and  then,  exactly  at  the  right  distance,  per- 
ceived in  the  tombs  near  a  fountain  and  the  vestiges  of  an  ancient 
road  sure  indications  of  his  approach  to  a  ruined  city ;  and  then 


PISIDIAN  ANTIOCH. 


153 


saw  across  the  plain  the  remains  of  an  aqueduct  at  the  base  of  the 
mountain ;  and  finally,  arrived  at  Jalobatch,  ascended  to  the  eleva- 
tion described  by  Strabo,  and  felt  as  he  looked  on  the  superb  ruins 
around  that  he  was  "  really  on  the  spot  consecrated  by  the  labors 
and  persecution  of  the  apostles  Paul  and  Barnabas.'^ 

The  position  of  the  Pisidian  Antioch  being  thus  determined  by 
the  convergence  of  ancient  authority  and  modern  investigation,  we 
perceive  that  it  lay  on  an  important  line  of  communication,  west- 
vrard  by  Apamea  with  the  valley  of  the  Maeander,  and  eastward  by 
Iconium  w^ith  the  country  behind  the  Taurus.  In  this  general  di- 
rection, between  Smyrna  and  Ephesus  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Cilician  Gates  which  lead  down  to  Tarsus  on  the  other,  conquer- 
ing armies  and  trading  caravans,  Persian  satraps,  Roman  procon- 
suls, and  Turkish  pashas  have  travelled  for  centuries.  The  Pisid- 
ian Antioch  was  situated  about  halfway  between  these  extreme 
points.  It  was  built  (as  we  have  seen  in  an  earlier  chapter,  IV.) 
by  the  founder  of  the  Syrian  Antioch,  and  in  the  age  of  the  Greek 
kings  of  the  line  of  Seleucus  it  was  a  town  of  considerable  import- 
ance. But  its  appearance  had  been  modilied,  since  the  campaigns 
of  Scipio  and  Manlius  and  the  defeat  of  Mithridates,  by  the  intro- 
duction of  Roman  usages  and  the  Roman  style  of  building.  This 
was  true  to  a  certain  extent  of  all  the  larger  towns  of  Asia  Minor, 
but  this  change  had  probably  taken  place  in  the  Pisidian  Antioch 
more  than  in  many  cities  of  gi'eater  importance;  for,  like  Pliilippi, 
it  was  a  Roman  colonia.  Without  delaying  at  present  to  explain 
the  full  meaning  of  this  term,  we  may  say  that  the  character  im- 
pressed on  any  town  in  the  empire  which  had  been  made  subject 
to  military  colonization  was  particularly  Boman,  and  that  all  such 
towns  were  bound  by  a  tie  of  peculiar  closeness  to  the  mother-city. 
The  insignia  of  Roman  power  were  displayed  more  conspicuously 
than  in  other  towns  in  the  same  province.  In  the  provinces  where 
Greek  v/as  spoken,  while  other  towns  had  Greek  letters  on  their 
coins,  the  money  of  the  colonies  was  distinguished  by  Latin  super- 
scriptions. Antioch  must  have  had  some  eminence  among  the 
eastern  colonies,  for  it  was  founded  by  Augustus  and  called  Cresarea. 
Such  coins  as  those  described  were  in  circulation  here,  though  not 
at  Perga  or  Iconium  when  Paul  visited  these  cities;  and,  more 
than  at  any  other  city  visited  on  this  journey,  he  would  hear  Latin 
side  by  side  with  the  Greek  and  the  ruder  Pisidian  dialect. 

Along  with  this  population  of  Greeks,  Romans,  and  native 


154         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Pisidians  a  greater  or  smaller  number  of  Jews  was  intermixed. 
They  may  not  have  been  a  very  numerous  body,  for  only  one  syna- 
gogue is  mentioned  in  the  narrative.  But  it  is  evident  from  the 
events  recorded  that  they  were  an  influential  body,  that  they  had 
made  many  proselytes,  and  that  they  had  obtained  some  consider- 
able dominion  (as  in  the  parallel  cases  of  Damascus  recorded  by 
Josephus,  and  Beroea  and  Thessalonica  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles) 
over  the  minds  of  the  Gentile  women. 

On  the  sabbath  days  the  Jews  and  the  proselytes  met  in  the 
synagogue.  It  is  evident  that  at  this  time  full  liberty  of  public 
worship  was  permitted  to  the  Jewish  people  in  all  parts  of  the 
Roman  empire,  whatever  limitations  might  have  been  enacted  by 
law  or  compelled  by  local  opposition  as  relates  to  the  form  and 
situation  of  the  synagogues.  We  infer  from  Epiphanius  that  the 
Jewish  places  of  worship  were  often  erected  in  open  and  conspic- 
uous positions.  This  natural  wish  may  frequently  have  been 
checked  by  the  influence  of  the  heathen  priests,  who  would  not 
willingly  see  the  votaries  of  an  ancient  idolatry  forsaking  the 
temple  for  the  synagogue,  and  feelings  of  the  same  kind  may 
probably  have  hindered  the  Jews,  even  if  they  had  the  ability  or 
desire,  from  erecting  religious  edifices  of  any  remarkable  grandeur 
and  solidity.  No  ruins  of  the  synagogues  of  imperial  times  have 
remained  to  us,  like  those  of  the  temples  in  every  province  from 
which  we  are  able  to  convince  ourselves  of  the  very  form  and  size 
of  the  sanctuaries  of  Jupiter,  Apollo,  and  Diana.  There  is  little 
doubt  that  the  sacred  edifices  of  the  Jews  have  been  modified  by 
the  architecture  of  the  remote  countries  through  which  they  have 
been  dispersed  and  the  successive  centuries  through  which  they 
have  continued  a  separate  people.  Under  the  Roman  empire  it 
is  natural  to  suppose  that  they  must  have  varied,  according  to 
circumstances,  through  all  gradations  of  magnitude  and  decoration, 
,  from  the  simple  jorosewc/ia  at  Philippi  to  the  magnificent  prayer- 
houses  at  Alexandria.  Yet  there  are  certain  traditional  peculiari- 
ties which  have  doubtless  united  together  by  a  common  resemblance 
the  Jewish  synagogues  of  all  ages  and  countries.  The  arrangement 
for  the  women's  places  in  a  separate  gallery  or  behind  a  partition 
of  lattice-work ;  the  desk  in  the  centre,  where  the  reader,  like  Ezra 
in  ancient  days,  from  his  pulpit  of  wood''  may  "open  the  book 
in  the  sight  of  all  the  people,  .  .  .  and  read  in  the  book  the  Law  of 
God  distinctly,  and  give  the  sense,  and  cause  them  to  understand 


WORSHIP  IN  THE  SYNAGOGUE. 


155 


the  reading;"  the  carefully  closed  ark  on  the  one  side  of  the 
building  nearest  to  Jerusalem  for  the  preservation  of  the  rolls  or 
manuscripts  of  the  Law ;  the  seats  all  round  the  building,  whence 
"  the  eyes  of  all  them  that  are  in  the  synagogue  "  may  be  "  fastened  " 
on  him  who  speaks;  the  "chief  seats/'  which  were  appropriated 
to  the  "ruler''  or  "rulers"  of  the  synagogue  according  as  its 
organization  might  be  more  or  less  complete,  and  which  were  so 
dear  to  the  hearts  of  those  who  professed  to  be  peculiarly  learned 
or  peculiarly  devout, — these  are  some  of  the  features  of  a  syna- 
gogue which  agree  at  once  with  the  notices  of  Scripture,  the 
descriptions  in  the  Talmud,  and  the  practice  of  modern  Judaism. 

The  meeting  of  the  congregations  in  the  ancient  synagogues 
may  be  easily  realized,  if  due  allowance  be  made  for  the  change 
of  costume,  by  those  w^ho  have  seen  the  Jews  at  their  worship  in 
the  large  towns  of  modern  Europe.  On  their  entrance  into  the 
building  the  four-cornered  Tallith  was  first  placed  like  a  veil  over 
the  head  or  like  a  scarf  over  the  shoulders.  The  prayers  were 
then  recited  by  an  officer  called  the  "angel"  or  "apostle"  of  the 
assembly.  These  prayers  were  doubtless  many  of  them  identically 
the  same  with  those  which  are  found  in  the  present  service-books 
of  the  German  and  Spanish  Jews,  though  their  liturgies  in  the 
course  of  ages  have  undergone  successive  developments,  the  steps 
of  which  are  not  easily  ascertained.  It  seems  that  the  prayers 
were  sometimes  read  in  the  vernacular  language  of  the  country 
where  the  synagogue  was  built,  but  the  Law  was  always  read  in 
Hebrew.  The  sacred  roll  of  manuscript  was  handed  from  the  ark 
to  the  reader  by  the  ehazan,  or  "  minister  ;"  and  then  certain  por- 
tions were  read  according  to  a  fixed  cycle,  first  from  the  Law  and 
then  from  the  Prophets.  It  is  impossible  to  determine  the  period 
when  the  sections  from  these  two  divisions  of  the  Old  Testament 
were  arranged  as  in  use  at  present,  but  the  same  necessity  for 
translation  and  explanation  existed  then  as  now.  The  Hebrew 
and  English  are  now  printed  in  parallel  columns.  Then,  the 
reading  of  the  Hebrew  was  elucidated  by  the  Targum  or  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  or  followed  by  a  paraphrase  in  the  spoken  language  of 
the  country.  The  reader  stood  while  thus  employed,  and  all  the 
congregation  sat  around.  The  manuscript  was  rolled  up  and 
returned  to  the  chazan.  Then  followed  a  pause,  during  which 
strangers  or  learned  men  who  had  "any  word  of  consolation"  or 
exhortation  rose  and  addressed  the  meeting.    And  thus,  after  a 


156         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


pathetic  enumeration  of  the  sufferings  of  the  chosen  people  or  an 
allegorical  exposition  of  some  dark  passage  of  Holy  Writ,  the  wor- 
ship was  closed  with  a  benediction  and  a  solemn  "Amen." 

To  such  a  worship  in  such  a  building  a  congregation  came  to- 
gether at  Antioch  in  Pisidia  on  the  sabbath  which  immediately 
succeded  the  arrival  of  Paul  and  Barnabas.  Proselytes  came  and 
seated  themselves  with  the  Jews,  and  among  the  Jewesses  behind 
the  lattice  were  "honorable  women''  of  the  colony.  The  two 
strangers  entered  the  synagogue,  and,  wearing  the  Tallith,  which 
was  the  badge  of  an  Israelite,  "sat  down"  with  the  rest.  The 
prayers  were  recited,  the  extracts  from  "  the  Law  and  the  Proph- 
ets" were  read,  the  "book"  returned  to  the  minister;"  and  then 
we  are  told  that  "the  rulers  of  the  synagogue"  sent  to  the  new- 
comers, on  whom  many  eyes  had  already  been  fixed,  and  invited 
them  to  address  the  assembly  if  they  had  words  of  comfort  or 
instruction  to  speak  to  their  fellow-Israelites.  The  very  attitude 
of  Paul  as  he  answered  the  invitation  is  described  to  us.  He 
"rose"  from  his  seat,  and  with  the  animated  and  emphatic  gesture 
which  he  used  on  other  occasions  "beckoned  with  his  hand." 

After  thus  graphically  bringing  the  scene  before  our  eyes,  Luke 
gives  us,  if  not  the  whole  speech  delivered  by  Paul,  yet  at  least 
the  substance  of  what  he  said.  For  into  however  short  a  space 
he  may  have  condensed  the  speeches  which  he  reports,  yet  it  is  no 
mere  outline,  no  dry  analysis  of  them,  which  he  gives.  He  has 
evidently  preserved,  if  not  all  the  words,  yet  the  venj  words  uttered 
by  the  apostle;  nor  can  we  fail  to  recognize  in  all  these  speeches 
a  tone  of  thought,  and  even  of  expression,  which  stamps  them 
with  the  individuality  of  the  speaker. 

On  the  present  occasion  we  find  Paul  beginning  his  address  by 
connecting  the  Messiah  whom  he  preached  with  the  preparatory 
dispensation  which  ushered  in  his  advent.  He  dwells  upon  the 
previous  history  of  the  Jewish  people  for  the  same  reasons  which 
had  led  Stephen  to  do  the  like  in  his  defence  before  the  Sanhedrin. 
He  endeavors  to  conciliate  the  minds  of  his  Jewish  audience  by 
proving  to  them  that  the  Messiah  whom  he  proclaimed  was  the 
same  whereto  their  own  prophets  bare  witness,  come  not  to  destroy 
the  Law,  but  to  fulfil,  and  that  his  advent  had  been  duly  heralded 
by  his  predicted  messenger.  He  then  proceeds  to  remove  the 
prejudice  which  the  rejection  of  Jesus  by  the  authorities  at  Jeru- 
salem (the  metropolis  of  their  faith)  would  naturally  raise  in  the 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  JEWS. 


157 


minds  of  the  Pisidian  Jews  against  his  divine  mission.  He  shows 
that  Christ's  death  and  resurrection  had  accomplished  the  ancient 
prophecies,  and  declares  this  to  be  the  "glad  tiding"  which  the 
apostles  were  charged  to  proclaim.  Thus  far,  the  speech  contains 
nothing  which  could  offend  the  exclusive  spirit  of  Jewish  nation- 
ality. On  the  contrary,  Paul  has  endeavored  to  carry  his  hearers 
with  him  by  the  topics  on  which  he  has  dwelt — the  Saviour  whom 
he  declares  is  **a  Saviour  unto  Israel;"  the  Messiah  whom  he 
announces  is  the  fulfiller  of  the  Law  and  the  prophets.  But 
having  thus  conciliated  their  feelings  and  won  their  favorable 
attention,  he  proceeds  in  a  bolder  tone  to  declare  the  catholicity 
of  Christ^s  salvation  and  the  antithesis  between  the  gospel  and 
the  Law.  His  concluding  words,  as  Luke  relates  them,  might 
stand  as  a  summary  representing  in  outline  the  early  chapters  of 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  and  therefore,  conversely,  those  chap- 
ters will  enable  us  to  realize  the  manner  in  which  Paul  would 
have  expanded  the  heads  of  argument  which  his  disciple  here 
records.  The  speech  ends  with  a  warning  against  the  bigoted 
rejection  of  Christ^s  doctrine  which  this  latter  portion  of  the  ad- 
dress was  so  likely  to  call  forth. 

The  following  were  the  words  (so  far  as  they  have  been  preserved 
to  us)  spoken  by  Paul  on  this  memorable  occasion : 

"Men  of  Israel,  and  ye,  proselvtes  of  the  Gentiles,  who'  A<idress  to 

'  Jews  and  proa- 

worship  the  God  of  Abraham,  give  audience.  eiytes. 

"The  God  of  this  people  Israel  chose  our  fathers,  and  choice 

raised  them  up  mto  a  mighty  nation,  wnen  they  dwelt  {is  Ihh  P'^opie.and 

strangers  in  the  land  of  Egypt;  and  with  an  high  arm  the  piosiPnitor 

brought  he  them  out  therefrom.    And  about  the  time  of 

forty  yeai^,  even  as  a  nurse  beareth  her  child,  so  bare  he  them  through 

tlie  wilderness.    And  he  destroyed  seven  nations  in  the  land  of  Canaan, 

and  gave  their  land  as  a  portion  unto  his  people.    And  after  that  he 

gave  unto  them  judges  about  the  space  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  years, 

until  Samuel  the  prophet ;  then  desired  they  a  king,  and  he  gave  unto 

^fiein  Saul,  the  son  of  Cis,  a  man  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  to  rule  them 

forty  nars.    And  wlien  he  had  removed  Saul,  he  raised  up  unto  them 

Daviu  to  be  their  king ;  to  whom  also  he  gave  testimony,  and  said,  / 

have  found  David,  the  sort  of  Jesse,  a  man  after  my  own  heart,  which  shall 

fulfil  all  my  will.    Of  this  man's  seed  lialh  God,  according  to  his  promise, 

raised  unto  Israel  a  Saviour  Jesus. 


158 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


"And  John  was  the  messenger  who  went  before  his  face  to  John  the  Bap- 

T  ,  ,         1        .  ^    tist    was  hi8 

prepare  his  way  before  him^  and  he  preached  the  baptism  of  predicted  fore- 
repentance  to  all  the  people  of  Israel.    And  as  John  ful- 
filled his  course  his  saying  was,  ^  Whom  think  ye  that  I  am  ?    I  am  not 
he.    But  behold  there  cometh  One  after  me  whose  shoes'  latchet  I  am 
not  worthy  to  loose/ 

Men  and  brethren,  whether  ye  be  children  of  the  stock        rulers  of 

'  ^  Jerusalem  ful- 

of  Abraham,  or  proselytes  of  the  Gentiles,  to  you  hath  been  fij'^d  the  pro- 

.    .  ,  .  .  f      >i  phets  by  caus- 

sent  the  tidin^y  of  this  salvation,  which  Jerusalem  hath  cast       the  death 

,  .  ol  Jesus. 

out:  for  the  inhabitants  thereof,  and  their  rulers,  because 
they  knew  him  not,  nor  yet  the  voices  of  the  prophets  which  are  read 
in  their  synagogues  every  sabbath  day,  have  fulfilled  the  scriptures  in 
condemning  him.  And  though  they  found  in  him  no  cause  of  death, 
yet  desired  they  Pilate  that  he  should  be  slain.  And  when  they  had 
fulfilled  all  which  was  written  of  him,  they  took  him  down  from  the 
tree,  and  laid  him  in  a  sepulchre. 

"  But  God  raised  him  from  the  dead.  pis  resurrec- 

tion. 

"  And  he  was  seen  for  many  days  by  them  who  came  up  Attested  by 
with  him  from  Galilee  to  Jerusalem,  who  are  now  his  Sf^^^  witness- 
witnesses  to  the  people  of  Israel. 

"And  while  they  proclaim  it  in  Jerusalem,  we  declare  ^\^^ 

,    ,  ingot  the apos- 

unto  you  the  same  glad  tiding  concerning  the  promise  ti^^  i«  the  an- 

°  °  ox-  noun  cement 

which  was  made  to  our  fathers;  even  that  God  hatli  fiil-  that  ciuisfs 

I'l'iT  •!         Ill  resurrection 

nllea  the  same  unto  us  their  children,  m  that  he  hath  luid  fulfilled 
raised  up  Jesus  from  the  dead;  as  it  is  also  writen  in  the  ises/  p^*^"^" 
second  psalm,  Thou  art  my  Son,  this  day  have  I  begotten  thee. 
And  whereas  he  hath  raised  him  from  the  grave,  no  more  to  return 
unto  corruption,  he  hath  said  on  tliis  wise,  The  blessings  of  David  will  I 
give  you,  even  the  blessings  which  stand  fast  in  holiness.  Wherefore  it  is 
written  also  in  another  psalm.  Thou,  shall  not  suffer  thine  Holy  One  to  see 
corruption.  Now  David,  after  he  had  ministered  in  his  own  generation 
to  the  Avill  of  God,  fell  asleep,  and  was  laid  unto  his  fathers,  and  saw 
corruption;  but  He  whom  God  raised  from  the  dead  saw  no  corruption. 

"Be  it  known  unto  you,  therefore,  men  and  brethren, 
that  through  this  Jesus  is  declared  unto  you  the  forgive-  clnist's  saiva- 
ness  of  sins.    And  in  him  all  who  have  fixith  are  justified  S^between  the 
from  all  transgressions,  wherefrom  in  the  Law  of  Moses  ye  l^w*!^  ^^^^ 
could  not  be  justified. 

"Beware,  therefore,  lest  that  come  upon  you  which  is  Final  warning, 
spoken  in  the  prophets.  Behold,  ye  despisers,  and  wonder, 
and  perish  ;  for  I  work  a  work  in  your  days,  a  work  which  ye  shall  in  no 
wise  believe,  though  a  man  declare  it  unto  youP 


PREACHING  TO  THE  GENTILES. 


159 


This  address  made  a  deep  and  thrilling  impression  on  the  audi- 
ence. While  the  congregation  were  pouring  out  of  the  synagogue 
many  of  them  crowded  round  the  speaker,  begging  that  "  these 
words,"  w^hich  had  moved  their  deepest  feelings,  might  be  repeated 
to  them  on  their  next  occasion  of  assembling  together.  And  when 
at  length  the  mass  of  the  people  had  dispersed,  singly  or  in  groups, 
to  their  homes,  many  of  the  Jews  and  proselytes  still  clung  to  Paul 
and  Barnabas,  who  earnestly  exhorted  them  (in  the  form  of  ex- 
pression  w^hich  we  could  almost  recognize  as  PauPs  from  its  resem- 
blance to  the  phraseology  of  his  Epistles)  to  abide  in  the  grace 
of  God.'' 

With  w^hat  pleasure  can  we  fancy  the  apostles  to  have  observed 
these  hearers  of  the  word,  who  seem  to  have  heard  it  in  such 
earnest!  How  gladly  must  they  have  talked  with  them — entered 
into  various  points  more  fully  than  w^as  possible  in  any  public 
address — appealed  to  them  in  various  ways  which  no  one  can 
touch  upon  who  is  speaking  to  a  mixed  multitude !  Yet,  with  all 
their  pleasure  and  their  hope,  their  knowledge  of  man's  heart 
must  have  taught  them  not  to  be  over-confident,  and  therefore 
they  would  earnestly  urge  them  to  continue  in  the  grace  of  God, 
to  keep  up  the  impression  which  had  already  outlasted  their  stay 
within  the  synagogue,  to  feed  it,  and  keep  it  alive,  and  make  it 
deeper  and  deeper,  that  it  should  remain  with  them  for  ever. 
What  the  issue  was  we  know  not,  nor  does  that  concern  us;  only 
we  may  be  sure  that  here,  as  in  other  instances,  there  were  some 
in  whom  their  hopes  and  endeavors  were  disappointed  ;  there  were 
some  in  whom  they  were  to  their  fullest  extent  realized.'' 

The  intervening  week  between  this  sabbath  and  the  next  had 
not  only  its  days  of  meeting  in  the  synagogue,  but  would  give 
many  opportunities  for  exhortation  and  instruction  in  private 
houses ;  the  doctrine  would  be  noised  abroad,  and  through  the 
proselytes  would  come  to  the  hearing  of  the  Gentiles.  So  that 
"on  the  following  sabbath  almost  the  whole  city  came  together  to 
hear  the  word  of  God."  The  synagogue  was  crowded.  Multi- 
tudes of  Gentiles  were  there  in  addition  to  the  proselytes.  This 
was  more  than  the  Jews  could  bear.  Their  spiritual  pride  and 
exclusive  bigotry  were  immediately  roused.  They  could  not  endure 
the  notion  of  others  being  freely  adm.itted  to  the  same  religious 
privileges  with  themselves.  This  was  always  the  sin  of  the  Jew- 
ish people.    Instead  of  realizing  their  position  in  the  world  as  the 


160          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


prophetic  nation  for  the  good  of  the  whole  earth,  they  indulged 
the  self-exalting  opinion  that  God's  highest  blessings  were  only 
for  themselves.  Their  oppressions  and  their  dispersions  had  not 
destroyed  this  deeply-rooted  prejudice,  but  they  rather  found  corn- 
fort  under  the  yoke  in  brooding  over  their  religious  isolation ;  and 
even  in  their  remote  and  scattered  settlements  they  clung  with 
the  utmost  tenacity  to  the  feeling  of  their  exclusive  nationality. 
Thus,  in  the  Pisidian  Antioch  they  who  on  one  sabbath  had  list- 
ened with  breathless  interest  to  the  teachers  who  spoke  to  them 
of  the  promised  Messiah,  were  on  the  next  sabbath  filled  with  the 
most  excited  indignation  when  they  found  that  this  Messiah  was 
"a  light  to  lighten  the  Gentiles''  as  well  as  '^the  glory  of  his 
people  Israel."  They  made  an  uproar,  and  opposed  the  words  of 
Paul  with  all  manner  of  calumnious  expressions,  "contradicting 
and  blaspheming." 

And  then  the  apostles,  promptly  recognizing  in  the  willingness 
of  the  Gentiles  and  the  unbelief  of  the  Jews  the  clear  indications 
of  the  path  of  duty,  followed  that  bold  course  which  was  alien  to 
all  the  prejudices  of  a  Jewish  education.  They  turned  at  once  and 
without  reserve  to  the  Gentiles.  Paul  was  not  unprepared  for  the 
events  which  called  for  this  decision.  The  prophetic  intimations 
at  his  first  conversion,  his  vision  in  the  temple  at  Jerusalem,  his 
experience  at  the  Syrian  Antioch,  his  recent  success  in  the  island 
of  Cyprus,  must  have  led  him  to  expect  the  Gentiles  to  listen  to  that 
message  which  the  Jews  were  too  ready  to  scorn.  The  words  with 
which  he  turned  from  his  unbelieving  countrymen  were  these :  "  It 
was  needful  that  the  word  of  God  should  first  be  spoken  unto  you; 
but  inasmuch  as  ye  reject  it,  and  deem  yourselves  unworthy  of  eter- 
nal life,  lo !  we  turn  to  the  Gentiles."  And  then  he  quotes  a  pro- 
phetical passage  from  their  own  sacred  writings:  "For  thus  hath 
the  Lord  commanded  us,  saying,  I  have  set  thee  for  a  light  to  the 
Gentiles,  that  thou  shouldest  be  for  salvation  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth."  This  is  the  first  recorded  instance  of  a  scene  which  was 
often  re-enacted.  It  is  the  course  which  Paul  himself  defines  in 
his  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  when  he  describes  the  gospel  as  com- 
ing first  to  the  Jew  and  then  to  the  Gentile,  and  it  is  the  course 
which  he  followed  himself  on  various  occasions  of  his  life — at 
Corinth,  at  Ephesus,  and  at  Home. 

That  which  was  often  obscurely  foretold  in  the  Old  Testament, 
that  those  should  "  seek  after  God  who  knew  him  not,"  and  that 


PERSECUTION  BY  THE  JEWS. 


161 


he  should  be  honored  by  "  those  who  were  not  a  people/' — that 
which  had  already  seen  its  first  fulfilment  in  isolated  cases  during 
our  Lord's  life,  as  in  the  centurion  and  the  Syrophoenician  woman, 
whose  faith  had  no  parallel  in  all  the  people  of  ^'Israel," — that 
which  had  received  an  express  accomplishment  through  the  agency 
of  tw^o  of  the  chiefest  of  the  apostles,  in  Cornelius  the  Roman 
ofiicer  at  Csesarea,  and  in  Sergius  Paulus  the  Eoman  governor  at 
Paphos, — began  now  to  be  realized  on  a  large  scale  in  a  whole 
community.  While  the  Jews  blasphemed  and  rejected  Christ,  the 
Gentiles  rejoiced  and  glorified  the  word  of  God.''  The  counsels 
of  God  were  not  frustrated  by  the  unbelief  of  his  chosen  people. 
Anew  "Israel,"  a  new  "election,"  succeeded  to  the  former.  A 
church  was  formed  of  united  Jew^s  and  Gentiles,  and  all  who  were 
destined  to  enter  the  path  of  eternal  life  were  gathered  into  the 
catholic  brotherhood  of  the  hitherto  separated  races.  The  syna- 
gogue had  rejected  the  inspired  missionaries,  but  the  apostolic 
instruction  went  on  in  some  private  house  or  public  building  be- 
longing to  the  heathen.  And  gradually  the  knowledge  of  Chris- 
tianity began  to  be  disseminated  through  the  whole  vicinity. 

The  enmity  of  the  Jews,  however,  was  not  satisfied  by  the  ex- 
pulsion of  the  apostles  from  the  synagogue.  What  they  could  not 
accomplish  by  violence  and  calumny  they  succeeded  in  effecting 
by  a  pious  intrigue.  That  influence  of  women  in  religious  ques- 
tions to  which  our  attention  will  be  repeatedly  called  hereafter  is 
here  for  the  first  time  brought  before  our  notice  in  the  sacred  nar- 
rative of  Paul's  life.  Strabo,  who  was  intimately  acquainted  with 
the  social  position  of  the  female  sex  in  the  towns  of  Western  Asia, 
speaks  in  strong  terms  of  the  power  which  they  possessed  and 
exercised  in  controlling  and  modifying  the  religious  opinions  of 
the  men.  This  general  fact  received  one  of  its  most  striking  illus- 
trations in  the  case  of  Judaism.  We  have  already  more  than  once 
alluded  to  the  influence  of  the  female  proselytes  at  Damascus,  and 
the  good  services  which  women  contributed  towards  the  early  prog- 
ress of  Christianity  is  abundantly  known  both  from  the  Acts  and 
the  Epistles.  Here  they  appear  in  a  position  less  honorable,  but 
not  less  influential.  The  Jews  contrived,  through  the  female  pros- 
elytes at  Antioch,  to  win  over  to  their  cause  some  ladies  of  high 
respectability,  and  through  them  to  gain  the  ear  of  men  who  occu- 
pied a  position  of  eminence  in  the  city.  Thus  a  systematic  per- 
secution was  excited  against  Paul  and  Barnabas.  Whether  the 
11 


162          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

supreme  magistrates  of  the  colony  were  induced  by  this  unfair 
agitation  to  pass  a  sentence  of  formal  banishment  we  are  not  in- 
formed, but  for  the  present  the  apostles  were  compelled  to  retire 
from  the  colonial  limits. 

In  cases  such  as  these  instructions  had  been  given  by  our  Lord 
himself  how  his  apostles  were  to  act.  During  his  life  on  earth  he 
had  said  to  the  Twelve,  "  Whosoever  shall  not  receive  you,  nor 
hear  you,  when  ye  depart  thence,  shake  off  the  dust  under  your 
feet  for  a  testimony  against  them.  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  it  shall 
be  more  tolerable  for  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  in  the  day  of  judg- 
ment, than  for  that  city."  And  while  Paul  and  Barnabas  thus 
fulfilled  our  Lord's  words,  shaking  off  from  their  feet  the  dust  of 
the  dry  and  sunburnt  road  in  token  of  God's  judgment  on  wilful 
unbelievers,  and  turning  their  steps  eastward  in  the  direction  of 
Lycaonia,  another  of  the  sayings  of  Christ  was  fulfilled  in  the 
midst  of  those  who  had  been  obedient  to  the  faith :  "  Blessed  are 
ye  when  men  shall  revile  you  and  persecute  you,  and  shall  say  all 
manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  for  my  sake.  Rejoice  and  be 
exceeding  glad :  for  great  is  your  reward  in  heaven ;  for  so  per- 
secuted they  the  prophets  which  were  before  you."  Even  while 
their  faithful  teachers  were  removed  from  them  and  travelling 
across  the  bare  uplands  which  separate  Antioch  from  the  plain 
of  Iconium,  the  disciples  of  the  former  city  received  such  mani- 
fest tokens  of  the  love  of  God  and  the  power  of  the  "Holy 
Ghost"  that  they  were  "filled  with  joy"  in  the  midst  of  per- 
secution. 

Iconium  has  obtained  a  place  in  history  far  more  distinguished 
than  that  of  the  Pisidian  Antioch.  It  is  famous  as  the  cradle  of 
the  rising  power  of  the  conquering  Turks.  And  the  remains  of  its 
Mohammedan  architecture  still  bear  a  conspicuous  testimony  to 
the  victories  and  strong  government  of  a  tribe  of  Tartar  invaders. 
But  there  are  other  features  in  the  view  of  modern  Konieh  which 
to  us  are  far  more  interesting.  To  the  traveller  in  the  footsteps  of 
Paul  it  is  not  the  armorial  bearings  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John 
carved  over  the  gateways  in  the  streets  of  Rhodes  which  arrest  the 
attention,  but  the  ancient  harbor  and  the  view  across  the  sea  to 
the  opposite  coast.  And  at  Konieh  his  interest  is  awakened  not 
by  minarets  and  palaces  and  Saracenic  gateways,  but  by  the  vast 
plain  and  the  distant  mountains. 

These  features  remain  what  they  were  in  the  first  century,  while 


PAUL  AT  ICONIUM. 


163 


the  town  has  been  repeatedly  destroyed  and  rebuilt  and  its  archi- 
tectural character  entirely  altered.  Little  if  anything  remains  of 
Greek  or  Roman  Iconium,  if  we  except  the  ancient  inscriptions 
and  the  fragments  of  sculptures  w^iich  are  built  into  the  Turkish 
w^alls.  At  a  late  period  of  the  empire  it  was  made  a  colonia,  like 
its  neighbor,  Antioch,  but  it  was  not  so  in  the  time  of  Paul. 
There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  its  character  was  different  from 
that  of  the  other  important  towns  on  the  principal  lines  of  com- 
munication through  Asia  Minor.  The  elements  of  its  population 
would  be  as  follows :  a  large  number  of  trifling  and  frivolous 
Greeks,  whose  principal  places  of  resort  would  be  the  theatre 
and  the  market-place ;  some  remains  of  a  still  older  population, 
coming  in  occasionally  from  the  country  or  residing  in  a  separate 
quarter  of  the  town ;  some  few  Roman  officials,  civil  or  military, 
holding  themselves  proudly  aloof  from  the  inhabitants  of  the  sub- 
jugated province ;  and  an  old-established  colony  of  Jews,  who 
exercised  their  trade  during  the  week  and  met  on  the  sabbath  to 
read  the  Law  in  the  synagogue. 

The  same  kind  of  events  took  place  here  as  in  Antioch,  and 
almost  in  the  same  order.  The  apostles  went  first  to  the  syna- 
gogue, and  the  effect  of  their  discourses  there  was  such  that  great 
numbers  both  of  the  Jews  and  Greeks  {i,e.  proselytes  or  heathens, 
or  both)  believed  the  gospel.  The  unbelieving  Jews  raised  up  an 
indirect  persecution  by  exciting  the  minds  of  the  Gentile  popula- 
tion against  those  who  received  the  Christian  doctrine.  But  the 
apostles  persevered,  and  lingered  in  the  city  some  considerable 
time,  having  their  confidence  strengthened  by  the  miracles  which 
God  worked  through  their  instrumentality  in  attestation  of  the 
truth  of  his  word.  There  is  an  apocryphal  narrative  of  certain 
events  assigned  to  this  residence  at  Iconium ;  and  we  may  inno- 
cently adopt  so  much  of  the  legendary  story  as  to  imagine  Paul 
preaching  long  and  late  to  crowded  congregations,  as  he  did  after- 
ward at  Assos,  and  his  enemies  bringing  him  before  the  civil 
authorities  with  the  cry  that  he  was  disturbing  their  households 
by  his  sorcery,  or  with  complaints,  like  those  at  Philippi  and 
Ephesus,  that  he  was  "exceedingly  troubling  their  city"  and 
''turning  away  much  people."  We  learn  from  an  inspired  source 
that  the  whole  population  of  Iconium  was  ultimately  divided  into 
two  great  factions  (a  common  occurrence,  on  far  less  important 
occasions,  in  these  cities  of  Oriental  Greeks),  and  that  one  party 


164         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

took  the  side  of  the  apostles,  the  other  of  the  Jews.  But  here,  as 
at  Antioch,  the  influential  classes  were  on  the  side  of  the  Jews.  A 
determined  attempt  was  at  last  made  to  crush  the  apostles  by 
loading  them  with  insult  and  actually  stoning  them.  Learning 
this  wicked  conspiracy,  in  which  the  magistrates  themselves  were 
involved,  they  fled  to  some  of  the  neighboring  districts  of  Lycaonia, 
where  they  might  be  more  secure  and  have  more  liberty  in  preach- 
ing the  gospel. 

It  would  be  a  very  natural  course  for  the  apostles,  after  the  cruel 
treatment  they  had  experienced  in  the  great  towns  on  a  frequented 
route,  to  retire  into  a  wilder  district  and  among  a  ruder  population. 
In  any  country  the  political  circumstances  of  which  resemble  those 
of  Asia  Minor  under  the  early  emperors  there  must  be  many  dis- 
tricts into  which  the  civilization  of  the  conquering  and  governing 
people  has  hardly  penetrated.  We  have  an  obvious  instance  in 
the  Indian  presidencies,  in  the  Hindoo  villages  which  have 
retained  their  character  without  alteration,  notwithstanding  the 
successive  occupations  by  Mohammedans  arid  English.  Thus,  in 
the  Eastern  provinces  of  the  Roman  empire  there  must  have  been 
many  towns  and  villages  where  local  customs  were  untouched,  and 
where  Greek,  though  certainly  understood,  was  not  commonly 
spoken.  Such,  perhaps,  were  the  places  which  now  come  before 
our  notice  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles — small  towns  with  a  rude 
dialect  and  primitive  superstition — ''Lystra  and  Derbe,  cities  of 
Lycaonia." 

The  district  of  Lycaonia  extends  from  the  ridges  of  Mount 
Taurus  and  the  borders  of  Cilicia  on  the  south  to  the  Cappadocian 
hills  on  the  north.  It  is  a  bare  and  dreary  region,  unwatered  by 
streams,  though  in  parts  liable  to  occasional  inundations.  Strabo 
mentions  one  place  where  water  was  even  sold  for  money.  In  this 
respect  there  must  be  a  close  resemblance  between  this  country 
and  large  tracts  of  Australia.  Nor  is  this  the  only  particular  in 
which  the  resemblance  may  be  traced.  Both  regions  aff()rd 
excellent  pasture  for  flocks  of  sheep,  and  give  opportunities  for 
obtaining  large  possessions  by  trade  in  wool.  It  was  here,  on  the 
downs  of  Lycaonia,  that  Amyntas,  while  he  yet  led  the  life  of  a 
nomad  chief  before  the  time  of  his  political  elevation,  fed  his 
three  hundred  flocks.  Of  the  whole  district  Iconium  was  properly 
the  capital,  and  the  plain  round  Iconium  may  be  reckoned  as  its 
great  central  space,  situated  midway  between  Cilicia  and  Cappa- 


LYCAONIA. 


165 


docia.  This  plain  is  spoken  of  as  the  largest  in  Asia  Minor.  It 
is  almost  like  the  steppes  of  Great  Asia,  of  which  the  Turkish 
invaders  must  often  have  been  reminded  when  they  came  to  these 
level  spaces  in  the  West ;  and  the  camels  which  convey  modern 
travellers  to  and  from  Konieh  find  by  the  side  of  their  paths  tufts 
of  salt  and  prickly  herbage  not  very  dissimilar  to  that  which 
grows  in  their  native  deserts. 

Across  some  portion  of  this  plain  Paul  and  Barnabas  travelled 
both  before  and  after  their  residence  in  Iconium.  After  leaving 
the  high  land  to  the  north-west,  during  a  journey  of  several  hours 
before  arriving  at  the  city  the  eye  ranges  freely  over  a  vast  ex- 
panse of  level  ground  to  the  south  and  east.  The  two  most 
eminent  objects  in  the  view  are  the  snowy  summits  of  Mount 
Argseus,  rising  high  above  all  the  intervening  hills  in  the  direction 
of  Armenia,  and  the  singular  mountain-mass  called  the  "Kara- 
Dagh,"  or  "Black  Mount,"  south-eastward  in  the  direction  of 
Cilicia.  And  still  these  features  continue  to  be  conspicuous  after 
Iconium  is  left  behind  and  the  traveller  moves  on  over  the  plain 
towards  Lystra  and  Derbe.  Mount  Argseus  still  rises  far  to  the 
north-east,  at  the  distance  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles.  The 
Black  Mountain  is  gradually  approached,  and  discovered  to  be  an 
isolated  mass,  with  reaches  of  the  plain  extending  round  it  like 
channels  of  the  sea.  The  cities  of  Lystra  and  Derbe  were  some- 
where about  the  bases  of  the  Black  Mountain.  We  have  dwelt  thus 
minutely  on  the  physical  characteristics  of  this  part  of  Lycaonia 
because  the  positions  of  its  ancient  towns  have  not  been  deter- 
mined. We  are  only  acquainted  with  the  general  features  of  the 
scene.  While  the  site  of  Iconium  has  never  been  forgotten,  and 
that  of  Antioch  in  Pisidia  has  now  been  clearly  identified,  those 
of  Lystra  and  Derbe  remain  unknown,  or  at  best  are  extremely 
uncertain.  No  conclusive  coins  or  inscriptions  have  been  discov- 
ered, nor  has  there  been  any  such  convergence  of  modern  investiga- 
tion and  ancient  authority  as  leads  to  an  infallible  result. 

We  resume  the  thread  of  our  narrative  with  the  arrival  of  Paul 
and  Barnabas  at  Lystra.  One  peculiar  circumstance  strikes  us 
immediately  in  what  we  read  of  the  events  in  this  town  — that  no 
mention  occurs  of  any  synagogue  or  of  any  Jews.  It  is  natural 
to  infer  that  there  were  few  Israelites  in  the  place,  though  (as  we 
shall  see  hereafter)  it  would  be  a  mistake  to  imagine  that  there 
"were  none.    We  are  instantly  brought  in  contact  with  a  totally 


166          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

new  subject — with  heathen  superstition  and  mythology ;  yet  not 
the  superstition  of  an  educated  mind,  as  that  of  Sergius  Paulus, 
nor  the  mythology  of  a  refined  and  cultivated  taste,  like  that  of 
the  Athenians,  but  the  mythology  and  superstition  of  a  rude  and 
unsophisticated  people.  Thus  does  the  gospel,  in  the  person  of 
Paul,  successively  clash  with  opposing  powers,  with  sorcerers  and 
philosophers,  cruel  magistrates  and  false  divinities.  Now  it  is  the 
rabbinical  master  of  the  synagogue,  now  the  listening  proselyte 
from  the  Greeks,  that  is  resisted  or  convinced — now  the  honest 
inquiry  of  a  Eoman  oflScer,  now  the  wild  fanaticism  of  a  rustic 
credulity,  that  is  addressed  with  bold  and  persuasive  eloquence. 

It  was  a  common  belief  among  the  ancients  that  the  gods  oc- 
casionally visited  the  earth  in  the  form  of  men.  Such  a  belief 
with  regard  to  Jupiter,  "  the  father  of  gods  and  men,"  would  be 
natural  in  any  rural  district,  but  nowhere  should  we  be  prej)ared 
to  find  the  traces  of  it  more  than  at  Lystra;  for  Lystra,  as  it 
appears  from  Luke's  narrative,  was  under  the  tutelage  of  Jupiter, 
and  the  tutelary  divinities  were  imagined  to  haunt  the  cities  under 
their  protection,  though  elsewhere  invisible.  The  temple  of  Jupiter 
was  a  conspicuous  object  in  front  of  the  city  gates:  what  wonder 
if  the  citizens  should  be  prone  to  believe  that  their  "Jupiter,  which 
was  before  the  city,"  would  willingly  visit  his  favorite  people? 
Again,  the  expeditions  of  Jupiter  were  usually  represented  as 
attended  by  Mercury.  He  was  the  companion,  the  messenger,  the 
servant  of  the  gods.  Thus  the  notion  of  these  two  divinities  appear- 
ing together  in  Lycaonia  is  quite  in  conformity  with  what  we  know 
of  the  popular  belief.  But  their  appearance  in  that  particular 
district  would  be  welcomed  with  more  than  usual  credulity. 
Those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  literature  of  the  Roman  poets 
are  familiar  with  a  beautiful  tradition  of  Jupiter  and  Mercury 
visiting  in  human  form  these  very  regions  in  the  interior  of  Asia 
Minor.  And  it  is  not  without  a  singular  interest  that  we  find  one 
of  Ovid's  stories  reappearing  in  the  sacred  pages  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles.  In  this  instance,  as  in  so  many  others,  the  Scripture, 
in  its  incidental  descriptions  of  the  heathen  world,  presents  "  un- 
disguised coincidences  "  with  the  facts  ascertained  from  he«athen 
memorials. 

These  introductory  remarks  prepare  us  for  considering  the  mir- 
acle recorded  in  the  Acts.  We  must  suppose  that  Paul  gathered 
groups  of  the  Lystrians  about  him  and  addressed  them  in  places 


HEALING  OF  THE  CRIPPLE. 


167 


of  public  resort,  as  a  modern  missionary  might  address  the  natives 
of  a  Hindoo  village.  But  it  would  not  be  necessary  in  his  case, 
as  in  that  of  Schwartz  or  Martyn,  to  have  learnt  the  primitive 
language  of  those  to  whom  he  spoke.  He  addrcvssed  them  in 
Greek,  for  Greek  w^as  w^ell  understood  in  this  border  country  of 
the  Lystrians,  though  their  own  dialect  was  either  a  barbarous 
corruption  of  that  noble  language  or  the  surviving  remainder  of 
some  older  tongue.  He  used  the  language  of  general  civilization, 
as  English  may  be  used  now  in  a  Welsh  country-town  like  Dol- 
gelly  or  Carmarthen.  The  subjects  he  brought  before  these  illite- 
rate idolaters  of  Lycaonia  were  doubtless  such  as  would  lead 
them,  by  the  most  natural  steps,  to  the  knowledge  of  the  true  God 
and  the  belief  in  his  Son's  resurrection.  He  told  them,  as  he  told 
the  educated  Athenians,  of  Him  whose  worship  they  had  igno- 
rantly  corrupted, — whose  unity,  power,  and  goodness  they  might 
have  discerned  through  the  operations  of  Nature, — whose  dis- 
pleasure against  sin  had  been  revealed  to  them  by  the  admonitions 
of  their  natural  conscience. 

On  one  of  these  occasions  Paul  observed  a  cripple  who  was 
earnestly  listening  to  his  discourse.  He  was  seated  on  the  ground, 
for  he  had  an  infirmity  in  his  feet  and  had  never  walked  from  the 
hour  of  his  birth.  Paul  looked  at  him  attentively  with  that  re- 
markable expression  of  the  eye  which  we  have  already  noticed. 
The  same  Greek  w^ord  is  used  as  when  the  apostle  is  described  as 
*' earnestly  beholding  the  council"  and  as  setting  his  eyes  on 
Elymas  the  sorcerer.''  On  this  ocasion  that  penetrating  glance 
saw,  by  the  power  of  the  Divine  Spirit,  into  the  very  secrets  of 
the  cripple's  soul.  Paul  perceived  ^'  that  he  had  faith  to  be  saved." 
These  words,  implying  so  much  of  moral  preparation  in  the  heart 
of  this  poor  heathen,  rise  above  all  that  is  told  us  of  the  lame 
Jew  whom  Peter,  "  fastening  his  eyes  upon  him  with  John,"  had 
once  healed  at  the  temple  gate  in  Jerusalem.  In  other  respects 
the  parallel  between  the  two  cases  is  complete.  As  Peter  said  in 
the  presence  of  the  Jews,  "In  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  of  Naza- 
reth, rise  up  and  walk,"  so  Paul  said  before  his  idolatrous  audience 
at  Lystra,  Stand  upright  on  thy  feet."  And  in  this  case  also  the 
word  which  had  been  suggested  to  the  speaker  by  a  supernatural 
intuition  was  followed  by  a  supernatural  result.  The  obedient 
alacrity  in  the  spirit  and  the  new  strength  in  the  body  rushed 
together  simultaneously.    The  lame  man  sprang  up  in  the  joyful 


168 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


consciousness  of  a  power  he  had  never  felt  before,  and  walked  like 
those  who  had  never  had  experience  of  infirmity. 

And  now  arose  a  great  tumult  of  voices  from  the  crowd.  Such 
a  cure  of  a  congenital  disease,  so  sudden  and  so  complete,  would 
have  confounded  the  most  skilful  and  sceptical  ph^^sicians.  An 
illiterate  people  would  be  filled  with  astonishment,  and  rush  im- 
mediately to  the  conclusion  that  supernatural  powers  were  present 
among  them.  These  Lycaonians  thought  at  once  of  their  native 
traditions,  and  crying  out  vociferously  in  their  mother-tongue — 
and  we  all  know  how  the  strongest  feelings  of  an  excited  people 
find  vent  in  the  language  of  childhood — they  exclaimed  that  the 
gods  had  again  visited  them  in  the  likeness  of  men,  that  Jupiter 
and  Mercury  were  again  in  I^ycaonia,  that  the  persuasive  speaker 
was  Mercury  and  his  companion  Jupiter.  They  identified  Paul 
with  Mercury,  because  his  eloquence  corresponded  with  one  of 
that  divinity's  attributes.  Paul  was  the  "chief  speaker,"  and 
Mercury  was  the  god  of  eloquence.  And  if  it  be  asked  why  they 
identified  Barnabas  with  Jupiter,  it  is  evidently  a  sufficient  answer 
to  say  that  these  two  divinities  were  always  represented  as  com- 
panions in  their  terrestrial  expeditions,  though  we  may  well  be- 
lieve (with  Chrysostom  and  others)  that  there  was  something 
majestically  benignant  in  his  appearance,  while  the  personal 
aspect  of  Paul  (and  for  this  we  can  quote  his  own  statements) 
was  comparatively  insignificant. 

How  truthful  and  how  vivid  is  the  scene  brought  before  us! 
and  how  many  thoughts  it  suggests  to  those  who  are  at  once  con- 
versant with  heathen  mythology  and  disciples  of  Christian  theo- 
logy! Barnabas,  identified  with  the  father  of  gods  and  men, 
seems  like  a  personification  of  mild  beneficence  and  provident 
care,  while  Paul  appears  invested  with  more  active  attributes, 
flying  over  the  world  on  the  wings  of  faith  and  love,  with  quick 
words  of  warning  and  persuasion,  and  ever  carrying  in  his  hand 
the  purse  of  the  "  unsearchable  riches." 

The  news  of  a  wonderful  occurrence  is  never  long  in  spreading 
through  a  small  country  town.  At  Lystra  the  whole  population 
was  presently  in  an  uproar.  They  would  lose  no  time  in  paying 
due  honor  to  their  heavenly  visitants.  The  priest  attached  to  that 
temple  of  Jupiter  before  the  city  gates  to  which  we  have  before 
alluded  was  summoned  to  do  sacrifice  to  the  god  whom  he  served. 
Bulls  and  garlands,  and  whatever  else  was  requisite  to  the  per- 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  LYSTRIANS. 


169 


formance  of  the  ceremony,  were  duly  prepared,  and  the  procession 
moved  amidst  crowds  of  people  to  the  residence  of  the  apostles. 
They,  hearing  the  approach  of  the  multitude  and  learning  their 
idolatrous  intention,  were  filled  with  the  utmost  horror.  They 
rent  their  clothes  "  and  rushed  out  of  the  house  in  which  they 
lodged,  and  met  the  idolaters  approaching  the  vestibule.  There, 
standing  at  the  doorway,  they  opposed  the  entrance  of  the  crowd, 
and  Paul  expressed  his  abhorrence  of  their  intention,  and  earnestly 
tried  to  prevent  their  fulfilling  it  in  a  speech  of  which  only  the 
following  short  outline  is  recorded  by  Luke : 

"  Ye  men  of  Lystra,  why  do  ye  these  things  ?  We  also  are  men,  of 
like  passions  with  you ;  and  we  are  come  to  preach  to  you  the  glad 
tiding,  that  you  may  turn  from  these  vain  idols  to  the  living  God,  who 
made  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  all  things  that  are 
therein.  For  in  the  generations  that  are  past,  he  suffered  all  the  nations 
of  the  Gentiles  to  walk  in  their  own  ways.  Nevertheless,  he  left  not 
himself  without  witness,  in  that  he  blessed  you,  and  gave  you  rain 
from  heaven,  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  your  hearts  with  food  and 
gladness." 

This  address  held  them  listening,  but  they  listened  impatiently. 
Even  with  this  energetic  disavowal' of  his  divinity  and  this  strong 
appeal  to  their  reason,  Paul  found  it  difficult  to  disturb  the  Lyca- 
onians  from  offering  to  him  and  Barnabas  an  idolatrous  worship. 
There  is  no  doubt  that  Paul  was  the  speaker ;  and  before  we  pro- 
ceed further  in  the  narrative  we  cannot  help  pausing  to  observe 
the  essentially  Pauline  character  which  this  speech  manifests  even 
in  so  condensed  a  summary  of  its  contents.  It  is  full  of  undesigned 
coincidences  in  argument,  and  even  in  the  expressions  employed, 
with  Paul's  language  in  other  parts  of  the  Acts  and  in  his  own 
Epistles.  Thus,  as  here  he  declares  the  object  of  his  preaching  to 
be  that  the  idolatrous  Lystrians  should  "turn  from  these  vain 
idols  to  the  living  God/'  so  he  reminds  the  Thessalonians  how 
they,  at  his  preaching,  had  "  turned  from  idols  to  serve  the  living 
and  true  God."  Again,  as  he  tells  the  Lystrians  that  God  had 
in  the  generations  that  were  past  suffered  the  nations  of  the  Gen- 
tiles to  walk  in  their  own  ways,"  so  he  tells  the  Romans  that 
"God  in  his  forbearance  had  passed  over  the  former  sins  of  men 
in  the  times  that  were  gone  by,"  and  so  he  tells  the  Athenians 
that  "  the  past  times  of  ignorance  God  had  overlooked."  Lastly, 


170  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


how  striking  is  the  similarity  between  the  natural  theology  with 
which  the  present  speech  concludes  and  that  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Eomans,  where,  speaking  of  the  heathen,  he  says  that  atheists 
were  without  excuse,  *'for  that  which  can  be  known  of  God  is 
manifested  in  their  hearts,  God  himself  having  shown  it  to  them. 
For  his  being  and  his  might,  though  they  be  invisible,  yet  are 
seen  ever  since  the  world  was  made,  being  understood  by  his  works, 
which  prove  his  eternal  power  and  Godhead." 

The  crowd  reluctantly  retired,  and  led  the  victims  away  without 
offering  them  in  sacrifice  to  the  apostles.  It  might  be  supposed 
that  at  least  a  command  had  been  obtained  over  their  gratitude 
and  reverence  which  would  not  easily  be  destroyed ;  but  we  have 
to  record  here  one  of  those  sudden  changes  of  feeling  which  are 
humiliating  proofs  of  the  weakness  of  human  nature  and  of  the 
superficial  character  of  religious  excitement.  The  Lycaonians 
were  proverbially  fickle  and  faithless,  but  we  may  not  too  hastily 
decide  that  they  were  worse  than  many  others  might  have  been 
under  the  same  circumstances.  It  would  not  be  difficult  to  find  a 
parallel  to  their  conduct  among  the  modern  converts  from  idolatry 
to  Christianity.  And  certainly  no  later  missionaries  have  had  more 
assiduous  enemies  than  the  Jews,  whom  the  apostles  had  everywhere 
to  oppose.  Certain  Jews  from  Iconium,  and  even  from  Antioch, 
followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Paul  and  Barnabas,  and  endeavored  to 
excite  the  hostility  of  the  Lystrians  against  them.  When  they 
heard  of  the  miracle  worked  on  the  lame  man,  and  found  how 
great  an  effect  it  had  produced  on  the  people  of  Lystra,  they  would 
be  ready  with  a  new  interpretation  of  this  occurrence.  They  would 
say  that  it  had  been  accomplished  not  by  divine  agency,  but  by 
some  diabolical  magic,  as  once  they  had  said  at  Jerusalem  that  He 
who  came  to  destroy  the  works  of  the  devil "  cast  out  devils  "by 
Beelzebub  the  prince  of  the  devils."  And  this  is  probably  the 
true  explanation  of  that  sudden  change  of  feeling  among  the  Lys- 
trians which  at  first  sight  is  very  surprising.  Their  own  interpre- 
tation of  what  they  had  witnessed  having  been  disavowed  by  the 
authors  of  the  miracle  themselves,  they  would  readily  adopt  a  new 
interpretation,  suggested  by  those  who  appeared  to  be  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  strangers  and  who  had  followed  them  from  dis- 
tant cities.  Their  feelings  changed  with  a  revulsion  as  violent  as 
that  which  afterward  took  place  among  the  "  barbarous  people " 
of  Malta,  who  first  thought  Paul  was  a  murderer  and  then  a  god. 


PAUL  STONED  AT  LYSTRA. 


171 


The  Jews,  taking  advantage  of  the  credulity  of  a  rude  tribe,  were 
able  to  accomplish  at  Lystra  the  design  they  had  meditated  at 
Iconium.  Paul  was  stoned — not  hurried  out  of  the  city  to  execu- 
tion like  Stephen,  the  memory  of  whose  death  must  have  come 
over  Paul  at  this  moment  with  impressive  force,  but  stoned  some- 
where in  the  streets  of  Lystra — and  then  dragged  through  the  city 
gate  and  cast  outside  the  walls,  under  the  belief  that  he  was  dead. 
This  is  the  occasion  to  which  the  apostle  afterward  alluded  in  the 
words  "once  I  was  stoned"  in  that  long  catalogue  of  sufferings  to 
which  we  have  already  referred  in  this  chapter.  Thus  was  he  "in 
perils  by  his  own  countrymen,  in  perils  by  the  heathen,''  "in 
deaths  oft,''  "always  bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  that  the  life  also  of  Jesus  might  be  made  manifest  in 
his  body.  .  .  .  Alway  delivered  unto  death  for  Jesus'  sake,  that 
the  life  also  of  Jesus  might  be  made  manifest  in  his  mortal  flesh." 
On  the  present  occasion  these  last  words  were  literally  realized, 
for  by  the  power  and  goodness  of  God  he  rose  from  a  state  of  ap- 
parent death  as  if  by  a  sudden  resurrection.  Though  "  persecuted," 
he  was  not  "forsaken" — though  "cast  down,"  he  was  "not  de- 
stroyed." "  As  the  disciples  stood  about  him,  he  rose,  up  and  came 
into  the  city."  We  see  from  this  expression  that  his  labors  in 
Lystra  had  not  been  in  vain.  He  had  found  some  willing  listeners 
to  the  truth,  some  "disciples"  who  did  not  hesitate  to  show  their 
attachment  to  their  teacher  by  remaining  near  his  body,  which  the 
rest  of  th^r  fellow-citizens  had  wounded  and  cast  out.  These 
courageous  disciples  were  left  for  the  present  in  the  midst  of  the 
enemies  of  the  truth.  Jesus  Christ  had  said,  "When  they  per- 
secute you  in  one  city,  flee  to  another,"  and  the  very  "  next  day  " 
Paul  "departed  with  Barnabas  to  Derbe." 

But  before  we  leave  Lystra  we  must  say  a  few  words  on  one 
spectator  of  Paul's  suff*erings  who  is  not  yet  mentioned  by  Luke, 
but  who  was  destined  to  be  the  constant  companion  of  his  after 
years,  the  zealous  follower  of  his  doctrine,  the  faithful  partner  of 
his  danger  and  distress.  Paul  came  to  Lystra  again  after  the  in- 
terval of  one  or  two  years,  and  on  that  occasion  we  are  told  that 
he  found  a  certain  Christian  there  "  whose  name  was  Timotheus, 
whose  mother  was  a  Jewess,  while  his  father  was  a  Greek,"  and 
whose  excellent  character  was  highly  esteemed  by  his  fellow-Chris- 
tians of  Lystra  and  Iconium.  It  is  distinctly  stated  that  at  the 
time  of  this  second  visit  Timothy  was  already  a  Christian;  and 


172 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


since  we  know  from  Paul's  own  expression,  "  my  own  son  in  the 
faith/'  that  he  was  converted  by  Paul  himself,  we  must  suppose 
this  change  to  have  taken  place  at  the  time  of  the  first  visit.  And 
the  reader  will  remember  that  Paul  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  Tim- 
othy (iii.  10,  11)  reminds  him  of  his  own  intimate  and  personal 
knowledge  of  the  sufferings  he  had  endured  "  at  Antioch^  at  Iconium, 
at  Lystraj^  the  places  (it  will  be  observed)  being  mentioned  in  the 
exact  order  in  which  they  were  visited  and  in  which  the  successive 
persecutions  took  place.  We  have  thus  the  strongest  reasons  for 
believing  that  Timothy  was  a  witness  of  Paul's  injurious  treatment ; 
and  this  too  at  a  time  of  life  when  the  mind  receives  its  deepest 
impressions  from  the  spectacle  of  innocent  suffering  and  undaunted 
courage.  And  it  is  far  from  impossible  that  the  generous  and  warm- 
hearted youth  was  standing  in  that  group  of  disciples  who  sur- 
rounded the  apparently  lifeless  body  of  the  apostle  at  the  outside 
of  the  walls  of  Lystra. 

We  are  called  on  to  observe  at  this  point,  with  a  thankful 
acknowledgment  of  God's  providence,  that  the  flight  from  Iconium 
and  the  cruel  persecution  at  Lystra  were  events  which  involved 
the  most  important  and  beneficial  consequences  to  universal  Chris- 
tianity. It  was  here,  in  the  midst  of  barbarous  idolaters,  that  the 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles  found  an  associate  who  became  to  him  and 
the  Church  far  more  than  Barnabas,  the  companion  of  his  first 
mission.  As  we  have  observed  above,  there  appears  to  have  been 
at  Lystra  no  synagogue,  no  community  of  Jews  and*proselytes, 
among  whom  such  an  associate  might  naturally  have  been  ex- 
pected. Perhaps  Timotheus  and  his  relations  may  have  been 
almost  the  only  persons  of  Jewish  origin  in  the  town.  And  his 
"  grandmother  Lois  "  and  mother  Eunice"  may  have  been  brought 
there  originally  by  some  accidental  circumstance,  as  Lydia  was 
brought  from  Thyatira  to  Philippi.  And  though  there  was  no 
synagogue  at  Lystra,  this  family  may  have  met  with  a  few  others 
in  ^ome  proseucha^  like  that  in  which  Lydia  and  her  fellow-worship- 
pers met  "  by  the  river-side."  Whatever  we  may  conjecture  con- 
cerning the  congregational  life  to  which  Timotheus  may  have  been 
accustomed,  we  are  accurately  informed  of  the  nature  of  that 
domestic  life  which  nurtured  him  for  his  future  labors.  The  good 
soil  of  his  heart  was  well  prepared  before  Paul  came,  by  the 
instructions  of  Lois  and  Eunice,  to  receive  the  seed  of  Chris- 
tian truth  sown  by  the  apostle's  first  visit,  and  to  produce  a  rich 


THE  APOSTLES  RETRACE  THEIR  JOURNEY.  173 


harvest  of  faith  and  good  works  before  the  time  of  his  second 
visit. 

Derbe,  as  we  have  seen,  is  somewhere  not  far  from  the  "  Black 
Mountain,"  which  rises  like  an  island  in  the  south-eastern  part  of 
the  plain  of  Lycaonia.  A  few  hours  would  suffice  for  the  journey 
between  Lystra  and  its  neighbor  city.  We  may  perhaps  infer  from 
the  fact  that  Derbe  is  not  mentioned  in  the  list  of  places  which 
Paul  brings  to  the  recollection  of  Timothy  as  scenes  of  past  suffer- 
ing and  distress,  that  in  this  town  the  apostles  were  exposed  to  no 
persecution.  It  may  have  been  a  quiet  resting-place  after  a  journey 
full  of  toil  and  danger.  It  does  not  appear  that  they  were  hindered 
in  "  evangelizing "  the  city,  and  the  fruit  of  their  labors  was  the 
conversion  of  "  many  disciples." 

And  now  we  have  reached  the  limit  of  Paul's  first  missionary 
journey.  About  this  part  of  the  Lycaonian  plain,  where  it 
approaches,  through  gradual  undulations,  to  the  northern  bases  of 
Mount  Taurus,  he  was  not  far  from  that  well-known  pass  which 
leads  down  from  the  central  table-land  to  Cilicia  and  Tarsus.  But 
his  thoughts  did  not  centre  in  an  earthly  home.  He  turned  back 
upon  his  footsteps,  and  revisited  the  places,  Lystra,  Iconium,  and 
Antioch,  where  he  himself  had  been  reviled  and  persecuted,  but 
where  he  had  left,  as  sheep  in  the  desert,  the  disciples  whom  his 
Master  had  enabled  him  to  gather.  They  needed  building  up  and 
strengthening  in  the  faith,  comforting  in  the  midst  of  their  inevit- 
able sufferings,  and  fencing  round  by  permanent  institutions. 
Therefore,  Paul  and  Barnabas  revisited  the  scenes  of  their  labors, 
undaunted  by  the  dangers  which  awaited  them,  and  using  words 
of  encouragement — which  none  but  the  founders  of  a  true  religion 
would  have  ventured  to  address  to  their  earliest  converts — that 
"  we  can  only  enter  the  kingdom  of  God  by  passing  through  much 
tribulation."  But  not  only  did  they  fortify  their  faith  by  passing 
words  of  encouragement ;  they  ordained  elders  in  every  church 
after  the  pattern  of  the  first  Christian  communities  in  Palestine, 
and  with  that  solemn  observance  which  had  attended  their  own 
consecration,  and  which  has  been  transmitted  to  later  ages  in  con- 
nection with  ordination :  'Svith  fasting  and  prayer"  they  "made 
choice  of  fit  persons  to  serve  in  the  sacred  ministry  of  the  Church." 

Thus,  having  consigned  their  disciples  to  Him  "  in  whom  they 
had  believed,"  and  who  was  "able  to  keep  that  which  was 
entrusted  to  him,"  Paul  and  Barnabas  descended  through  the 


174  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Pisidian  mountains  to  the  plain  of  Pamphylia.  If  our  conjecture 
is  correct,  that  they  went  up  from  Perga  in  spring  and  returned  at 
the  close  of  autumn,  and  spent  all  the  hotter  months  of  the  year 
in  the  elevated  districts,  they  would  again  pass  in  a  few  days 
through  a  great  change  of  seasons,  and  almost  from  summer  to 
winter.  The  people  of  Pamphylia  would  have  returned  from  their 
cold  residences  to  the  warm  shelter  of  the  plain  by  the  seaside, 
and  Perga  would  be  full  of  itfe  inhabitants.  The  gospel  was 
preached  within  the  walls  of  this  city,  through  which  the  apostles 
had  merely  passed  on  their  journey  to  the  interior.  But  from 
Luke^s  silence  it  appears  that  the  preaching  was  attended  with  no 
marked  results.  We  read  neither  of  conversions  nor  persecutions. 
The  Jews,  if  any  Jews  resided  there,  were  less  inquisitive  and  less 
tyrannical  than  those  at  Antioch  and  Iconium,  and  the  votaries 
of  "  Diana  before  the  city at  Perga  were  less  excitable  than 
those  who  worshipped  Jupiter  before  the  city  "  at  Lystra.  When 
the  time  came  for  returning  to  Syria,  they  did  not  sail  down  the 
Oestrus,  up  the  channel  of  which  river  they  had  come  on  their 
arrival  from  Cyprus,  but  travelled  across  the  plain  to  Altaleia, 
which  was  situated  on  the  edge  of  the  Pamphylian  gulf. 

Attaleia  had  something  of  the  same  relation  to  Perga  which 
Cadiz  has  to  Seville.  In  each  case  the  latter  city  is  approached  by 
a  river  voyage,  and  the  former  is  more  conveniently  placed  on  the 
open  sea.  Attains  Philadelphus,  king  of  Pergamus,  whose 
dominions  extended  from  the  north-western  corner  of  Asia  Minor 
to  the  Sea  of  Pamphylia,  had  built  this  city  in  a  convenient  posi- 
tion for  commanding  the  trade  of  Syria  or  Egypt.  When 
Alexander  the  Great  passed  this  way  no  such  city  was  in  exist- 
ence, but  since  the  days  of  the  kings  of  Pergamus,  who  inherited 
a  fragment  of  his  vast  empire,  Attaleia  has  always  existed  and 
flourished,  retaining  the  name  of  the  monarch  who  built  it.  Be- 
hind it  is  the  plain  through  which  the  calcareous  waters  of  the 
Catarrhactes  flow,  perpetually  constructing  and  destroying  and 
reconstructing  their  fantastic  channels.  In  front  of  it,  and  along 
the  shore  on  each  side,  are  long  lines  of  cliffs  over  which  the  river 
finds  its  way  in  waterfalls  to  the  sea,  and  which  conceal  the  plain 
from  those  who  look  towards  the  land  from  the  inner  waters  of 
the  bay,  and  even  encroach  on  the  prospect  of  the  mountains 
themselves. 

When  this  view  is  before  us  the  mind  reverts  to  another  band 


THE  CRUSADERS  IN  SYRIA. 


175 


of  Christian  warriors  who  once  sailed  from  the  Bay  of  Satalia 
to  the  Syrian  Antioch.  Certain  passages  in  which  the  move- 
ments of  the  Crusaders  and  apostles  may  be  compared  with  each 
other  are  among  the  striking  contrasts  of  history.  Conrad  and 
Louis,  each  with  an  army  consisting  at  first  of  seventy  thousand 
men,  marched  through  part  of  the  same  districts  which  were  trav- 
ersed by  Paul  and  Barnabas  alone  and  unprotected.  The  shat- 
tered remains  of  the  French  host  had  come  down  to  Attaleia 
through  'Hhe  abrupt  mountain-passes  and  the  deep  valleys^'  which 
are  so  well  described  by  the  contemporary  historian.  They  came 
to  fight  the  battle  of  the  cross  with  a  great  multitude  and  with  the 
armor  of  human  power ;  their  journey  was  encompassed  with  de- 
feat and  death ;  their  arrival  at  Attaleia  was  disastrous  and  dis- 
graceful; and  they  sailed  to  Antioch  a  broken  and  dispirited 
army.  But  the  crusaders  of  the  first  century^  the  apostles  of 
Christ,  though  they  too  passed  "  through  much  tribulation,"  ad- 
vanced from  victory  to  victory.  Their  return  to  the  place  whence 
they  had  been  recommended  to  the  grace  of  God  for  the  work  which 
they  fulfilled"  was  triumphant  and  joyful,  for  the  weapons  of  their 
warfare  were  not  carnal."  The  Lord  himself  was  their  tower  and 
their  shield. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


CONTROVERSY  IN  THE  CHURCH. — SEPARATION  OF  JEWS  AND  GEN- 
TILES.— OBSTACLES  TO  UNION,  BOTH  SOCIAL  AND  RELIGIOUS. — 
DIFFICULTY  IN  THE  NARRATIVE. — SCRUPLES  CONNECTED  WITH 
THE  CONVERSION  OF  CORNELIUS. — LINGERING  DISCONTENT. — 
FEELINGS  EXCITED  BY  THE  CONDUCT  AND  SUCCESS  OF  PAUL, 
ESPECIALLY  AT  JERUSALEM. — INTRIGUES  OF  THE  JUDAIZERS 
AT  ANTIOCH.  —  CONSEQUENT  ANXIETY  AND  PERPLEXITY. — 
MISSION  OF  PAUL  AND  BARNABAS  TO  JERUSALEM.  —  DIVINE 
REVELATION  TO  PAUL. — TITUS. — JOURNEY  THROUGH  PHENICE 
AND  SAMARIA. — THE  PHARISEES. — PRIVATE  CONFERENCES. — 
PUBLIC  MEETING. — SPEECH  OF  PETER. — NARRATIVE  OF  BAR- 
NABAS AND  PAUL. — SPEECH  OF  JAMES. — THE  DECREE. — CHAR- 
ITABLE NATURE  OF  ITS  PROVISIONS. — IT  INVOLVES  THE  ABO- 
LITION OF  JUDAISM.— PUBLIC  RECOGNITION  OF  PAUL'S  MIS- 
SION TO  THE  HEATHEN. — JOHN. — RETURN  TO  ANTIOCH  WITH 
JUDAS,  SILAS,  AND  MARK. — READING  OF  THE  LETTER. — WEAK 
CONDUCT  OF  PETER  AT  ANTIOCH. — HE  IS  REBUKED  BY  PAUL. — 
PERSONAL  APPEARANCE  OF  THE  TWO  APOSTLES. — THEIR  REC- 
ONCILIATION. 

If,  when  we  contrast  the  voyage  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  across 
the  Bay  of  Attaleia  with  the  voyage  of  those  who  sailed  over  the 
same  waters  in  the  same  direction  eleven  centuries  later,  our  minds 
are  powerfully  drawn  towards  the  pure  age  of  early  Christianity, 
when  the  power  of  faith  made  human  weakness  irresistibly  strong, 
the  same  thoughts  are  not  less  forcibly  presented  to  us  when  we 
contrast  the  reception  of  the  Crusaders  at  Antioch  with  the  recep- 
tion of  the  apostles  in  the  same  city.  We  are  told  by  the  chron- 
iclers that  Raymond,  "prince  of  Antioch,"  waited  with  much  ex- 
pectation for  the  arrival  of  the  French  king,  and  that  when  he 
heard  of  his  landing  at  Seleucia  he  gathered  together  all  the  nobles 
and  chief  men  of  the  people  and  went  out  to  meet  him,  and  brought 
him  into  Antioch  with  much  pomp  and  magnificence,  showing  him 
176 


CONTROVERSIES  IN  THE  CHURCH. 


177 


all  reverence  and  homage  in  the  midst  of  a  great  assemblage  of  the 
clergy  and  people.  All  that  Luke  tells  us  of  the  reception  of  the 
apostles  after  their  victorious  campaign  is,  that  they  entered  into 
the  city  and  "  gathered  together  the  Church,  and  told  them  how 
God  had  worked  with  them,  and  how  he  had  opened  a  door  of 
faith  to  the  Gentiles.''  Thus  the  kingdom  of  God  came  at  the 
first  "  without  observation,''  with  the  humble  acknowledgment  that 
all  power  is  given  from  above,  and  with  a  thankful  recognition  of 
our  Father's  merciful  love  to  all  mankind. 

No  age,  however,  of  Christianity,  not  even  the  earliest,  has  been 
without  its  difficulties,  controversies,  and  corruptions.  The  pres- 
ence of  Judas  among  the  apostles,  and  of  Ananias  and  Sapphira 
among  the  first  disciples,  were  proofs  of  the  power  which  moral 
evil  possesses  to  combine  itself  with  the  holiest  works.  The  mis- 
understanding of  "  the  Grecians  and  Hebrews "  in  the  days  of 
Stephen,  the  suspicion  of  the  apostles  when  Paul  came  from  Da- 
mascus to  Jerusalem,  the  secession  of  Mark  at  the  beginning  of 
the  first  missionary  journey,  were  symptoms  of  the  prejudice, 
ignorance,  and  infirmity  in  the  midst  of  which  the  gospel  was  to 
win  its  way  in  the  hearts  of  men.  And  the  arrival  of  the  apostles 
at  Antioch  at  the  close  of  their  journey  was  presently  followed  by 
a  troubled  controversy  which  involved  the  most  momentous  conse- 
quences to  all  future  ages  of  the  Church,  and  which  led  to  that 
visit  to  Jerusalem  which,  next  after  his  conversion,  is  perhaps  the 
most  important  passage  in  Paul's  life. 

We  have  seen  (Chap.  I.)  that  great  numbers  of  Jews  had  long 
been  dispersed  beyond  the  limits  of  their  own  land,  and  were  at 
this  time  distributed  over  every  part  of  the  Roman  empire.  "  Moses 
had  of  old  time,  in  every  city,  them  that  preached  him,  being  read 
in  the  synagogues  every  sabbath  day."  In  every  considerable  city, 
both  of  the  East  and  West,  were  established  some  members  of  that 
mysterious  people  who  had  a  written  Law,  which  they  read  and  re- 
read, in  the  midst  of  the  contempt  of  those  who  surrounded  them, 
week  by  week  and  year  by  year, — who  were  bound  everywhere  by 
a  secret  link  of  affection  to  one  city  in  the  world,  where  alone  their 
religious  sacrifices  could  be  offered, — whose  whole  life  was  utterly 
abhorrent  from  the  temples  and  images  which  crowded  the  neigh- 
borhood of  their  synagogues,  and  from  the  gay  and  licentious  fes- 
tivities of  the  Greek  and  Roman  worship. 

In  the  same  way  it  might  be  said  that  Plato  and  Aristotle,  Zeno 
12 


178  LIFE  AND  EPISTI.es  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

and  Epicurus,  "had  in  every  city  those  that  preached  thenu''  Side 
by  side  with  the  doctrines  of  Judaism  the  speculations  of  Greek 
pLxiosophers  were  not  indeed  read  in  connection  with  religious 
worship,  but  orally  taught  and  publicly  discussed  in  the  schools. 
Hence  the  Jews,  in  their  foreign  settlements,  were  surrounded  not 
only  by  an  idolatry  which  shocked  all  their  deepest  feelings,  and 
by  a  shameless  profligacy  unforbidden  by,  and  even  associated 
with,  that  which  the  Gentiles  called  religion,  but  also  by  a  proud 
and  contemptuous  philosophy  that  alienated  the  more  educated 
classes  of  society  to  as  great  a  distance  as  the  unthinking  mul- 
titude. 

Thus,  a  strong  line  of  demarcation  between  the  Jews  and  Gen- 
tiles ran  through  the  whole  Roman  empire.  Though  their  dwell- 
ings were  often  contiguous,  they  were  separated  from  each  other 
by  deep-rooted  feelings  of  aversion  and  contempt.  The  "  middle 
wall  of  partition''  was  built  up  by  diligent  hands  on  both  sides. 
This  mutual  alienation  existed  notwithstanding  the  vast  number 
of  proselytes  who  were  attracted  to  the  Jewish  doctrine  and  wor- 
ship, and  who,  as  we  have  already  observed  (Chap.  I.),  were  silently 
preparing  the  way  for  the  ultimate  union  of  the  two  races.  The 
breach  was  even,  widened,  in  many  cases,  in  consequence  of  this 
work  of  proselytism ;  for  those  who  went  over  to  the  Jewish  camp 
or  hesitated  on  the  neutral  ground  were  looked  on  with  some  sus- 
picion by  the  Jews  themselves  and  thoroughly  hated  and  despised 
by  the  Gentiles. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  the  separation  of  which  we  speak 
was  both  religious  and  social.  The  Jews  had  a  divine  Law  which 
sanctioned  the  principle  and  enforced  the  practice  of  national  iso- 
lation. They  could  not  easily  believe  that  this  Law,  with  which 
all  the  glorious  passages  of  their  history  were  associated,  was  meant 
only  to  endure  for  a  limited  period,  and  we  cannot  but  sympathize 
in  the  difficulty  they  felt  in  accepting  the  notion  of  a  cordial  union 
with  the  uncircumcised,  even  after  idolatry  was  abandoned  and 
morality  observed.  And  again,  the  peculiar  character  of  the  relig- 
ion which  isolated  the  Jews  was  such  as  to  place  insuperable 
obstaCiCs  in  the  way  of  social  union  with  other  men.  Their  cere- 
monial observances  precluded  the  possibility  of  their  eating  with 
the  Gentiles.  The  nearest  parallel  we  can  find  to  this  barrier  be- 
tween the  Jews  and  Gentiles  is  the  institution  of  caste  among  the 
ancient  populations  of  India,  which,  presents  itself  to  English  poll- 


OBSTACLES  TO  UNION. 


179 


ticians  as  a  perplexing  fact  in  the  government  of  the  Presidencies, 
and  to  our  missionaries  as  the  great  obstacle  to  the  progress  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  East.  A  Hindoo  cannot  eat  with  a  Parsee  or  a  Mo- 
hammedan, and  among  the  Hindoos  themselves  the  meals  of  a 
Brahman  are  polluted  by  the  presence  of  a  pariah,  though  they  meet 
and  have  free  intercourse  in  the  ordinary  transaction  of  business. 
And  so  it  was  in  the  patriarchal  age.  It  w^as  "  an  abomination  for 
the  Egyptians  to  eat  bread  w^ith  the  Hebrews  "  (Gen.  xlii.  32).  The 
same  principle  was  divinely  sanctioned  for  a  time  in  the  Mosaic 
institutions.  The  Israelites  who  lived  among  the  Gentiles  met  them 
freely  in  the  places  of  public  resort,  buying  and  selling,  conversing 
and  disputing,  but  their  families  were  separate:  in  the  relations 
of  domestic  life  it  was  "  unlawful,"  as  Peter  said  to  Cornelius, 
"  for  a  man  that  was  a  Jew  to  keep  company  or  come  unto  one 
of  another  nation"  (Acts  x.  28).  When  Peter  returned  from  the 
centurion  at  Csesarea  to  his  brother-Christians  at  Jerusalem,  their 
great  charge  against  him  was  that  he  had  "  gone  in  to  men  uncir- 
cumcised,  and  had  eaten  with  them"  (Acts  xi.  3) ;  and  the  weak 
compliance  of  which  he  was  guilty  after  the  true  principle  of  social 
unity  had  been  publicly  recognized,  and  which  called  forth  the 
stern  rebuke  of  his  brother-apostles,  was  that,  after  eating  with  the 
Gentiles,  he  "withdrew  and  separated  himself,  fearing  them  which 
were  of  the  circumcision"  (Gal.  ii.  12). 

How  these  two  difficulties,  which  seemed  to  forbid  the  formation 
of  a  united  Church  on  earth,  were  ever  to  be  overcome, — how  the 
Jews  and  Gentiles  w^ere  to  be  religiously  united  without  the  en- 
forced obligation  of  the  whole  Mosaic  Law, — how  they  were  to  be 
socially  united  as  equal  brethren  in  the  family  of  a  common 
Father  ; — the  solution  of  this  problem  must  in  that  day  have  ap- 
peared impossible.  And  without  the  direct  intervention  of  divine 
grace  it  would  have  been  impossible.  We  now  proceed  to  consider 
how  that  grace  gave  to  the  minds  of  the  apostles  the  wisdom, 
discretion,  forbearance,  and  firmness  which  were  required,  and 
how  Paul  was  used  as  the  great  instrument  in  accomplishing  a 
work  necessary  to  the  very  existence  of  the  Christian  Church. 

We  encounter  here  a  difficulty,  well  known  to  all  who  have  ex- 
amined this  subject,  in  combining  into  one  continuous  narrative 
the  statements  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  and  in  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles.  In  the  latter  book  we  are  informed  of  five  distinct 
journeys  made  by  the  apostle  to  Jerusalem  after  the  time  of  his 


180 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


conversion — first,  when  he  escaped  from  Damascus  and  spent  a 
fortnight  with  Peter;  secondly,  when  he  took  the  collection  from 
Antioch  with  Barnabas  in  the  time  of  famine ;  thirdly,  on  the 
occasion  of  the  council,  which  is  now  before  us  in  the  fifteenth 
chapter  of  the  Acts;  fourthly,  in  the  interval  between  his  second 
and  third  missionary  journeys ;  and,  fifthly,  when  the  uproar  was 
made  in  the  temple  and  he  was  taken  into  the  custody  of  the 
Roman  garrison.  In  the  Epistles  to  the  Galatians,  Paul  speaks 
of  two  journeys  to  Jerusalem — the  first  being  three  years"  after 
his  conversion ;  the  second  "  fourteen  years"  later,  when  his  own 
apostleship  was  asserted  and  recognized  in  a  public  meeting  of 
the  other  apostles.  Now,  while  we  have  no  difficulty  in  stating, 
as  we  have  done,  that  the  first  journey  of  one  account  is  the  first 
journey  of  the  other,  theologians  have  been  variously  divided  in 
opinion  as  to  whether  the  second  journey  of  the  Epistle  must  be 
identified  with  the  second,  third,  or  fourth  of  the  Acts,  or  whether 
it  is  a  separate  journey,  distinct  from  any  of  them.  It  is  agreed 
by  all  that  the  fifth  cannot  possibly  be  intended.  The  view  we 
have  adopted,  that  the  second  journey  of  the  Epistle  is  the  third 
of  the  Acts,  is  that  of  a  majority  of  the  best  critics  and  commen- 
tators. For  the  arguments  by  which  it  is  justified,  and  for  a  full 
discussion  of  the  whole  subject,  we  must  refer  the  reader  to  the 
note  at  the  end  of  this  chapter.  Some  of  the  arguments  will  be 
indirectly  presented  in  the  following  narrative.  So  far  as  the 
circumstances  combined  together  in  the  present  chapter  appear 
natural,  consecutive  and  coherent,  so  far  some  reason  will  be  given 
for  believing  that  we  are  not  following  an  arbitrary  assumption  or 
a  fanciful  theory. 

It  is  desirable  to  recur  at  the  outset  to  the  first  instance  of  a 
Gentile's  conversion  to  Christianity.  After  the  preceding  remarks 
we  are  prepared  to  recognize  the  full  significance  of  the  emblemat- 
ical vision  which  Peter  saw  at  Joppa.  The  trance  into  which  he 
fell  at  the  moment  of  his  hunger — the  vast  sheet  descending  from 
heaven,  the  promiscuous  assemblage  of  clean  and  unclean  animals, 
the  voice  from  heaven  which  said,  "  Arise,  Peter,  kill  and  m/," — 
the  whole  of  this  imagery  is  invested  with  the  deepest  meani?ig 
when  we  recollect  all  the  details  of  religious  and  social  life  which 
separated,  up  to  that  moment,  the  Gentile  from  the  Jew.  The 
words  heard  by  l  eier  in  his  trance  came  like  a  shock  on  all  the 
prejudices  of  his  Jewish  education.    He  had  never  so  broken  the 


THE  FEELINGS  EXCITED  AT  JERUSALEM. 


181 


Law  of  his  forefathers  as  to  eat  anything  it  condemned  as  unclean. 
And  though  the  same  voice  spoke  to  him  ''a  second  time/'  and 
"answered  him  from  heaven,"  "What  God  has  made  clean  that 
call  not  thou  common/'  it  required  a  wonderful  combination  of 
natural  and  supernatural  evidence  to  convince  him  that  God  is 
"  no  respecter  of  persons/'  but  "  every  nation"  accepts  him  that 

feareth  him  and  worketh  righteousness/' — that  all  such  distinc- 
tions as  depend  on  "  meat  and  drink/'  on  "  holy  days,  new  moons, 
and  sabbaths,"  were  to  pass  away, — that  these  things  were  only 
"a  shadow  of  things  to  come," — that  "the  body  is  of  Christ," — 
and  that  "in  him  we  are  complete,  .  .  .  circumcised  with  a  cir- 
cumcision not  made  w^ith  hands,  .  .  .  buried  with  him  in  bap- 
tism," and  risen  with  him  through  faith. 

The  Christians  "  of  the  circumcision"  who  travelled  with  Peter 
from  Joppa  to  Ca3sarea  were  "astonished"  when  they  saw  "the 
gift  of  the  Holy  Ghost  poured  out"  on  the  uncircumcised  Gen- 
tiles, and  much  dissatisfaction  was  created  in  the  Church  when 
intelligence  of  the  whole  transaction  came  to  Jerusalem.  On 
Peter's  arrival,  his  having  "gone  in  to  men  uncircumcised,  and 
eaten  with  them/'  was  arraigned  as  a  serious  violation  of  religious 
duty.  When  Peter  "rehearsed  the  matter  from  the  beginning, 
and  expounded  it  by  order,"  appealing  to  the  evidence  of  the  "  six 
brethren"  who  had  accompanied  him,  his  accusers  were  silent, 
and  so  much  conviction  was  produced  at  the  time  that  they  ex- 
pressed their  gratitude  to  God  for  his  mercy  in  "  granting  to  the 
Gentiles  repentance  unto  life."  But  subsequent  events  too  surely 
proved  that  the  discontent  at  Jerusalem  was  only  partially 
allayed.  Hesitation  and  perplexity  began  to  arise  in  the  minds 
of  the  Jewish  Christians,  with  scrupulous  misgivings  concerning 
the  rectitude  of  Peter's  conduct  and  an  uncomfortable  jealousy 
of  the  new  converts.  And  nothing  could  be  more  natural  than 
all  this  jealousy  and  perplexity.  To  us,  with  our  present  know- 
ledge, it  seems  that  the  slightest  relaxation  of  a  ceremonial  law 
should  have  been  willingly  and  eagerly  welcomed.  But  the  view 
from  the  Jewish  standing-point  was  very  different.  The  religious 
difficulty  in  the  mind  of  a  Jew  was  greater  than  we  can  easily 
imagine.  We  can  well  believe  that  the  minds  of  many  may  have 
been  perplexed  by  the  words  and  the  conduct  of  our  Lord  him- 
self, for  he  had  not  been  sent  "save  to  the  lost  sheep  of  the  house 
of  Israel,"  and  he  said  that  it  was  "not  meet  to  take  the  chil- 


182          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


dren's  bread  and  cast  it  to  dogs."  Until  Paul  appeared  before  the 
Church  in  his  true  character  as  the  apostle  of  the  uncircumcision, 
few  understood  that  "  the  law  of  the  commandments  contained  in 
ordinances"  had  been  abolished  by  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  that 
the  ^'  other  sheep,"  not  of  the  Jewish  fold,  should  be  freely  ad- 
mitted into  the  "one  fold"  by  the  "One  Shepherd." 

The  smouldering  feeling  of  discontent  which  had  existed  from 
the  first  increased  and  became  more  evident  as  new  Gentile  con- 
verts were  admitted  into  the  Church.  To  pass  over  all  the  other 
events  of  the  interval  which  had  elapsed  since  the  baptism  of  Cor- 
nelius, the  results  of  the  recent  journey  of  Paul  and  Barnabas 
through  the  cities  of  Asia  Minor  must  have  excited  a  great  com- 
motion among  the  Jewish  Christians.  "  A  door  of  faith  "  had  been 
opened  "  unto  the  Gentiles."  "  He  that  wrought  effectually  in 
Peter  to  the  apostleship  of -the  circumcision,  the  same  had  been 
mighty  in  Paul  towards  the  Gentiles."  And  we  cannot  well  doubt 
that  both  he  and  Barnabas  had  freely  joined  in  social  intercourse 
with  the  Gentile  Christians  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  at  Iconium, 
Lystra,  and  Derbe,  as  Peter  "  at  the  first,"  "  a  good  while  ago," 
had  eaten  with  Cornelius  at  Caesarea.  At  Antioch  in  Syria  it 
seems  evident  that  both  parties  lived  together  in  amicable  inter- 
course and  in  much  "  freedom."  Nor,  indeed,  is  this  the  city 
where  we  should  have  expected  the  Jewish  controversy  to  have 
come  to  a  crisis ;  for  it  was  from  Antioch  that  Paul  and  Barnabas 
had  first  been  sent  as  missionaries  to  the  heathen,  and  it  was  at 
Antioch  that  Greek  proselytes  had  first  accepted  the  truth  and 
that  the  united  body  of  believers  had  first  been  called  "  Chris- 
tians." 

Jerusalem  was  the  metropolis  of  the  Jew^ish  world.  The  exclu- 
sive feelings  which  the  Jews  carried  with  them  wherever  they  were 
diffused  were  concentrated  in  Jerusalem  in  their  most  intense 
degree.  It  was  there,  in  the  sight  of  the  temple,  and  with  all  the 
recollections  of  their  ancestors  surrounding  their  daily  life,  that 
the  impatience  of  the  Jewish  Christians  kindled  into  burning  in- 
dignation. They  saw  that  Christianity,  instead  of  being  the  purest 
and  holiest  form  of  Judaism,  was  rapidly  becoming  a  universal 
and  indiscriminating  religion  in  which  the  Jewish  element  would 
be  absorbed  and  lost.  This  revolution  could  not  appear  to  them 
in  any  other  light  than  as  a  rebellion  against  all  that  they  had 
been  taught  to  hold  inviolably  sacred.    And  since  there  was  no 


INTRIGUES  OF  THE  JTJDAIZEES. 


183 


doubt  that  the  great  instigator  of  this  change  of  opinion  was  that 
Saul  of  Tarsus  whom  they  had  once  known  as  a  young  Pharisee  at 
the  "  feet  of  Gamaliel/'  the  contest  took  the  form  of  an  attack 
made  by  certain  of  the  sect  of  the  Pharisees  upon  Paul.  The 
battle  which  had  been  fought  and  lost  in  the  "  Cilician  synagogue'' 
was  now  to  be  renewed  within  the  Church  itself. 

Some  of  the  "false  brethren"  (for  such  is  the  name  which  Paul 
gives  to  the  Judaizers)  went  down  "from  Judaea''  to  Antioch. 
The  course  they  adopted,  in  the  first  instance,  was  not  that  of  open 
antagonism  to  Paul,  but  rather  of  clandestine  intrigue.  They 
came  as  "  spies  "  into  an  enemy's  camp,  creeping  in  "  unawares," 
that  they  might  ascertain  how  far  the  Jewish  Law  had  been  re- 
laxed by  the  Christians  at  Antioch,  their  purpose  being  to  bring 
the  whole  Church,  if  possible,  under  the  "  bondage  "  of  the  Jewish 
yoke.  It  appears  that  they  remained  some  considerable  time  at 
Antioch,  gradually  insinuating  or  openly  inculcating  their  opinion 
that  the  observance  of  the  Jewish  Law  was  necessanj  to  salvation. 
It  is  very  important  to  observe  the  exact  form  which  their  teach- 
ing assumed.  They  did  not  merely  recommend  or  enjoin,  for  pru- 
dential reasons,  the  continuance  of  certain  ceremonies  in  them- 
selves indifferent,  but  they  said,  "  Except  ye  be  circumcised  after 
the  manner  of  Moses,  ye  cannot  he  saved.^^  Such  a  doctrine  must 
have  been  instantly  opposed  by  Paul  with  his  utmost  energy.  He 
was  always  ready  to  go  to  the  extreme  verge  of  charitable  con- 
cession when  the  question  was  one  of  peace  and  mutual  understand- 
ing ;  but  when  the  very  foundations  of  Christianity  were  in  danger 
of  being  undermined,  when  the  very  continuance  of  "the  truth  of 
the  gospel "  was  in  jeopardy,  it  was  impossible  that  he  should 
"give  place  by  subjection,"  even  "  for  an  hour." 

The  "dissension  and  disputation"  which  arose  between  Paul 
and  Barnabas  and  the  false  brethren  from  Judaea  resulted  in  a 
general  anxiety  and  perplexity  among  the  Syrian  Christians.  The 
minds  of  "those  who  from  among  the  Gentiles  were  turned  unto 
God  "  were  "  troubled  "  and  unsettled.  Those  "  words  "  which 
"perverted  the  gospel  of  Christ"  tended  also  to  "subvert  the 
souls  "of  those  who  heard  them.  It  was  determined,  therefore, 
"  that  Paul  and  Barnabas,  with  certain  others,  should  go  up  to 
Jerusalem  unto  the  apostles  and  elders  about  this  question."  It 
was  well  known  that  those  who  were  disturbing  the  peace  of  the 
Church  had  their  head-quarters  in  Judaea.    Such  a  theological 


184  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

party  could  only  be  succesfully  met  in  the  stronghold  of  Jewish 
nationality.  Moreover,  the  residence  of  the  principal  apostles  was 
at  Jerusalem,  and  the  community  over  which  James  "  presided 
was  still  regarded  as  the  mother-Church  of  Christendom. 

In  addition  to  this  mission  with  which  Paul  was  entrusted  by 
the  Church  at  Antioch,  he  received  an  intimation  of  the  divine 
will  communicated  by  direct  revelation.  Such  a  revelation  at  so 
momentous  a  crisis  must  appear  perfectly  natural  to  all  who 
believe  that  Christianity  was  introduced  into  the  world  by  the 
immediate  power  of  God.  If  a  man  of  Macedonia"  appeared  to 
Paul  in  the  visions  of  the  night  when  he  was  about  to  carry  the 
gospel  from  Asia  into  Europe,  if  ^Hhe  angel  of  God"  stood  by 
him  in  the  night  when  the  ship  that  was  conveying  him  to  Rome 
was  in  danger  of  sinking,  we  cannot  wonder  when  he  tells  us  that 
on  this  occasion,  when  he  'Svent  up  to  Jerusalem  with  Barnabas," 
he  went  "  by  revelation."  And  we  need  not  be  surprised  if  we  find 
that  Paul's  path  was  determined  by  two  different  causes — that  he 
went  to  Jerusalem  partly  because  the  Church  deputed  him,  and 
partly  because  he  was  divinely  admonished.  Such  a  combination  and 
co-operation  of  the  natural  and  the  supernatural  we  have  observed 
above  in  the  case  of  that  vision  which  induced  Peter  to  go  from 
Joppa  to  Csesarea.  Nor  need  we  feel  any  great  difficulty  in  adopt- 
ing this  view  of  Paul's  journey  from  Antioch  to  Jerusalem  from 
this  circumstance,  that  the  two  motives  which  conspired  to  direct 
him  are  separately  mentioned  in  different  parts  of  Scripture.  It 
is  true  that  we  are  told  in  the  Acts  simply  that  it  was  "  deter- 
mined "  at  Antioch  that  Paul  should  go  to  Jerusalem,  and  that  in 
Galatians  we  are  informed  by  himself  that  he  went by  revela- 
tion." But  we  have  an  exact  parallel  in  an  earlier  journey,  already 
related,  from  Jerusalem  to  Tarsus.  In  Luke's  narrative  it  is  stated 
that  "the  brethren,"  knowing  that  the  conspiracy  was  against  his 
life,  '^brought  him  down  to  Csesarea  and  sent  him  forth ;"  while  in 
the  speech  of  Paul  himself  we  are  told  that  in  a  trance  he  saw 
Jesus  Christ,  and  received  from  him  a  command  to  depart  quickly 
out  of  Jerusalem." 

Similarly  directed  from  without  and  from  within,  he  travelled 
to  Jerusalem  on  the  occasion  before  us.  It  would  seem  that  his 
companions  were  carefully  chosen  with  reference  to  the  question 
in  dispute.  On  the  one  li^ind  was  Barnabas,  a  Jew  and  '^a  Levite" 
by  birth,  a  good  representative  of  the  Church  of  the  circumcision. 


MISSION  OF  PAUL  TO  JERUSALEM. 


185 


On  the  other  hand  was  Titus,  now  first  mentioned  in  the  course 
of  our  narrative,  a  convert  from  heathenism,  an  uncircumcised 
"Greek."  From  the  expression  used  of  the  departure  of  this 
company  it  seems  evident  that  the  majority  of  the  Christians  at 
Antioch  were  still  faithful  to  the  truth  of  the  gospel.  Had  the 
Judaizers  triumphed,  it  would  hardly  have  been  said  that  Paul 
and  his  fellow-travellers  were  brought  on  their  way  by  the 
Church."  Their  course  was  along  the  great  Roman  road  which 
followed  the  Phoenician  coast-line,  and  traces  of  which  are  still 
seen  on  the  cliffs  overhanging  the  sea,  and  thence  through  the 
midland  districts  of  Samaria  and  Judaea.  When  last  we  had 
occasion  to  mention  Phenice  we  were  alluding  to  those  who  were 
dispersed  on  the  death  of  Stephen  and  preached  the  gospel  "  to 
Jews  only"  on  this  part  of  the  Syrian  coast.  Now  it  seems 
evident  that  many  of  the  heathen  Syrophoenicians  had  been 
converted  to  Christianity ;  for,  as  Paul  and  Barnabas  passed 
through,  "declaring  the  conversion  of  the  Gentiles,  they  caused 
great  joy  unto  all  the  brethren."  As  regards  the  Samaritans,  we 
cannot  be  surprised  that  they  who,  when  Philip  first  "  preached 
Christ  unto  them,"  had  received  the  glad  tidings  with  "great  joy," 
should  be  ready  to  express  their  sympathy  in. the  happiness  of 
those  who,  like  themselves,  had  recently  been  "  aliens  from  the 
commonwealth  of  Israel." 

Fifteen  years  had  now  elapsed  since  that  memorable  journey 
when  Paul  left  Jerusalem,  with  all  the  zeal  of  a  Pharisee,  to  per- 
secute and  destroy  the  Christians  in  Damascus.  He  had  twice 
entered,  as  a  Christian,  the  Holy  City  again.  Both  visits  had 
been  short  and  hurried  and  surrounded  with  danger.  The  first 
was  three  years  after  his  conversion,  when  he  spent  a  fortnight 
with  Peter  and  escaped  assassination  by  a  precipitate  flight  to 
Tarsus.  The  second  was  in  the  year  44,  when  Peter  himself  was 
in  imminent  danger,  and  when  the  messengers  who  brought  the 
charitable  contribution  from  Antioch  were  probably  compelled  to 
return  immediately.  Now  Paul  came  at  a  more  peaceful  period 
of  the  Church's  history,  to  be  received  as  the  successful  champion 
of  the  gospel  and  as  the  leader  of  the  greatest  revolution  which 
the  world  has  seen.  It  was  now  undeniable  that  Christianity  had 
spread  to  a  wide  extent  in  the  Gentile  world,  and  that  he  had 
been  the  great  instrument  in  advancing  its  progress.  He  came  to 
defend  his  own  principles  and  practice  against  an  increasing 


186  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


torrent  of  opposition,  which  had  disturbed  him  in  his  distant 
ministrations  at  Antioch,  but  the  fountain-head  of  which  was 
among  the  Pharisees  at  Jerusalem. 

The  Pharisees  had  been  the  companions  of  PauFs  younger  days. 
Death  had  made  many  changes  in  the  course  of  fifteen  years,  but 
some  must  have  been  there  who  had  studied  with  him  "at  the 
feet  of  Gamaliel."  Their  opposition  was  doubtless  embittered  by 
remembering  what  he  had  been  before  his  conversion.  Nor  do  we 
allude  here  to  those  Pharisees  who  opposed  Christianity.  These 
were  not  the  enemies  whom  Paul  came  to  resist.  The  time  was 
when  the  Jews,  unassisted  by  the  Roman  power,  could  exercise  a 
cruel  tyranny  over  the  Church.  Its  safety  was  no  longer  depend- 
ent on  the  wisdom  or  caution  of  Gamaliel.  The  great  debates  at 
Jerusalem  are  no  longer  between  Jews  and  Christians  in  the 
Hellenistic  synagogues,  but  between  the  Judaizing  and  spiritual 
parties  of  the  Christians  themselves.  Many  of  the  Pharisees, 
after  the  example  of  Paul,  had  believed  that  Jesus  was  Christ. 
But  they  had  not  followed  the  example  of  their  school-companion 
in  the  surrender  of  Jewish  bigotry.  The  battle,  therefore,  which 
had  once  been  fought  without  was  now  to  be  renewed  within  the 
Church.  It  seems  that  at  the  very  first  reception  of  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas at  Jerusalem  some  of  these  Pharisaic  Christians  "rose  up'' 
and  insisted  that  the  observance  of  Judaism  was  necessary  to 
salvation.  They  said  that  it  was  absolutely  "needful  to  circum- 
cise" the  new  converts  and  to  "command  them  to  keep  the  Law 
of  Moses."  The  whole  course  of  Paul's  procedure  among  the 
Gentiles  was  here  openly  attacked.  Barnabas  was  involved  in 
the  same  suspicion  and  reproach  ;  and  with  regard  to  Titus,  who 
was  with  them  as  the  representative  of  the  Gentile  Church,  it 
was  asserted  that  without  circumcision  he  could  not  hope  to  be 
partaker  of  the  blessings  of  the  gospel. 

But  far  more  was  involved  than  any  mere  opposition,  however 
factious,  to  individual  missionaries,  or  than  the  severity  of  any 
conditions  imposed  on  individual  converts.  The  question  of 
liberty  or  bondage  for  all  future  ages  was  to  be  decided,  and  a 
convention  of  the  whole  Church  at  Jerusalem  was  evidently 
called  for.  In  the  mean  time,  before  "the  apostles  and  elders  came 
together  to  consider  of  this  matter,"  Paul  had  private  conferences 
with  the  more  influential  members  of  the  Christian  community, 
and  especially  with  James,  Peter,  and  John,  the  great  apostles 


THE  SPEECH  OF  PETER. 


187 


an4  "pillars"  of  the  Church.  Great  caution  and  management 
were  required  in  consequence  of  the  intrigues  of  the  "false 
brethren"  both  in  Jerusalem  and  Antioch.  He  was,  moreover, 
himself  the  great  object  of  suspicion,  and  it  was  his  duty  to  use 
every  effort  to  remove  the  growing  prejudice.  Thus,  though  con- 
scious of  his  own  inspiration  and  tenaciously  holding  the  truth 
which  he  knew  to  be  essential,  he  yet  acted  with  that  prudence 
which  was  characteristic  of  his  whole  life,  and  which  he  honestly 
avows  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians. 

If  we  may  compare  our  own  feeble  imitations  of  apostolic  zeal 
and  prudence  with  the  proceedings  of  the  first  founders  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  we  may  say  that  these  preliminary  conferences 
were  like  the  private  meetings  which  prepare  the  way  for  a  great 
religious  assembly  in  our  own  country.  Paul  and  Barnabas  had 
been  deputed  from  Antioch ;  Titus  was  with  them  as  a  sample  of 
Gentile  conversions,  and  a  living  proof  of  their  reality;  and  the 
great  end  in  view  was  to  produce  full  conviction  in  the  Church  at 
large.  At  length  the  great  meeting  was  summoned  which  was  to 
settle  the  principles  of  missionary  action  among  the  Gentiles.  It 
was  a  scene  of  earnest  debate,  and  perhaps,  in  its  earlier  portion, 
of  angry  "disputing  but  the  passages  which  the  Holy  Spirit  has 
caused  to  be  recorded  for  our  instruction  are  those  which  relate  to 
the  apostles  themselves — the  address  of  Peter,  the  narrative  of 
Barnabas  and  Paul,  and  the  concluding  speech  of  James.  These 
three  passages  must  be  separately  considered  in  the  order  of 
Scripture. 

Peter  was  the  first  of  the  apostles  who  rose  to  address  the 
assembly.  He  gave  his  decision  against  the  Judaizers  and  in  favor 
of  Paul.  He  reminded  his  hearers  of  the  part  which  he  himself 
had  taken  in  admitting  the  Gentiles  into  the  Christian  Church. 
They  were  well  aware,  he  said,  that  these  recent  converts  in  Syria 
and  Cilicia  were  not  the  first  heathens  who  had  believed  the  gospel, 
and  that  he  himself  had  been  chosen  by  God  to  begin  the  work 
which  Paul  had  only  been  continuing.  The  communication  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  was  the  true  test  of  God's  acceptance,  and  God  had 
shown  that  he  was  no  respecter  of  persons  by  shedding  abroad  the 
same  miraculous  gifts  on  Jew  and  Gentile,  and  purifying  by  faith 
the  hearts  of  both  alike.  And  then  Peter  went  on  to  speak,  in 
touching  language,  of  the  yoke  of  the  Jewish  law.  Its  weight  had 
pressed  heavily  on  many  generations  of  Jews,  and  was  well  known 


188 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


to  the  Pharisees  who  were  listening  at  that  moment.  They  had 
been  relieved  from  legal  bondage  by  the  salvation  offered  through 
faith,  and  it  would  be  tempting  God  to  impose  on  others  a  burden 
which  neither  they  nor  their  fathers  had  ever  been  able  to  bear. 

The  next  speakers  were  Paul  and  Barnabas.  There  was  grea^ 
silence  through  all  the  multitude,  and  every  eye  was  turned  on  the 
missionaries  while  they  gave  the  narrative  of  their  journeys. 
Though  Barnabas  is  mentioned  here  before  Paul,  it  is  most  likely 
that  the  latter  was  "  the  chief  speaker."  But  both  of  them  appear 
to  have  addressed  the  audience.  They  had  much  to  relate  of  what 
they  had  done  and  seen  together,  and  especially  they  made  appeal 
to  the  miracles  which  God  had  worked  among  the  Gentiles  by 
them.  Such  an  appeal  must  have  been  a  persuasive  argument  to 
the  Jew,  who  was  familiar  in  his  ancient  Scriptures  with  many 
divine  interruptions  of  the  course  of  Nature.  These  interferences 
had  signalized  all  the  great  passages  of  Jewish  history.  Jesus 
Christ  had  proved  his  divine  mission  in  the  same  manner.  And 
the  events  at  Paphos,  at  Iconium,  and  Lystra  could  not  well  be 
regarded  in  any  other  light  than  as  a  proof  that  the  same  power 
had  been  with  Paul  and  Barnabas  which  accompanied  the  words 
of  Peter  and  John  in  Jerusalem  and  Judaea. 

But  the  opinion  of  another  speaker  still  remained  to  be  given. 
This  was  James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord,  who,  from  the  austere 
sanctity  of  his  character,  was  commonly  called,  both  by  Jews  and 
Christians,  "James  the  Just."  No  judgment  could  have  such 
weight  with  the  Judaizing  party  as  his.  Not  only  in  the  vehement 
language  in  which  he  denounced  the  sins  of  the  age,  but  even  in 
garb  and  appearance,  he  resembled  John  the  Baptist  or  one  of  the 
older  prophets,  rather  than  the  other  apostles  of  the  new  dispensa- 
tion. "  Like  the  ancient  saints  even  in  outward  aspect,  with  the 
austere  features,  the  linen  ephod,  the  bare  feet,  the  long  locks  and 
unshorn  beard  of  the  Nazarite," — such,  according  to  tradition,  was 
the  man  who  now  came  forward  and  solemnly  pronounced  the 
Mosaic  rites  were  not  of  eternal  obligation.  After  alluding  to  the 
argument  of  Peter  (whose  name  we  find  him  characteristically 
quoting  in  its  Jewish  form),  he  turns  to  the  ancient  prophets  and 
adduces  a  passage  from  Amos  to  prove  that  Christianity  is  the 
fulfilment  of  Judaism.  And  then  he  passes  to  the  historical 
aspect  of  the  subject,  contending  that  this  fulfilment  was  prede- 
termined by  God  himself,  and  that  the  Jewish  dispensation  was  in 


THE  DECREE  OF  THE  COlf^^xjLh. 


189 


truth  the  preparation  for  the  Christian.  Such  a  decision,  pro- 
nounced by  one  who  stood  emphatically  on  the  confines  of  the  two 
dispensations,  came  with  great  force  on  all  who  heard  ♦it,  and 
carried  with  it  the  general  opinion  of  the  assembly  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  those  "  who  from  among  the  Gentiles  had  turned  unto 
God''  should  not  be  "troubled"  with  any  Jewish  obligations, 
except  such  as  were  necessary  for  peace  and  the  mutual  good 
understanding,  of  the  two  parties. 

The  spirit  of  charity  and  mutual  forbearance  is  very  evident  in 
the  decree  which  was  finally  enacted.  Its  spirit  was  that  expressed 
by  Paul  in  his  Epistles  to  the  Romans  and  Corinthians.  He  knew, 
and  was  persuaded  by  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  nothing  is  unclean  of 
itself,  but  to  him  that  esteemeth  anything  to  be  unclean,  to  him  it 
is  unclean.  He  knew  that  an  idol  is  nothing  in  the  world,  and 
that  there  is  none  other  God  but  one,  but  all  men  have  not  this 
knowledge;  some  could  not  eat  that  which  had  been  offered  in 
sacrifice  to  an  idol  without  defiling  their  conscience.  It  is  good  to 
abstain  from  everything  whereby  a  weaker  brother  may  be  led  to 
stumble.  To  sin  thus  against  our  brethren  is  to  sin  against  Christ 
(Rom.  xiv.).  In  accordance  with  these  principles,  it  was  enacted 
that  the  Gentile  converts  should  be  required  to  abstain  from  that 
which  had  been  polluted  by  being  offered  in  sacrifice  to  idols,  from 
the  flesh  of  animals  which  had  been  strangled,  and  generally 
from  the  eating  of  blood.  The  reason  for  these  conditions  is  stated 
in  the  verse  to  which  particular  allusion  has  been  made  at  the 
beginning  of  the  present  chapter.  The  Law  of  Moses  was  read 
every  sabbath  in  all  the  cities  where  the  Jews  were  dispersed  (Acts 
XV.  21).  A  due  consideration  for  the  prejudices  of  the  Jews  made 
it  reasonable  for  the  Gentile  converts  to  comply  with  some  of  the 
restrictions  which  the  Mosaic  Law  and  ancient  custom  had  imposed 
on  every  Jewish  meal.  In  no  other  way  could  social  intercourse 
be  built  up  and  cemented  between  the  two  parties.  If  some 
forbearance  was  requisite  on  the  part  of  the  Gentiles  in  complying 
with  such  coftditions,  not  less  forbearance  was  required  from  the 
Jews  in  exacting  no  more.  And  to  the  Gentiles  themselves 
the  restrictions  were  a  merciful  condition,  for  they  helped  them  to 
disentangle  themselves  more  easily  from  the  pollutions  connected 
with  their  idolatrous  life.  We  are  not  merely  concerned  here  with 
the  question  of  social  separation — the  food  which  was  a  delicacy 
to  the  Gentile  being  abominated  by  the  Jew — nor  with  the  diffi- 


190          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


culties  of  weak  and  scrupulous  consciences,  who  might  fear  too 
close  a  contact  between  "the  table  of  the  Lord"  and  "the  table 
of  demons ; "  but  this  controversy  had  an  intimate  connection 
with  the  principles  of  universal  morality.  The  most  shameless 
violations  of  purity  took  place  in  connection  with  the  sacrifices 
and  feasts  celebrated  in  honor  of  heathen  divinities.  Everything, 
therefore,  which  tended  to  keep  the  Gentile  converts  even  from 
accidental  or  apparent  association  with  these  scenes  of  vice,  made 
their  own  recovery  from  pollution  more  easy,  and  enabled  the 
Jewish  converts  to  look  on  their  new  Christian  brethren  with  less 
suspicion  and  antipathy.  This  seems  to  be  the  reason  why  we  find 
an  acknowledged  sin  mentioned  in  the  decree  along  with  cere- 
monial observances  which  were  meant  to  be  only  temporary  and 
perhaps  local.  We  must  look  on  the  whole  subject  from  the 
Jewish  point  of  view,  and  consider  how  violations  of  morality  and 
contradictions  of  the  ceremonial  law  were  associated  together  in 
the  Gentile  world.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  remark  that  much 
additional  emphasis  is  given  to  the  moral  part  of  the  decree  when 
we  remember  that  it  was  addressed  to  those  who  lived  in  close 
proximity  to  the  profligate  sanctuaries  of  Antioch  and  Paphos. 

We  have  said  that  the  ceremonial  part  of  the  decree  was  intended 
for  a  temporary,  and  perhaps  only  a  local,  observance.  It  is  not 
for  a  moment  implied  that  any  Jewish  ceremony  is  necessary  to 
salvation.  On  the  contrary,  the  great  principle  was  asserted,  once 
for  all,  that  man  is  justified  not  by  the  Law,  but  by  faith ;  one  im- 
mediate result  was  that  Titus,  the  companion  of  Paul  and  Barnabas, 
"  was  not  compelled  to  be  circumcised."  His  case  was  not  like  that 
of  Timothy  at  a  later  period,  whose  circumcision  was  a  prudential 
accommodation  to  circumstances,  without  endangering  the  truth 
of  the  gospel.  To  have  circumcised  Titus  at  the  time  of  the  meet- 
ing in  Jerusalem  would  have  been  to  have  asserted  that  he  was 
"bound  to  keep  the  whole  Law."  And  when  the  alternative  was 
between  "the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free"  and  the 
reimposition  of  "the  yoke  of  bondage,"  PauPs  language  always 
was  that  if  Gentile  converts  were  circumcised  Christ  could  "profit 
them  nothing."  By  seeking  to  be  justified  in  the  Law  they  fell 
from  grace  (Gal.  v.  4).  In  this  firm  refusal  to  comply  with  the 
demand  of  the  Judaizers  the  case  of  all  future  converts  from 
heathenism  was  virtually  involved.  It  was  asserted  once  for  all 
that  in  the  Christian  Church  there  is  "neither  Greek  nor  Jew, 


MEETING  OF  PAUL  AND  JOHN. 


191 


circumcision  nor  uncircumcision,  barbarian,  Scythian,  bond,  nor 
free;  but  that  Christ  is  all  and  in  air'  (Col.  iii.  11).  And  Paul 
obtained  the  victory  for  that  principle  which,  we  cannot  doubt, 
will  hereafter  destroy  the  distinctions  that  are  connected  with  the 
institution  of  caste  in  India. 

Certain  other  points  decided  in  this  meeting  had  a  more  direct 
personal  reference  to  Paul  himself.  His  own  independent  mission 
had  been  called  in  question.  Some,  perhaps,  said  that  he  was 
antagonistic  to  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem,  others  that  he  was  en- 
tirely dependent  on  them.  All  the  Judaizers  agreed  in  blaming 
his  course  of  procedure  among  the  Gentiles.  This  course  was  now 
entirely  approved  by  the  other  apostles.  His  independence  was 
fully  recognized.  Those  who  were  universally  regarded  as  "  pillars 
of  the  truth,"  James,  Peter,  and  John,  gave  to  him  and  Barnabas 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  and  agreed  that  they  should  be  to  the 
heathen  what  themselves  were  to  the  Jews.  Thus  was  Paul  pub- 
licly acknowledged  as  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  and  openly  placed 
in  that  position  from  which  "  he  shall  never  more  go  out,"  as  a 
pillar  of  the  temple  of  the  "  New  Jerusalem,"  inscribed  with  the 
new  Name  "  which  proclaims  the  union  of  all  mankind  in  one 
Saviour. 

One  of  those  who  gave  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  to  Paul  was 
the  beloved  disciple"  of  that  Saviour.  This  is  the  only  meeting 
of  Paul  and  John  recorded  in  Scripture.  It  is,  moreover,  the  last 
notice  which  we  find  there  of  the  life  of  John  until  the  time  of 
the  apocalyptic  vision  in  the  island  of  Patmos.  For  both  these 
reasons  the  mind  eagerly  seizes  on  the  incident,  though  it  is  only 
casually  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians.  Like  other 
incidental  notices  contained  in  Scripture,  it  is  very  suggestive  of 
religious  thoughts.  John  had  been  silent  during  the  discussion  in 
the  public  assembly,  but  at  the  close  of  it  he  expressed  his  cordial 
union  with  Paul  in  "the  truth  of  the  gospel."  That  union  has 
been  made  visible  to  all  ages  by  the  juxtaposition  of  their  Epistles 
in  the  same  Sacred  Volume.  They  stand  together  among  the 
pillars  of  the  holy  temple,  and  the  Church  of  God  is  thankful  to 
learn  how  Contemplation  may  be  united  with  Action,  and  Faith 
with  Love,  in  the  spiritual  life. 

To  the  decree  with  which  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  charged  one 
condition  was  annexed,  with  which  they  gladly  promised  to  comply. 
We  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe  that  the  Hebrews  of 


192  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Judaea  were  relatively  poor,  compared  with  those  of  the  Dispersion, 
and  that  the  Jewish  Christians  in  Jerusalem  were  exposed  to  pecu- 
liar suffering  from  poverty ;  and  we  have  seen  Paul  and  Barnabas 
once  before  the  bearers  of  a  contribution  from  a  foreign  city  for 
their  relief.  They  were  exhorted  now  to  continue  the  same  char- 
itable work,  and  in  their  journeys  among  the  Gentiles  and  the  dis- 
persed Jews  "  to  remember  the  poor  "  at  Jerusalem.  In  proof  of 
Paul's  faithful  discharge  of  this  promise,  we  need  only  allude  to 
his  zeal  in  making  "  the  contribution  for  the  poor  saints  at  Jeru- 
salem in  Galatia,  Macedonia,  and  Achaia,  and  to  that  last  journey 
to  the  Holy  Land  when  he  went,  "  after  many  years,"  to  take  ^'  alms 
to  his  nation."  It  is  more  important  here  to  consider  (what  indeed 
we  have  mentioned  before)  the  effect  which  this  charitable  exertion 
would  have  in  binding  together  the  divided  parties  in  the  Church. 
There  cannot  be  a  doubt  that  the  apostles  had  this  result  in  view. 
Their  anxiety  on  this  subject  is  the  best  commentary  on  the  spirit 
in  which  they  had  met  on  this  great  occasion  ;  and  we  may  rest 
assured  that  the  union  of  the  Gentile  and  Jewish  Christians  was 
largely  promoted  by  the  benevolent  efforts  which  attended  the 
diffusion  of  the  apostolic  decree. 

Thus,  the  controversy  being  settled,  Paul's  mission  to  the  Gen- 
tiles being  fully  recognized,  and  his  method  of  communicating  the 
gospel  approved  of  by  the  other  apostles,  and  the  promise  being 
given  that  in  their  journeys  among  the  heathen  they  would  remem- 
ber the  necessities  of  the  Hebrew  Christians  in  Judaea,  the  two 
missionaries  returned  from  Jerusalem  to  Antioch.  They  carried 
with  them  the  decree  which  was  to  give  peace  to  the  consciences 
that  had  been  troubled  by  the  Judaizing  agitators,  and  the  two 
companions,  Judas  and  Silas,  who  travelled  with  them,  were  em- 
powered to  accredit  their  commission  and  character.  It  seems  also 
that  Mark  was  another  companion  of  Paul  and  Barnabas  on  this 
journey,  for  the  last  time  we  had  occasion  to  mention  his  name 
was  when  he  withdrew  from  Pamphylia  to  Jerusalem,  and  presently 
we  see  him  once  more  with  his  kinsman  at  Antioch. 

The  reception  of  the  travellers  at  Antioch  was  full  of  joy  and 
satisfaction  (Acts  xv.  31).  The  whole  body  of  the  Church  was 
summoned  together  to  hear  the  reading  of  the  letter,  and  we  can 
well  imagine  the  eagerness  with  which  they  crowded  to  listen,  and 
the  thankfulness  and  "consolation"  with  which  such  a  communi- 
cation was  received  after  so  much  anxiety  and  perplexity.  The 


THE  WORDS  OF  THE  DECREE. 


193 


letter,  indeed,  is  almost  as  interesting  to  us  as  to  them,  not  only 
because  of  the  principle  asserted  and  the  results  secured,  but  also 
because  it  is  the  first  document  preserved  to  us  from  the  acts  of 
the  primitive  Church.  The  words  of  the  original  document,  lite- 
rally translated,  are  as  follows : 

The  Apostles  and  the  Elders,  and  the  Brethren,  to  the  Gen- 
tile Brethren  in  Antioch,  and  Syria,  and  Cicilia,  Greeting: 

"  Whereas  we  have  heard  that  certain  men  who  went  out  from  U8 
have  troubled  you  with  words,  and  unsettled  your  souls  by  telling  you 
to  circumcise  yourselves  and  keep  the  Law,  although  we  gave  them  no 
such  commission ; 

"  It  has  been  determined  by  us,  being  assembled  with  one  accord,  to 
choose  some  from  amongst  ourselves  and  send  them  to  you  with  our  be- 
loved Barnabas  and  Saul,  men  that  have  hazarded  their  lives  for  the 
name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  We  have  sent  therefore  Judas  and 
Silas,  who  themselves  also  will  tell  you  by  word  the  same  which  we  tell 
you  by  letter. 

"  For  it  has  been  determined  by  the  Holy  Ghost  and  by  us,  to  lay 
upon  you  no  greater  burden  than  these  necessary  things :  that  ye  ab- 
stain from  meats  offered  to  idols,  and  from  blood,  and  from  things 
strangled,  and  from  fornication.  Wherefrom  if  ye  keep  yourselves  it 
shall  be  well  with  you.  Farewell." 

The  encouragement  inspired  by  this  letter  would  be  increased  by 
the  sight  of  Judas  and  Silas,  who  were  ready  to  confirm  its  con- 
tents by  word  of  mouth.  These  two  disciples  remained  some  short 
time  at  Antioch.  They  were  possessed  of  that  power  of  "pro- 
phecy" which  was  one  of  the  forms  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
in.ade  his  presence  known,  and  the  Syrian  Christians  were  "ex- 
horted and  confirmed"  by  the  exercise  of  this  miraculous  gift. 
The  minds  of  all  were  in  great  tranquillity  when  the  time  came  for 
the  return  of  these  messengers  "to  the  apostles"  at  Jerusalem. 
Silas,  however,  either  remained  at  Antioch  or  soon  came  back. 
He  was  destined,  as  we  shall  see,  to  become  the  companion  of 
Paul,  and  to  be  at  the  beginning  of  the  second  missionary  journey 
what  Barnabas  had  been  at  the  beginning  of  the  first. 

Two  painful  scenes  were  witnessed  at  Antioch  before  the  apostles 
Btarted  on  that  second  joufhey.  We  are  informed  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas  protracted  their  stay  in  this  city,  and  were  diligently 
occupied,  with  many  others,  in  making  the  glad  tidings  of  the 
13 


194         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

gospel  known  and  in  the  general  work  of  Christian  instruction. 
It  is  in  this  interval  of  time  that  we  must  place  that  visit  of  Peter 
to  Antioch  which  Paul  mentions  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians 
immediately  after  his  notice  of  the  affairs  of  the  council.  It  ap- 
pears that  Peter,  having  come  to  Antioch  for  some  reason  which 
is  unknown  to  us,  lived  at  first  in  free  and  unrestrained  intercourse 
with  the  Gentile  converts,  meeting  them  in  social  friendship  and 
eating  with  them,  in  full  consistency  with  the  spirit  of  the  recent 
decree  and  with  his  own  conduct  in  the  case  of  Cornelius.  At  this 
time  certain  Jewish  brethren  came  "  from  James,''  who  presided 
over  the  Church  at  Jerusalem.  Whether  they  were  really  sent  on 
some  mission  by  the  apostle  James,  or  we  are  merely  to  understand 
that  they  came  from  Jerusalem,  they  brought  with  them  their  old 
Hebrew  repugnance  against  social  intercourse  with  the  uncircum- 
cised,  and  Peter  in  their  society  began  to  vacillate.  In  weak  com- 
pliance with  their  prejudices  he  "withdrew and  separated  himself 
from  those  whom  he  had  lately  treated  as  brethren  and  equals  in 
Christ.  Just  as  in  an  earlier  part  of  his  life  he  had  first  asserted 
his  readiness  to  follow  his  Master  to  death,  and  then  denied  him 
through  fear  of  a  maid-servant,  so  now,  after  publicly  protesting 
against  the  notion  of  making  any  difference  between  the  Jew  and 
the  Gentile,  and  against  laying  on  the  neck  of  the  latter  a  yoke 
which  the  former  had  never  been  able  to  bear,  we  find  him  contra- 
dicting his  own  principles,  and  "  through  fear  of  those  who  were 
of  the  circumcision"  giving  all  the  sanction  of  his  example  to  the 
introduction  of  caste  into  the  Church  of  Christ. 

Such  conduct  could  not  fail  to  excite  in  Paul  the  utmost  in- 
dignation. Peter  w^as  not  simply  yipMing  a  non-essential  point 
through  a  tender  consideration  for  the  consciences  of  others.  This 
would  have  been  quite  in  accordance  with  the  principle  so  often 
asserted  by  his  brother-apostle,  that  *'it  is  good  neither  to  eat  flesh 
nor  drink  wine,  nor  anything  whereby  thy  brother  stumbleth  or 
is  made  weak."  Nor  was  this  precedent  a  prudent  and  innocent 
accommodation  to  circumstances  for  the  sake  of  furthering  the 
gospel,  like  PauFs  conduct  in  circumcising  Timothy  at  Iconium, 
or,  indeed,  like  the  apostolic  decree  itself.  Peter  was  acting  under 
the  influence  of  a  contemptible  and  sinful  motive — the  fear  of 
man ;  and  his  behavior  was  giving  a  strong  sanction  to  the  very 
heresy  which  was  threatening  the  existence  of  the  Church — namely, 
the  opinion  that  the  observance  of  Jewish  ceremonies  was  neces- 


CONTRAST  BETWEEN  PETER  AND  PAUL. 


195 


sary  to  salvation.  Nor  was  this  all.  Other  Jewish  Christians,  as 
was  naturally  to  be  expected,  were  led  away  by  his  example ;  and 
even  Barnabas,  the  chosen  companion  of  the  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, who  had  been  a  witness  and  an  actor  in  all  the  great  trans- 
actions in  Cyprus,  in  Pisidia,  and  Lycaonia, — even  Barnabas  the 
missionary  was  "  carried  away"  with  the  dissimulation  of  the  rest. 
When  Paul  was  a  spectator  of  such  inconsistency,  and  perceived 
both  the  motive  in  which  it  originated  and  the  results  to  which  it 
was  leading,  he  would  have  been  a  traitor  to  his  Master's  cause 
if  he  had  hesitated  (to  use  his  own  emphatic  w^ords)  to  rebuke 
Peter  "before  all,"  and  to  "withstand  him  to  the  face"  (Gal.  ii. 
14,11). 

It  is  evident  from  PauPs  expression  that  it  was  on  some  public 
occasion  that  this  open  rebuke  took  place.  The  scene,  though 
slightly  mentioned,  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  in  sacred  his- 
tory, and  the  mind  naturally  labors  to  picture  to  itself  the  appear- 
ance of  the  two  men.  It  is  therefore  at  least  allowable  to  men- 
tion here  that  general  notion  of  the  forms  and  features  of  the  two 
apostles  which  has  been  handed  down  in  tradition  and  was  repre- 
sented by  the  early  artists.  Paul  is  set  before  us  as  having  the 
strongly-marked  and  prominent  features  of  a  Jew,  yet  not  without 
some  of  the  finer  lines  indicative  of  Greek  thought.  His  stature 
was  diminutive,  and  his  body  disfigured  by  some  lameness  or  dis- 
tortion which  may  have  provoked  the  contemptuous  expressions 
of  his  enemies.  His  beard  w^as  long  and  thin.  His  head  was  bald. 
The  characteristics  of  his  face  were — a  transparent  complexion, 
which  visibly  betrayed  the  quick  changes  of  his  feelings  ;  a  bright 
gray  eye  under  thickly  overhanging,  united  eyebrows;  a  cheerful 
and  winning  expression  of  countenance,  which  invited  the  ap- 
proach and  inspired  the  confidence  of  strangers.  It  w^ould  be 
natural  to  infer,  from  his  continual  journeys  and  manual  labor, 
that  he  was  possessed  of  great  strength  of  constitution.  But  men 
of  delicate  health  have  often  gone  through  the  greatest  exertions, 
and  his  own  words  on  more  than  one  occasion  show  that  he  suffered 
much  from  bodily  infirmity.  Peter  is  represented  to  us  as  a  man 
of  larger  and  stronger  form,  as  his  character  was  harsher  and  more 
abrupt.  The  quick  impulses  of  his  soul  revealed  themselves  in  the 
flashes  of  a  dark  eye.  The  complexion  of  his  face  was  pale  and 
sallow;  and  the  short  hair,  which  is  described  as  entirely  gray  at 
the  time  of  his  death,  curled  black  and  thick  round  his  temples 


196  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

and  his  chin  when  the  two  apostles  stood  together  at  Antiocli, 
twenty  years  before  their  martyrdom. 

Believing,  as  we  do,  that  these  traditionary  pictures  have  prob- 
ably some  foundation  in  truth,  we  gladly  take  them  as  helps  to 
the  imagination.  And  they  certainly  assist  us  in  realizing  a  re- 
markable scene  where  Judaism  and  Christianity,  in  the  persons 
of  two  apostles,  are  for  a  moment  brought  before  us  in  strong 
antagonism.  The  words  addressed  by  Paul  to  Peter  before  the 
assembled  Christians  at  Antioch  contain  the  full  statement  of 
the  gospel  as  opposed  to  the  Law :  "  If  thou,  being  born  a  Jew, 
art  wont  to  live  according  to  the  customs  of  the  Gentiles,  and 
not  of  the  Jews,  why  wouldst  thou  now  constrain  the  Gentiles 
to  keep  the  ordinances  of  the  Jews?  We  are  by  birth  the  seed 
of  Abraham,  and  not  unhallowed  Gentiles ;  yet,  knowing  that  a 
man  is  not  counted  righteous  by  the  works  of  the  Law,  but  by 
the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ,  we  ourselves  also  have  put  our  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus,  that  we  might  be  counted  righteous  by  the  faith  of 
Christ,  and  not  by  the  works  of  the  Law.  For  by  the  works  of 
the  Law  shall  no  man  living  be  counted  righteous.'^  These  sentences 
contain  in  a  condensed  form  the  whole  argument  of  the  Epistles 
to  the  Galatians  and  Romans. 

Though  the  sternest  indignation  is  expressed  in  this  rebuke,  we 
have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  actual  quarrel  took  place  be- 
tween the  two  apostles.  It  is  not  improbable  that  Peter  w^as 
immediately  convinced  of  his  fault,  and  melted  at  once  into 
repentance.  His  mind  was  easily  susceptible  of  quick  and  sud- 
den changes ;  his  disposition  was  loving  and  generous ;  and  we 
should  expect  his  contrition,  as  well  as  his  weakness,  at  Antioch 
to  be  what  it  was  in  the  high  priest's  house  at  Jerusalem.  Yet 
when  we  read  the  narrative  of  this  rebuke  in  Paul's  Epistle,  it  is 
a  relief  to  turn  to  that  passage  at  the  conclusion  of  one  of  Peter's 
letters,  where,  in  speaking  of  the  "long-suffering  of  our  Lord" 
and  of  the  prospect  of  sinless  happiness  in  the  world  to  come,  he 
alludes  in  touching  words  to  the  Epistles  of  our  beloved  brother 
Paul."  We  see  how  entirely  all  past  differences  are  forgotten — 
how  all  earthly  misunderstandings  are  absorbed  and  lost  in  the 
contemplation  of  Christ  and  eternal  life.  Not  only  did  the  Holy 
Spirit  overrule  all  contrarieties,  so  that  the  writings  of  both 
apostles  teach  the  Church  the  same  doctrine,  but  the  apostle  who 
was  rebuked  "  is  not  ashamed  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Church 


NOTE  ON  THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  GAL.  II. 


197 


to  Epistles  in  one  page  of  which  his  own  censure  is  recorded." 
It  is  an  eminent  triumph  of  Christian  humility  and  love.  We 
shall  not  again  have  occasion  to  mention  Peter  and  Paul  together 
until  we  come  to  the  last  scene  of  all.  But,  though  they  might 
seldom  meet  while  laboring  in  their  Master's  cause,  their  lives 
were  united  "  and  in  their  deaths  they  were  not  divided." 


NOTE. 

On  the  Time  of  the  Visit  to  Jerusalem  mentioned  in 
Galatians  (ch.  ii.) 

To  avoid  circumlocution,  we  shall  call  the  visit  mentioned  in 
Gal.  ii.  1  the  Galatian  Visit,  and  we  shall  designate  the  visit  men- 
tioned in  Acts  ix.  as  Visit  (1),  that  in  Acts  xi.  and  xii.  as  Visit  (2)^ 
that  in  Acts  xv.  as  Visit  (3),  that  in  Acts  xviii.  as  Visit  (4),  tha* 
in  Acts  xxi.  as  Visit  (5). 

I.  The  Galatian  Visit  was  not  the  same  with  Visit  (1),  because 
it  is  mentioned  as  subsequent  by  Paul. 

II.  Was  the  Galatian  Visit  the  same  with  Visit  {2)2  The  first 
impression  from  reading  the  end  of  Gal.  i.  and  beginning  of  Gal. 
ii.  would  be  that  it  was ;  for  Paul  seems  to  imply  that  there  had 
been  no  intermediate  visit  between  the  one  mentioned  in  Gal.  i. 
18,  which  was  Visit  (1),  and  that  in  Gal.  ii.  1,  which  we  have  called 
the  Galatian  Visit.  On  the  other  side,  however,  we  must  observe 
that  Paul's  object  in  this  passage  is  not  to  enumerate  all  his  visits 
to  Jerusalem.  His  opponents  had  told  his  converts  that  Paul  was 
no  true  apostle;  that  he  was  only  a  Christian  teacher  authorized 
by  the  Judsean  apostles;  that  he  derived  his  authority  and  his 
knowledge  of  the  gospel  from  Peter,  James,  and  the  rest  of  "the 
Twelve."  Paul's  object  is  to  refute  this  statement.  This  he  does 
by  declaring — firstly,  that  his  commission  was  not  from  men,  but 
from  God  ;  secondly,  that  he  had  taught  Christianity  for  three 
years  without  seeing  any  of  the  Twelve"  at  all ;  thirdly,  that  at 
the  end  of  that  time  he  had  only  spent  one  fortnight  at  Jerusalein 
with  Peter  and  James,  and  then  had  gone  to  Cilicia  and  remained 
personally  unknown  to  the  Judsean  Christians;  fourthly,  that 
fourteen  years  afterward  he  had  undertaken  a  journey  to  Jerusa- 
lem, and  that  he  then  obtained  an  acknowledgment  of  his  inde- 


198         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

pendent  mission  from  the  chief  apostles.  Thus  we  see  that  his 
object  is  not  to  enumerate  every  occasion  where  he  might  possibly 
have  been  instructed  by  "  the  Twelve/'  but  to  assert  (an  assertion 
which  he  confirms  by  oath,  Gal.  i.  20)  that  his  knowledge  of 
Christianity  was  not  derived  from  their  instruction.  A  short 
visit  to  Jerusalem  which  produced  no  important  results  he  might 
naturally  pass  over,  and  especially  if  he  saw  none  of  '^ihe  Twelve'* 
at  Jerusalem  when  he  visited  it.  Now  this  was  probably  the  case 
at  Visit  (2),  because  it  was  just  at  the  time  of  Herod  Agrippa's 
persecution,  which  would  naturally  disperse  the  apostles  from  Je- 
rusalem, as  the  persecution  at  Stephen's  death  did ;  with  regard 
to  Peter  it  is  expressly  said  that  after  his  miraculous  escape  from 
prison  he  quitted  Jerusalem.  This  supposition  is  confirmed  by 
finding  that  Barnabas  and  Saul  were  sent  to  the  elders  [TrpecjSvripovg) 
of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  and  not  to  the  apostles. 

A  further  objection  to  supposing  the  Galatian  Visit  identical 
with  Visit  (2)  is  that  at  the  time  of  the  Galatian  Visit  Paul  and 
Barnabas  are  described  as  having  been  already  extensively  useful 
as  missionaries  to  the  heathen,  but  this  they  had  not  been  in  the 
time  of  Visit  (2). 

Again,  Paul  could  not  have  been,  at  so  early  a  period,  considered 
on  a  footing  of  equality  with  Peter.  Yet  this  he  was  at  the  time 
of  the  Galatian  Visit, 

Again,  Visit  (2)  could  not  have  been  so  long  as  fourteen  years 
after  Visit  (1).  For  Visit  (2)  was  certainly  not  later  than  45  A.  D., 
and  if  it  was  the  same  as  the  Galatian  Visit,  Visit  (1)  must  have 
been  not  later  than  from  31  to  33  A.D.  (allowing  the  inclusive 
Jewish  mode  of  reckoning  to  be  possibly  employed).  But  Aretas 
was  not  in  possession  of  Damascus  till  about  37. 

Again,  if  Visit  (2)  were  fourteen  years  after  Visit  (1),  we  must 
suppose  nearly  all  this  time  spent  by  Paul  at  Tarsus,  and  yet  that 
all  his  long  residence  there  is  unrecorded  by  Luke,  who  merely 
says  that  he  went  to  Tarsus  and  from  thence  to  Antioch. 

III.  The  Galatian  Visit  not  being  identical  with  (1)  or  (2),  was 
it  identical  with  (3),  (4),  or  (5)?  We  may  put  (5)  at  once  out  of 
the  question,  because  Paul  did  not  return  to  Antioch  after  (5), 
whereas  he  did  return  after  the  Galatian  Visit,  There  remain 
therefore  (3)  and  (4)  to  be  considered.    We  shall  take  (4)  first. 

IV.  Wieseler  has  lately  argued  very  ingeniously  that  the  Gala- 
tian Visit  was  the  same  with  (4).    His  reasons  are — firstly,  that  at 


NOTE  ON  THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  GAL.  II.  199 

the  Galatian  Visit  the  apostles  allowed  unlimited  freedom  to  the 
Gentile  converts — i.  e.  imposed  no  conditions  upon  them,  such  as 
those  in  the  decrees  of  the  council  passed  at  Visit  (3).  This,  how- 
ever, is  an  inference  not  warranted  by  PauFs  statement,  which 
speaks  of  the  acknowledgment  of  his  personal  independence,  but 
does  not  touch  the  question  of  the  converts.  Secondly,  Wieseler 
urges  that  till  the  time  of  Visit  (4)  Paul's  position  could  not  have 
been  so  far  on  a  level  with  Peter's  as  it  was  at  the  Galatian  Visit, 
Thirdly,  he  thinks  that  the  condition  of  making  a  collection  for 
the  poor  Christians  in  Jerusalem,  which  Paul  says  he  had  been 
forward  to  fulfil,  must  have  been  fulfilled  in  that  great  collection 
which  we  know  that  Paul  set  on  foot  immediately  after  Visit  (4), 
because  we  read  of  no  other  collection  made  by  Paul  for  this  pur- 
pose. Fourthly,  Wieseler  argues  that  Paul  would  not  have  been 
likely  to  take  an  uncircumcised  Gentile  like  Titus  with  him  to 
Jerusalem  at  a  period  earlier  than  Visit  (4).  And  moreover,  he 
conceives  Titus  to  be  the  same  with  the  Corinthian  Justus,  who  is 
not  mentioned  as  one  of  Paul's  companions  till  Acts  xviii.  7 — that 
is,  not  till  after  Visit  (3). 

It  is  evident  that  these  arguments  are  not  conclusive  in  favor 
of  Visit  (4),  even  if  there  were  nothing  on  the  other  side;  but 
there  are,  moreover,  the  following  objections  against  supposing  the 
Galatian  Visit  identical  with  (4)  :  Firstly,  Barnabas  was  Paul's 
companion  in  the  Galatian  Visit;  he  is  not  mentioned  as  being 
with  him  at  Visit  (4).  Secondly,  had  so  important  a  conference 
between  Paul  and  the  other  apostles  taken  place  at  Visit  (4),  it 
would  not  have  been  altogether  passed  over  by  Luke,  who  dwells 
so  fully  upon  the  council  held  at  the  time  of  Visit  (3),  the  decrees 
of  which  (on  Wieseler's  view)  were  inferior  in  importance  to  the 
concordat  between  Paul  and  the  other  apostles  which  he  supposes 
to  have  been  made  at  Visit  (4).  Thirdly,  the  whole  tone  of  the 
second  chapter  of  Galatians  is  against  Wieseler's  hypothesis,  for 
in  that  chapter  Paul  plainly  seems  to  speak  of  the  first  conference 
which  he  had  held  after  his  success  among  the  heathen  with  the 
chief  apostles  at  Jerusalem,  and  he  had  certainly  seen  and  con- 
ferred with  them  during  Visit  (3). 

V.  We  have  seen,  therefore,  that  if  the  Galatian  Visit  be  men- 
tioned at  all  in  the  Acts,  it  must  be  identical  with  Visit  (3),  at  which 
the  (so-called)  council  of  Jerusalem  took  place.  We  will  now 
consider  the  objections  against  the  identity  of  these  two  visits  urged 


200  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


by  Paley  and  others,  and  then  the  arguments  in  favor  of  the  iden- 
tity: 


Objections  to  the  Identity  of  the  Gala- 
TiAN  Visit  with  Visit  (3). 

1.  Paul  in  Galatians  (ii.  1)  men- 
tions this  journey  as  if  it  had  been  the 
next  visit  to  Jerusalem  after  the  time 
which  he  spent  there  on  his  return 
from  Damascus  ;  he  does  not  say  any- 
thing of  any  intermediate  visit.  This 
looks  as  if  he  were  speaking  of  the 
journey  which  he  took  with  Barnabas 
to  Jerusalem  (Acts  xi.  30)  to  convey 
alms  to  the  Jewish  Christians  in  the 
famine, 

2.  In  the  Galatians  the  journey  is 
said  to  have  taken  place  Kar  anoKd\v\ljLv 
(Gal.  ii.  2),  but  in  Acts  xv.  2-4,  6-12 
a  public  mission  is  mentioned. 


3.  In  the  Galatians,  Barnabas  and 
Titus  are  spoken  of  as  Paul's  compan- 
ions; in  the  Acts,  Barnabas  and 
others  (rire?  aAAot,  Acts  XV.  2)  J  but 
Titus  is  not  mentioned. 


4.  The  object  of  the  visit  in  Acts  xv. 
is  different  from  that  of  the  Galatian 

Visit.  The  object  in  Acts  xv.  was  to 
seek  relief  from  the  imposition  of  the 
Mosaic  Law;  that  of  the  Galatian 

Visit  was  to  obtain  the  recognition  of 
Paul's  independent  apostleship. 


Answei's  to  the  Objections. 
1.  This  objection  is  answered  above. 


2.  The  journey  may  have  taken 
place  in  consequence  of  a  revelation, 
and  yet  may  also  have  been  agreed  to 
by  a  vote  of  the  Church  at  Antioch. 
Thus,  in  Paul's  departure  from  Jeru- 
salem (Acts  ix.  29,  30)  he  is  said  to 
have  been  sent  by  the  brethren  in 
consequence  of  danger  feared;  and 
yet  (Acts  xxii.  17-21)  he  says  that  he 
had  taken  his  departure  in  conse- 
quence of  a  vision  on  the  very  same 
occasion. 

3.  This  argument  is  merely  ex  silen- 
tio,  and  therefore  inconclusive.  In 
the  Acts,  Paul  and  Barnabas  are  natu- 
rally mentioned,  as  being  prominent 
characters  in  the  history.  Whereas 
in  the  Epistle,  Titus  would  naturally 
be  mentioned  by  Paul  as  a  personal 
friend  of  his  own,  and  also  because 
of  his  refusal  to  circumcise  him. 

4.  Both  these  objects  are  implied  in 
each  narrative.  The  recognition  of 
Paul's  apostleship  is  implied  in  Acts 

XV.  25  :  <Tvv  TOt?  dvaTrrjTOt?  >j/ui.a>»'  Bapi^ajSa 
Koi  IlavAaJ  av9 piliir oif;  TrapaSeSwKoat  ray 
xpyxoL*:  cLVTOiu  vnep  tov  6v6/u.oto?  tov  Kvpiov 

rjixiov  'Irjo-ot  XpiaToO.    And  the  relief 


NOTE  ON  THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  GAL.  II. 


201 


5.  In  Acts  XV.  a  public  assembly  of 
the  Church  in  Jerusalem  is  described, 
while  in  the  Galatians  only  private 
interviews  with  the  leading  apostles 
are  spoken  of. 

6.  The  narrative  in  the  Epistle  says 
nothing  of  the  decision  of  the  council 
of  Jerusalem,  as  it  is  commonly  called, 
mentioned  Acts  XV.  Now  this  decision 
was  conclusive  of  the  very  point  dis- 
puted by  the  Judaizing  teachers  in 
Galatia,  and  surely  therefore  would 
not  have  been  omitted  by  Paul  in  an 
argument  involving  the  question,  had 
he  been  relating  the  circumstances 
which  happened  at  Jerusalem  when 
that  decision  was  made. 


from  the  imposition  of  the  Mosaic 
Law  is  implied,  Gal.  ii.  7,  i86vT€<;  ort 

irenicrTCVixai  to  evayyeAtov  ttj?  aKpo^varia^y 

where  the  word  aKpopvo-Tias  shows  that 
the  apostles  at  the  time  of  Paul's  visit 
to  Jerusalem,  mentioned  in  the  Epis- 
tle, acknowledged  that  the  uncircum- 
cised  might  partake  of  to  cvayye'Aiov. 
The  same  thing  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  the  circumcision  of  Titus  was  not 
insisted  on.  We  must  remember  also 
that  the  transactions  recorded  are 
looked  upon  from  different  points  of 
view  in  the  Acts  and  in  the  Epistle  : 
for  Acts  XV.  contains  a  narrative  of  a 
great  transaction  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  while  Paul  in  the  Epistle 
alludes  to  this  transaction  with  the 
object  of  proving  the  recognition  of 
his  independent  authority. 

5.  The  private  interviews  spoken  of 
in  the  Epistle  do  not  exclude  the  sup- 
position of  public  meetings  having 
also  taken  place  :  and  a  communica- 
tion to  the  whole  Church  (avrois,  Gal. 
ii.  2)  is  expressly  mentioned. 

6.  The  narrative  in  Galatians  gives 
a  statement  intended  to  prove  the 
recognition  of  Paul's  independent 
authority,  which  is  sufficient  to  ac- 
count for  this  omission.  Moreover, 
if  Paul's  omission  of  reference  to  the 
decision  of  the  council  proved  that 
the  journey  he  speaks  of  was  prior  to 
the  council,  it  must  equally  prove 
that  the  whole  Epistle  was  written 
before  the  council  of  Jerusalem  ;  yet 
it  is  generally  acknowledged  to  have 
been  written  long  after  the  council. 
The  probable  reason  why  Paul  does 
not  refer  to  the  decision  of  the  council 
is  this:  that  the  Judaizing  teachers 
did  not  absolutely  dispute  that  de- 
cision; they  probably  did  not  declare 


202 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


7.  It  is  inconsistent  to  suppose  that 
after  the  decision  of  the  council  of 
Jerusalem,  Peter  could  have  behaved 
as  he  is  described  doing  (Gal.  ii.  12); 
for  how  could  he  refuse  to  eat  with 
the  uncircumcised  Christians  after 
having  advocated  in  the  council  their 
right  of  admission  to  Christian  fel- 
lowship ? 


the  absolute  necessity  of  circumcision, 
but  spoke  of  it  as  admitting  to  greater 
privileges  and  a  fuller  covenant  with 
God.  The  council  had  only  decided 
that  Gentile  Christians  need  not  ob- 
serve the  Law.  The  Judaizing  party 
might  still  contend  ihi^i  Jewish  Chris- 
tians ought  to  observe  it  (as  we  know 
they  did  observe  it  till  long  afterward). 
And  also  the  decrees  of  the  council 
left  Gentile  Christians  subject  to  the 
same  restrictions  with  the  Proselytes 
of  the  Gate.  Therefore  the  Judaizing 
party  would  naturally  argue  that  they 
were  still  not  more  fully  within  the 
pale  of  the  Christian  Church  than  the 
Proselytes  of  the  Gate  were  within 
that  of  the  Jewish  Church.  Hence 
they  would  urge  them  to  submit  to 
circumcision  by  way  of  placing  them- 
selves in  full  membership  with  the 
Church ;  just  as  they  would  have 
urged  a  Proselyte  of  the  Gate  to  be- 
come a  Proselyte  of  Righteousness. 
Also,  Paul  might  assume  that  the  de- 
cision of  the  council  was  well  known 
to  the  churches  of  Galatia,  for  Paul 
and  Silas  had  carried  it  with  them 
there. 

7.  This  objection  is  founded  on  a 
misunderstanding  of  Peter's  conduct. 
His  withdrawal  from  eating  at  the 
same  table  with  the  uncircumcised 
Christians  did  not  amount  to  a  de- 
nial of  the  decision  of  the  council. 
His  conduct  showed  a  weak  fear  of 
offending  the  Judaizing  Christians 
who  came  from  Jerusalem,  and  the 
practical  effect  of  such  conduct  would 
have  been,  if  persisted  in,  to  separate 
the  Church  into  two  divisions.  Peter's 
conduct  was  still  more  inconsistent 
(see  Winer,  p.  157)  with  the  consent 
which  he  had  certainly  given  pre- 


NOTE  ON  THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  GAL.  11. 


8.  The  Epistle  mentions  Paul  as 
conferring  with  James,  Peter,  and 
John,  whereas  in  Acts  xv.  John  is 
not  mentioned  at  all,  and  it  seems 
strange  that  so  distinguished  a  per- 
son, if  present  at  the  council,  should 
not  have  been  mentioned. 

9.  Since  in  the  Galatians,  Paul 
mentions  James,  Peter,  and  John,  it 
seems  most  natural  to  suppose  that  he 
speaks  of  the  well-known  apostolic 
triumvirate  so  often  classed  together 
in  the  Gospels.  But  if  so,  the  James 
mentioned  must  be  James  the  Greater, 
and  hence  the  journey  mentioned  in 
the  Galatians  must  have  been  before 
the  death  of  James  the  Greater,  and 
therefore  before  the  council  of  Jerusa- 
lem. 


203 

viously  (Gal.  ii.  7-9)  to  the  cvayyckiov 
of  Paul,  and  with  his  previous  con- 
duct in  the  case  of  Cornelius.  We 
may  add  that  whatever  difficulty  may 
be  felt  in  Paul's  not  alluding  to  the 
decrees  of  the  council  in  his  Epistle 
to  the  Galatians  must  also  be  felt  in 
bis  total  silence  concerning  them 
when  he  treats  of  the  question  of 
€l8(,}\6dvTa  in  the  Epistles  to  Corinth 
and  Rome,  for  that  question  had  been 
explicitly  decided  by  the  council.  The 
fact  is,  that  the  decrees  of  the  council 
were  not  designed  as  of  permanent 
authority,  but  only  as  a  temporary 
and  provisional  measure,  and  their 
authority  was  superseded  as  the 
Church  gradually  advanced  toward 
true  Christian  freedom. 

8.  This  argument  is  only  ex  silentio, 
and  obviously  inconclusive. 


9.  This  objection  proceeds  on  the 
mere  assumption  that  because  James 
is  mentioned  first  he  must  be  James 
the  Greater,  whereas  James  the  Less 
became  even  a  more  conspicuous  leader 
of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem  than  James 
the  Greater  had  previously  been,  as 
we  see  from  Acts  xv. ;  hence  he  might 
be  very  well  mentioned  with  Peter 
and  John,  and  the  fact  of  his  name 
coming  first  in  Paul's  narrative  agrees 
better  with  this  supposition,  for  James 
the  Greater  is  never  mentioned  the 
first  in  the  apostolic  triumvirate,  the 
order  of  which  is  Peter,  James,  and 
John ;  but  James  the  Less  would 
naturally  be  mentioned  first  if  the 
council  at  Jerusalem  was  mentioned, 


204  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


since  we  find  from  Acts  xv.  that  he 
took  the  part  of  president  in  that 
counciL 

10.  Paul's  refusal  to  circumcise  Titus  10.  Timothy's  mother  was  a  Jewess, 
(Gal.  ii.)  and  voluntary  circumcising  and  he  had  been  brought  up  a  Jew; 
of  Timothy  (Acts  xviii.  21)  so  soon  whereas  Titus  was  a  Gentile.  The 
afterward.  circumstances  of  Timothy's  circum- 

cision will  be  more  fully  discussed 
hereafter. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  objections  against  the  identity  of  the 
Galatian  Visit  with  Visit  (3)  are  inconclusive.  Consequently,  we 
might  at  once  conclude  (from  the  obvious  circumstances  of  identity 
between  the  two  visits)  that  they  were  actually  identical.  But  this 
conclusion  is  further  strengthened  by  the  following  arguments : 

1.  The  Galatian  Visit  could  not  have  happened  before  Visit  (3), 
because,  if  so,  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem  had  already  granted  to 
Paul  and  Barnabas  the  liberty  which  was  sought  for  the  evayykT^Lov 
TTjQ  aKpopvGTLag ;  therefore  there  would  have  been  no  need  for  the 
Church  to  send  them  again  to  Jerusalem  upon  the  same  cause 
And  again,  the  Galatian  Visit  could  not  have  happened  after  Visit 
(3),  because  almost  immediately  after  that  period  Paul  and  Bar- 
nabas ceased  to  work  together  as  missionaries  to  the  Gentiles 
whereas  up  to  the  time  of  the  Galatian  Visit  they  had  been  work- 
ing together. 

2.  The  chronology  of  PauFs  life  (so  far  as  it  can  be  ascertained i 
agrees  better  with  the  supposition  that  the  Galatian  Visit  was  Visit 
(3)  than  with  any  other  supposition. 

Reckoning  backward  from  the  ascertained  epoch  of  60  A.  D., 
when  Paul  was  sent  to  Rome,  we  find  that  he  must  have  begun  his 
second  missionary  journey  in  51,  and  that,  therefore,  the  council— 
i.  e.  Visit  (3) — must  have  been  either  in  50  or  51.  This  calculation 
is  based  upon  the  history  in  the  Acts.  Now,  turning  to  the  Epis- 
tle to  the  Galatians,  we  find  the  following  epochs  : 

A.  — Conversion. 

B.  — 3  years'  interval  (probably,  Judaically  reckoned  =  2  years). 

C.  — Flight  from  Damascus  and  Visit  (1). 

D.  — 14  years'  interval  (probably,  Judaically  reckoned  =  13 

years). 

E.  — Galatian  Visit. 

And  since  Aretas  was  supreme  at  Damascus  at  the  time  of  the 


NOTE  ON  THE  CHRONOLOGY  OF  GAL.  II. 


205 


flight,  and  his  supremacy  there  probably  began  about  87,  we  could 
not  put  the  flight  at  a  more  probable  date  than  38.  If  we  assume 
this  to  have  been  the  case,  then  the  Galatian  Visit  was  38  +  13  =  51, 
which  agrees  with  the  time  of  the  council — i.  e.  Visit  (3) — as  above. 

VI.  Hence  w^e  need  not  further  consider  the  views  of  those 
writers  who  (like  Paley  and  Schrader)  have  resorted  to  the  hypoth- 
esis that  the  Galatian  Visit  is  some  supposed  journey  not  recorded 
in  the  Acts  at  all ;  for  we  have  proved  that  the  supposition  of  its 
identity  with  the  third  visit  there  recorded  satisfies  every  necessary 
condition.  Schrader's  notion  is  that  the  Galatian  Visit  was  be- 
tween FmV(4)and  Visit  [5).  Paley  places  it  between  Visit  (S)  and 
Visit  (4).  A  third  view  is  ably  advocated  in  a  discussion  of  the 
subject  (not  published)  which  has  been  kindly  communicated  to 
us.  The  principal  points  in  this  hypothesis  are — that  the  Gala- 
tians  were  converted  in  the  first  missionary  journey,  that  the 
Galatian  Visit  took  place  between  Visit  (2)  and  Visit  (3),  and  that 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  was  written  after  the  Galatian  Visit 
and  before  Vidt  (3).  This  hypothesis  certainly  obviates  some 
difficulties,  and  it  is  quite  possible  (see  next  chapter)  that  the 
Galatian  churches  might  have  been  formed  at  the  time  supposed ; 
but  we  think  the  "fourteen  years"  inconsistent  with  this  view, 
and  we  are  strongly  of  opinion  that  a  much  later  date  must  be 
assigned  to  the  Epistle. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


POLITICAL  DIVISIONS  OF  ASIA  MINOR.— DIFFICULTIES  OF  THE 
SUBJECT. — PROVINCES  IN  THE  REIGNS  OF  CLAUDIUS  AND  NE- 
RO: I.  ASIA;   11.  bithynia;  hi.  pamphylia;  iv.  galatia; 

V.  PONTUS;  VI.  CAPPADOCIA;  VII.  CILICIA. — VISITATION  OF 
THE  CHURCHES  PROPOSED. — QUARREL  AND  SEPARATION  OF 
PAUL  AND  BARNABAS. — PAUL  AND  SILAS  IN  CILICIA. — THEY 
CROSS  THE  TAURUS. — LYSTRA. — TIMOTHY. — HIS  CIRCUMCISION. 
—JOURNEY  THROUGH  PHRYGIA. — SICKNESS  OF  PAUL. — HIS 
RECEPTION  IN  GALATIA. — JOURNEY  TO  THE  MGEA^, — ALEX- 
ANDRIA TROAS. — PAUL'S  VISION. 

The  life  of  Paul  being  that  of  a  traveller,  and  our  purpose  being 
to  give  a  picture  of  the  circumstances  by  which  he  was  surrounded, 
it  is  often  necessary  to  refer  to  the  geography,  both  physical  and 
political,  of  the  countries  through  which  he  passed.  This  is  more 
needful  in  the  case  of  Asia  Minor,  not  only  because  it  was  the 
scene  of  a  very  great  portion  of  his  journeys,  but  because  it  is  less 
known  to  ordinary  readers  than  Palestine,  Italy,  or  Greece.  We 
have  already  described  at  some  length  the  physical  geography 
of  those  southern  districts  which  are  in  the  immediate  neighbor- 
hood of  Mount  Taurus.  And  now  that  the  apostle's  travels  take 
a  wider  range,  and  cross  the  Asiatic  peninsula  from  Syria  to  the 
frontiers  of  Europe,  it  is  important  to  take  a  general  view  of  the 
political  geography  of  this  part  of  the  Roman  empire.  Unless 
such  a  view  is  obtained  in  the  first  place,  it  is  impossible  to  under- 
stand the  topographical  expressions  employed  in  the  narrative,  or 
to  conjtvture  the  social  relations  into  w^hich  Paul  was  brought  in 
the  course  of  his  journeys  through  Asia  Minor. 

It  is,  however,  no  easy  task  to  ascertain  the  exact  boundaries  of 
the  Roman  provinces  in  this  part  of  the  world  at  any  given  date 
between  Augustus  and  Constantine.     In  the  first  place,  thes^ 
boundaries  were  continually  changing.    The  area  of  the  different 
206 


POLITICAL  DIVISIONS  OF  ASIA  MINOR. 


207 


political  districts  was  liable  to  sudden  and  arbitrary  alterations. 
Such  terms  as  "Asia,"  ^* Pamphylia,"  etc.,  though  denoting  the 
extent  of  a  true  political  jurisdiction,  implied  a  larger  or  smaller 
territory  at  one  time  than  another.  And  again,  we  find  the  names 
of  earlier  and  later  periods  of  history  mixed  up  together  in  inex- 
tricable confusion.  Some  of  the  oldest  geographical  terms,  such 
as  "^olis,"  "Ionia,"  "Caria,"  "Lydia,"  were  disappearing  from 
ordinary  use  in  the  time  of  the  apostles,  but  others,  such  as 
"Mysia"  and  "Lycaonia,"  still  remained.  Obsolete  and  existing 
divisions  are  presented  to  us  together,  and  the  common  maps  of  Asia 
Minor  are  as  unsatisfactory  as  if  a  map  of  France  was  set  before  us 
distributed  half  into  provinces  and  half  into  departments.  And 
in  the  third  place,  some  of  the  names  have  no  political  significance 
at  all,  but  express  rather  the  ethnographical  relations  of  ancient 
tribes.  Thus,  "Pisidia"  denotes  a  district  which  might  partly  be 
in  one  province  and  partly  in  another;  and  "Phrygia"  reminds 
us  of  the  difi*usion  of  an  ancient  people,  the  broken  portions  of 
whose  territory  were  now  under  the  jurisdiction  of  three  or  four 
distinct  governors.  Cases  of  this  kind  are,  at  first  sight,  more 
embarrassing  than  the  others.  They  are  not  merely  similar  to  the 
twofold  subdivision  of  Ireland,  where  a  province,  like  Ulster,  may 
contain  several  definite  counties,  but  a  nearer  parallel  is  to  be 
found  in  Scotland,  where  a  geographical  district  associated  with 
many  historical  recollections — such  as  Galloway  or  Lothian — may 
be  partly  in  one  county  and  partly  in  another. 

Our  purpose  is  to  elucidate  the  political  subdivisions  of  Asia 
Minor  as  they  were  in  the  reigns  of  Claudius  and  Nero,  or,  in  other 
words,  to  enumerate  the  provinces  which  existed,  and  to  describe 
the  boundaries  which  were  assigned  to  them,  in  the  middle  of  the 
first  century  of  the  Christian  era.  The  order  we  shall  follow  is 
from  west  to  east,  and  in  so  doing  we  shall  not  deviate  widely  from 
the  order  in  which  the  provinces  were  successively  incorporated  as 
substantive  parts  of  the  Eoman  empire.  We  are  not,  indeed,  to 
suppose  that  Luke  and  Paul  used  all  their  topographical  expres- 
sions in  the  strict  political  sense  even  when  such  a  sense  was  more 
or  less  customary.  There  was  an  exact  usage  and  a  popular  usage 
of  all  these  terms.  But  the  first  step  towards  fixing  our  geographi- 
cal ideas  of  Asia  Minor  must  be  to  trace  the  boundaries  of  the  prov- 
inces. When  this  is  done  we  shall  be  better  able  to  distinguish 
those  terms  which  about  the  year  50  A.  D.  had  ceased  to  have  any 


208  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

true  political  significance,  and  to  discriminate  between  the  techni- 
cal and  the  popular  language  of  the  sacred  writers. 

I.  Asia. — There  is  sometimes  a  remarkable  interest  associated 
with  the  history  of  a  geographical  term.  One  case  of  this  kind  i3 
suggested  by  the  allusion  which  has  just  been  made  to  the  British 
Islands.  Early  writers  speak  of  Ireland  under  the  appellation  of 
'^Scotia.''  Certain  of  its  inhabitants  crossed  over  to  the  opposite 
coast ;  their  name  spread  along  with  their  influence,  and  at  length 
the  title  of  Scotland  was  entirely  transferred  from  one  island  to 
the  other.  In  classical  history  we  have  a  similar  instance  in  the 
name  "  Italy,"  which  at  first  only  denoted  the  southernmost  ex- 
tremity of  the  peninsula ;  then  it  was  extended  so  as  to  include 
the  whole  with  the  exception  of  Cisalpine  Gaul;  and  finally, 
crossing  the  Rubicon,  it  advanced  to  the  Alps,  while  the  name  of 
"  Gaul "  retreated  beyond  them.  Another  instance,  on  a  larger 
scale,  is  presented  to  us  on  the  south  of  the  Mediterranean.  The 
"Africa"  of  the  Romans  spread  from  a  limited  territory  on  the 
shore  of  that  sea  till  it  embraced  the  whole  continent  which  was 
circumnavigated  by  Vasco  da  Gama.  And  similarly  the  term  by 
which  we  are  accustomed  to  designate  the  larger  and  more 
celebrated  continent  of  the  ancient  world  traces  its  derivation  to 
the  "Asian  meadow  by  the  streams  of  the  Cayster"  celebrated  in 
the  poems  of  Homer. 

This  is  the  earliest  occurrence  of  the  word  "Asia."  We  find, 
however,  even  in  the  older  poets,  the  word  used  in  its  widest  sense 
to  denote  all  the  countries  in  the  far  East.  Either  the  Greeks, 
made  familiar  with  the  original  Asia  by  the  settlement  of  theii 
kindred  in  its  neighborhood,  applied  it  as  a  generic  appellation 
to  all  the  regions  beyond  it,  or  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of 
Lydia  from  the  banks  of  the  Cayster  to  the  Halys  as  its  eastern 
boundary  diffused  the  name  of  Asia  as  fiir  as  that  river,  and  thus 
suggested  the  division  of  Herodotus  into  "Asia  within  the  Halys  " 
and  "Asia  beyond  the  Halys."  However  this  might  be,  the  term 
retained  through  the  Greek  and  Roman  periods  both  a  wider  and 
a  narrower  sense;  of  which  senses  we  are  concerned  only  with  the 
latter.  The  Asia  of  the  New  Testament  is  not  the  continent 
which  stretches  into  the  remote  East  from  the  Black  Sea  and  the 
Red  Sea,  but  simply  the  western  portion  of  that  peninsula  which 
in  modern  times  has  received  the  name  of  "Asia  Minor."  Whal 


PROVINCE  OF  ASIA. 


209 


extent  of  country  and  what  political  significance  we  are  to  assign 
to  the  term  will  be  shown  by  a  statement  of  a  few  historical 
changes. 

The  fall  of  Croesus  reduced  the  Lydian  kingdom  to  a  Persian 
satrapy.  With  the  rest  of  the  Persian  empire  this  region  west  of 
the  Halys  fell  before  the  armies  of  Alexander.  In  the  confusion 
which  followed  the  conqueror's  death  an  independent  dynasty 
established  itself  at  Pergamus,  not  far  from  the  site  of  ancient 
Troy.  At  first  its  territory  was  narrow,  and  Attains  I.  had  to 
struggle  with  the  Gauls,  who  had  invaded  the  peninsula,  and 
with  the  neighboring  chieftains  of  Bithynia,  w^ho  had  invited 
them.  Antagonists  still  more  formidable  were  the  Greek  kings 
of  Syria,  who  claimed  to  be  "kings  of  Asia''  and  aimed  at  the 
possession  of  the  whole  of  the  peninsula.  But  the  Romans  ap- 
peared in  the  East  and  ordered  Antiochus  to  retire  beyond  the 
Taurus,  and  then  conferred  substantial  rewards  on  their  faithful 
allies.  Rhodes  became  the  mistress  of  Caria  and  Lycia  on  the 
opposite  coast,  and  Eumenes,  the  son  of  Attains,  received  in  the 
west  and  north-west  Lydia  and  Mysia,  and  a  good  portion  of  that 
vague  region  in  the  interior  which  was  usually  denominated 
"  Phrygia,"  stretching  in  one  direction  over  the  district  of  Lycao- 
nia.  Then  it  was  that,  as  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  since  the 
margraves  of  Brandenburg  became  kings  of  Prussia,  so  the  princes 
of  Pergamus  became  "  kings  of  Asia."  For  a  time  they  reigned 
over  a  highly-civilized  territory  which  extended  from  sea  to  sea. 

The  library  of  Pergamus  was  the  rival  of  that  of  Alexandria, 
and  Attaleia,  from  whence  we  have  lately  seen  the  apostle  sailing 
to  Syria  (Acts  xiv.  25,  26),  and  Troas,  from  whence  we  shall 
presently  see  him  sailing  to  Europe  (Acts  xvi.  11),  were  the 
southern  and  northern  (or  rather  the  eastern  and  western)  harbors 
of  King  Attains  II.  At  length  the  debt  of  gratitude  to  the 
Romans  was  paid  by  King  Attains  III.,  who  died  in  the  year  133, 
and  left  by  testament  the  whole  of  his  dominions  to  the  bene- 
factors of  his  house.  And  now  the  province  of  Asia^'  appears 
for  the  first  time  as  a  new  and  significant  term  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  The  newly-acquired  possession  was  placed  under  a 
praetor,  and  ultimately  a  proconsul.  The  letters  and  speeches  of 
Cicero  make  us  familiar  with  the  names  of  more  than  one  who 
enjoyed  this  distinction.  One  was  the  orator's  brother  Quintus ; 
another  was  Flaccus,  whose  conduct  as  governor  he  defended 
14 


210         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

before  the  senate.  Some  slight  changes  in  the  extent  of  the  prov- 
ince may  be  traced.  Pamphylia  was  withdrawn  from  this 
jurisdiction,  Rhodes  lost  her  continental  possessions,  and  Caria 
was  added  to  Asia,  while  Lycia  was  declared  independent.  The 
boundary  on  the  side  of  Phrygia  is  not  easily  determined,  and 
was  probably  variable.  But  enough  has  been  said  to  give  a 
general  idea  of  what  is  meant  in  the  New  Testament  by  that 
^^Asia^*  which  Paul  attempted  to  enter  after  passing  through 
Phrygia  and  Galatia ;  which  Peter  addressed  in  his  First  Epistle, 
along  with  Pontus,  Cappadocia,  Galatia,  and  Bithynia;  and  which 
embraced  the  "  seven  churches  "  whose  angels  are  mentioned  in 
the  Eevelation  of  John. 

IT.  Bithynia. — Next  to  Asia,  both  in  proximity  of  situation 
and  in  the  order  of  its  establishment,  was  the  province  of  Bithynia. 
Nor  were  the  circumstances  very  different  under  which  these  two 
provinces  passed  under  the  Roman  sceptre.  As  a  new  dynasty 
established  itself  after  the  death  of  Alexander  on  the  north-eastern 
shores  of  the  ^gean,  so  an  older  dynasty  secured  its  independence 
at  the  western  edge  of  the  Black  Sea.  Nicomedes  I.  was  the  king 
who  invited  the  Gauls  with  whom  Attains  I.  had  to  contend ;  and 
as  Attains  III.,  the  last  of  the  house  of  Pergamus,  paid  his  debt 
to  the  Romans  by  making  them  his  heirs,  so  the  last  of  the  Bithyn- 
ian  house,  Nicomedes  III.,  left  his  kingdom  as  a  legacy  to  the 
same  power  in  the  year  75.  It  received  some  accessions  on  the  east 
after  the  defeat  of  Mithridates,  and  in  this  condition  we  find  it  in 
the  list  given  by  Dio  of  the  provinces  of  Augustus;  the  inter- 
mediate land  between  it  and  Asia  being  the  district  of  Mysia, 
through  which  it  is  neither  easy  nor  necessary  to  draw  the  exact 
frontier-line.  Stretching  inland  from  the  shores  of  the  Propontis 
and  Bosphorus,  beyond  the  lakes  near  the  cities  of  Nicsea  and 
Nicomedia,  to  the  upper  ravines  of  the  Sangarius  and  the  snowy 
range  of  Mount  Olympus,  it  was  a  province  rich  in  all  the  changes 
of  beauty  and  grandeur.  Its  history  is  as  varied  as  its  scenery,  if 
we  trace  it  from  the  time  when  Hannibal  was  an  exile  at  the  court 
of  Prusias  to  the  establishment  of  Othman's  Mohammedan  capital 
in  the  city  which  still  bears  that  monarch's  name.  It  was  Ha- 
drian's favorite  province,  and  many  monuments  remain  of  that 
emperor's  partiality.  But  we  cannot  say  more  of  it  without  leaving 
our  proper  subject.    We  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  Paul  ever 


PROVINCE  OF  PAMPHYLIA. 


211 


entered  it,  though  once  he  made  the  attempt.  Except  the  passing 
mention  of  Bithynia  in  this  and  one  other  place,  it  has  no  connec- 
tion with  the  apostolic  writings.  The  first  great  passage  of  its 
ecclesiastical  history  is  found  in  the  correspondence  of  Trajan  with 
its  governor,  Pliny,  concerning  the  persecution  of  the  Christians. 
The  second  is  the  meeting  of  the  first  general  council,  when  the 
Nicene  Creed  was  drawn  up  on  the  banks  of  Lake  Ascanius. 

III.  Pamphylia. — This  province  has  already  been  mentioned 
(Chap.  VI.)  as  one  of  the  regions  traversed  by  Paul  in  his  first 
missionary  journey.  But  though  its  physical  features  have  been 
described,  its  political  limits  have  not  been  determined.  The  true 
Pamphylia  of  the  earliest  waiters  is  simply  the  plain  which  borders 
the  Bay  of  Attaleia,  and  which,  as  we  have  said,  retreats  itself  like 
a  bay  into  the  mountains.  How  small  and  insignificant  this  ter- 
ritory was  may  be  seen  from  the  records  of  the  Persian  war,  to 
which  Herodotus  says  that  it  sent  only  thirty  ships,  while  Lycia 
on  one  side  contributed  fifty,  and  Cilicia  on  the  other  a  hundred. 
Kor  do  we  find  the  name  invested  with  any  wider  significance  till 
we  approach  the  frontier  of  the  Roman  period.  A  singular  dispute 
between  Antiochus  and  the  king  of  Pergamus,  as  to  whether  Pam- 
phylia was  really  within  or  beyond  Mount  Taurus,  was  decided  by 
the  Komans  in  favor  of  their  ally.  This  could  only  be  effected  by 
a  generous  inclusion  of  a  good  portion  of  the  mountainous  country 
within  the  range  of  this  geographical  term.  Henceforward,  if  not 
before,  Pamphylia  comprehended  some  considerable  part  of  what 
was  anciently-called  Pisidia.  We  have  seen  that  the  Romans  united 
it  to  the  kingdom  of  Asia.  It  was  therefore  part  of  the  province 
of  Asia  at  the  death  of  Attains.  It  is  difficult  to  trace  the  steps 
by  which  it  was  detached  from  that  province.  We  find  it  (along 
with  certain  districts  of  Asia)  included  in  the  military  jurisdiction 
of  Cicero  when  he  was  governor  of  Cilicia.  It  is  spoken  of  as  a 
separate  province  in  the  reign  of  Augustus.  Its  boundary  on  the 
Pisidian  side  or  in  the  direction  of  Phrygia  must  be  left  indeterminate. 
Pisidia  was  included  in  this  province,  but,  again,  Pisidia  is  itself 
indeterminate;  and  we  have  good  reasons  for  believing  that  Antioch 
in  Pisidia  was  really  under  the  governor  of  Galatia.  Cilicia  was 
contiguous  to  Pamphylia  on  the  east.  Lycia  was  a  separate  region 
on  the  west,  first  as  an  appendage  to  Rhodes  in  the  time  of  the 
republic,  and  then  as  a  free  state  under  the  earliest  emperors ;  but 


212  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


about  the  very  time  when  Paul  was  travelling  in  these  countries 
Claudius  brought  it  within  the  provincial  system  and  united  it  to 
Pamphylia;  and  monuments  make  us  acquainted  with  a  public 
officer  who  bore  the  title  of  "proconsul  of  Lycia  and  Pamphylia." 

IV.  Galatia. — We  come  now  to  a  political  division  of  Asia 
Minor  which  demands  a  more  careful  attention.  Its  sacred  interest 
is  greater  than  that  of  all  the  others,  and  its  history  is  more  pecu- 
liar. The  Christians  of  Galatia  were  they  who  received  the  apostle 
"  as  if  he  had  been  an  angel," — who,  "  if  it  had  been  possible,  would 
have  plucked  out  their  eyes  and  given  them  to  him,"  and  then  were 

so  soon  removed  "  by  new  teachers  "  from  Him  that  called  them 
to  another  gospel," — who  began  to  "  run  well,"  and  then  were  hin- 
dered,— who  "  were  bewitched  "  by  that  zeal  which  compassed  sea 
and  land  to  make  one  proselyte, — and  were  as  ready,  in  the  fervor 
of  their  party  spirit,  to  "  bite  and  devour  one  another  "  as  they  were 
willing  to  change  their  teachers  and  their  gospels.  It  is  no  mere 
fancy  which  discovers  in  these  expressions  of  Paul's  Epistle  indi- 
cations of  the  character  of  that  remarkable  race  of  mankind  which 
all  writers  from  Caesar  to  Thierry  have  described  as  susceptible  of 
quick  impressions  and  sudden  changes  wdth  a  fickleness  equal  to 
their  courage  and  enthusiasm,  and  a  constant  liability  to  that  dis- 
union which  is  the  fruit  of  excessive  vanity — that  race  which  has 
not  only  produced  one  of  the  greatest  nations  of  modern  times,  but 
which  long  before  the  Christian  era,  wandering  forth  from  their 
early  European  seats,  burnt  Eome  and  pillaged  Delphi,  founded  an 
empire  in  Northern  Italy  more  than  coextensive  with  Austrian 
Lombardy,  and  another  in  Asia  Minor  equal  in  importance  to  one 
of  the  largest  pashalics. 

For  the  "  Galatia^^  of  the  New  Testament  was  really  the  "  GauV^ 
of  the  East.  The  "  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  "  would  more  literally 
and  more  correctly  be  called  the  "  Epistle  to  the  Gauls."  When 
Livy,  in  his  account  of  the  Homan  campaigns  in  Galatia,  speaks 
of  its  inhabitants,  he  always  calls  them  Gauls."  When  the 
Greek  historians  speak  of  the  inhabitants  of  ancient  France,  the 
word  they  use  is  "  Galatians."  The  two  terms  are  merely  the 
Greek  and  Latin  forms  of  the  same  "  barbarian  "  appellation. 

That  emigration  of  the  Gauls  which  ended  in  their  settlement  in 
Asia  Minor  is  less  famous  than  those  which  led  to  the  disasters  in 
Italy  and  Greece,  but  it  is,  in  fact,  identical  with  the  latter  of  these 


PROVINCE  OF  GAL  ATI  A. 


213 


two  emigrations,  and  its  results  were  more  permanent.  The  war- 
riors who  roamed  over  the  Cevennes  or  by  the  banks  of  the  Ga- 
ronne reappear  on  the  Halys  and  at  the  base  of  Mount  Dindymus. 
They  exchange  the  superstitions  of  Druidism  for  the  ceremonies 
of  the  worship  of  Cybele.  The  very  name  of  the  chief  Galatian 
tribe  is  one  with  which  we  are  familiar  in  the  earliest  history  of 
France,  and  Jerome  says  that  in  his  own  day  the  language  spoken 
at  Ancyra  was  almost  identical  with  that  of  Treves.  The  Gala- 
tians  were  a  stream  from  that  torrent  of  barbarians  which  poured 
into  Greece  in  the  third  century  before  our  era,  and  which  recoiled 
in  confusion  from  the  clitFs  of  Delphi.  Some  tribes  had  previously 
separated  from  the  main  army  and  penetrated  into  Thrace.  There 
they  were  joined  by  certain  of  the  fugitives,  and  together  they  ap- 
peared on  the  coasts  which  are  separated  by  a  narrow  arm  of  the 
sea  from  the  rich  plains  and  valleys  of  Bithynia.  The  wars  with 
which  that  kingdom  was  harassed  made  their  presence  acceptable. 
Nicomedes  was  the  Vortigern  of  Asia  Minor,  and  the  two  Gaulish 
chieftains,  Leonor  and  Lutar,  may  be  fitly  compared  to  the  two 
legendary  heroes  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  invasion.  Some  difficulties 
occurred  in  the  passage  of  the  Bosphorus  which  curiously  contrast 
with  the  easy  voyages  of  our  piratical  ancestors.  But  once  estab- 
lished in  Asia  Minor,  the  Gauls  lost  no  time  in  spreading  over  the 
whole  peninsula  with  their  arms  and  devastation.  In  their  first 
crossing  over  we  have  compared  them  to  the  Saxons.  In  their 
first  occupation  they  may  be  more  fitly  compared  to  the  Danes. 
For  they  were  a  movable  army  rather  than  a  nation — encamping, 
marching,  and  plundering  at  will.  They  stationed  themselves  on 
the  site  of  ancient  Troy  and  drove  their  chariots  in  the  plain  of 
the  Cayster.  They  divided  nearly  the  whole  peninsula  among 
their  three  tribes.  They  levied  tribute  on  cities,  and  even  on  kings. 
The  wars  of  the  East  found  them  various  occupation.  They  hired 
themselves  out  as  mercenary  soldiers.  They  were  the  royal  guards 
of  the  kings  of  Syria  and  the  Mamelukes  of  the  Ptolemies  in  Egypt. 

The  surrounding  monarchs  gradually  curtailed  their  power  and 
repressed  them  within  narrower  limits.  First,  Antiochus  Soter 
drove  the  Tectosages,  and  then  Eumenes  drove  the  Trocmi  and 
Tolistoboii,  into  the  central  district  which  afterward  became 
Galatia.  Their  territory  was  definitely  marked  out  and  surrounded 
by  the  other  states  of  Asia  Minor,  and  they  retained  a  geographical 
position  similar  to  that  of  Hungary  in  the  midst  of  its  Slavonic 


214 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


neighbors.  By  degrees  they  coalesced  into  a  number  of  small  con- 
federate states,  and  ultimately  into  one  united  kingdom.  Successive 
circumstances  brought  them  into  contact  with  the  Komans  in 
various  ways — first,  by  a  religious  embassy  sent  from  Rome  to 
obtain  peaceful  possession  of  the  sacred  image  of  Cybele ;  secondly, 
by  the  campaign  of  Manlius,  who  reduced  their  power  and  left 
them  a  nominal  independence ;  and  then  through  the  period  of 
hazardous  alliance  with  the  rival  combatants  in  the  civil  wars. 
The  first  Deiotarus  was  made  king  by  Pompey,  fled  before  Caesar 
at  the  battle  of  Pharsalia,  and  was  defended  before  the  conqueror 
by  Cicero  in  a  speech  which  still  remains  to  us.  The  second 
Deiotarus,  like  his  father,  was  Cicero'^s  friend,  and  took  charge  of 
his  son  and  nephew  during  the  Cilician  campaign.  Amyntas,  who 
succeeded  him,  owed  his  power  to  Antony,  but  prudently  went 
over  to  Augustus  in  the  battle  of  Actium.  At  the  death  of 
Amyntas,  Augustus  made  some  modifications  in  the  extent  of  Gala- 
tia  and  placed  it  under  a  governor.  It  was  now  a  province,  reach- 
ing from  the  borders  of  Asia  and  Bithynia  to  the  neighborhood  of 
Iconium,  Lystra,  and  Derbe,  "  cities  of  Lycaonia." 

Henceforward,  like  the  Western  Gaul,  this  territory  was  a  part 
of  the  Roman  empire,  though  retaining  the  traces  of  its  history 
in  the  character  and  language  of  its  principal  inhabitants.  There 
was  this  difference,  however,  between  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Gaul — that  the  latter  was  more  rapidly  and  more  completely 
assimilated  to  Italy.  It  passed  from  its  barbarian  to  its  Roman 
state  without  being  subjected  to  any  intermediate  civilization. 
The  Gauls  of  the  East,  on  the  other  hand,  had  long  been  familiar 
with  the  Greek  language  and  the  Greek  culture.  Paul's  Epistle 
was  written  in  Greek.  The  contemporary  inscriptions  of  the  prov- 
ince are  usually  in  the  same  language.  The  Galatians  themselves 
are  frequently  called  Gallo-Grecians,  and  many  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  province  must  have  been  of  pure  Grecian  origin.  Another 
section  of  the  population,  the  early  Phrygians,  were  probably 
numerous,  but  in  a  lower  and  more  degraded  position.  The 
presence  of  great  numbers  of  Jews  in  the  province  implies 
that  it  was  in  some  respects  favorable  for  traflSc,  and  it  is  evident 
that  the  district  must  have  been  constantly  intersected  by  the 
course  of  caravans  from  Armenia,  the  Hellespont,  and  the  South. 
The  Roman  itineraries  inform  us  of  the  lines  of  communication 
betwe  n  the  great  towns  near  the  Halys  and  the  other  parts  of 


PONTUS — CAPPADOCIA. 


215 


Asia  Minor.  These  circumstances  are  closely  connected  with  the 
spread  of  the  gospel,  and  we  shall  return  to  them  again  when  we 
describe  Paul's  first  reception  in  Galatia. 

V.  PoNTUS. — The  last  independent  dynasties  in  the  north  of  the 
peninsula  have  hitherto  appeared  as  friendly  or  subservient  to 
the  Roman  power.  Asia  and  Bithynia  were  voluntarily  ceded  by 
Attains  and  Nicomedes,  and  Galatia  on  the  death  of  Amyntas 
quietly  fell  into  the  station  of  a  province.  But  when  we  advance 
still  farther  to  the  East,  we  are  reminded  of  a  monarch  who  pre- 
sented a  formidable  and  protracted  opposition  to  Rome.  The  war 
with  Mithridates  was  one  of  the  most  serious  wars  in  which  the 
republic  was  ever  engaged,  and  it  was  not  till  after  a  long  struggle 
that  Pompey  brought  the  kingdom  of  Pontus  under  the  Roman 
yoke.  In  placing  Pontus  among  the  provinces  of  Asia  Minor  at 
this  exact  point  of  Paul's  life  we  are  (strictly  speaking)  guilty  of 
an  anachronism  ;  for  long  after  the  western  portion  of  the  empire 
of  Mithridates  was  united  partly  with  Bithynia  and  partly  with 
Galatia  the  region  properly  called  Pontus  remained  under  the 
government  of  independent  chieftains.  Before  the  apostle's  death, 
however,  it  was  really  made  a  province  by  Nero.  Its  last  king  was 
that  Polemo  II.  who  was  alluded  to  at  the  beginning  of  this  work 
as  the  contemptible  husband  of  one  of  Herod's  granddaughters. 
In  himself  he  is  quite  unworthy  of  such  particular  notice,  but  he 
demands  our  attention  not  only  because,  as  the  last  independent 
king  in  Asia  Minor,  he  stands  at  one  of  the  turning-points  of  his- 
tory, but  also  because  through  his  marriage  with  Berenice  he  must 
have  had  some  connection  with  the  Jewish  population  of  Pontus, 
and  therefore  probably  with  the  spread  of  the  gospel  on  the  shores 
of  the  Euxine.  We  cannot  forget  that  Jews  of  Pontus  w^ere  at 
Jerusalem  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  that  the  Jewish  Christians  of 
Pontus  were  addressed  by  Peter  in  his  First  Epistle,  and  that  "  a 
Jew  born  in  Pontus"  became  one  of  the  best  and  most  useful 
associates  of  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 

VI.  Cappadocia. — Crossing  the  country  southward  from  the 
birthplace  of  Aquila  towards  that  of  Paul,  we  traverse  the  wide 
and  varied  region  which  formed  the  province  of  Cappadocia, 
intermediate  between  Pontus  and  Cilicia.  The  period  of  its  pro- 
vincial existence  began  in  the  reign  of  Tiberius.    Its  last  king  was 


216          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Archelaus,  the  contemporary  of  the  Jewish  tetrarch  of  the  same 
name.  Extending  from  the  frontier  of  Galatia  to  the  river 
Euphrates,  and  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  chain  of  Taurus,  it 
was  the  largest  province  of  Asia  Minor.  Some  of  its  cities  are 
celebrated  in  ecclesiastical  history.  But  in  the  New  Testament  it 
is  only  twice  alluded  to — once  in  the  Acts,  and  once  in  the  Epistles. 

VII.  CiLiciA. — A  single  province  yet  remains,  in  one  respect 
the  most  interesting  of  all,  for  its  chief  city  was  the  apostle's  native 
town.  For  this  reason  the  reader's  attention  was  invited  long  ago 
to  its  geography  and  history.  It  is  therefore  unnecessary  to  dwell 
upon  them  further.  We  need  not  go  back  to  the  time  when  Ser- 
vilius  destroyed  the  robbers  in  the  mountains  and  Pompey  the 
pirates  on  the  coast.  And  enough  has  been  said  of  the  conspic- 
uous period  of  its  provincial  condition,  when  Cicero  came  down 
from  Cappadocia  through  the  great  pass  of  Mount  Taurus,  and 
the  letters  of  his  correspondents  in  Rome  were  forwarded  from 
Tarsus  to  his  camp  on  the  Pyramus.  Nearly  all  the  light  we  pos- 
sess concerning  the  fortunes  of  Roman  Cilicia  is  concentrated  on 
that  particular  time.  We  know  the  names  of  few  of  its  later  gov- 
ernors. Perhaps  the  only  allusion  to  its  provincial  condition  about 
the  time  of  Claudius  and  Nero  which  we  can  adduce  from  any 
ancient  writer  is  that  passage  in  the  Acts  where  Felix  is  described 
as  inquiring  "of  what  province"  Paul  was.  The  use  of  tlie^strict 
political  term  informs  us  that  it  was  a  separate  province,  but  we 
are  not  able  to  state  whether  it  was  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
senate  or  the  emperor. 

With  this  last  division  of  the  heptarchy  of  Asia  Minor  we  are 
brought  to  the  starting-point  of  Paul's  second  missionary  journey. 
Cilicia  is  contiguous  to  Syria,  and  indeed  is  more  naturally  con- 
nected with  it  than  with  the  rest  of  Asia  Minor.  We  might  illus- 
trate this  connection  from  the  letters  of  Cicero,  but  it  is  more  to 
our  purpose  to  remark  that  the  apostolic  decree  recently  enacted 
at  Jerusalem  was  addressed  to  the  Gentile  Christians  "in  Antioch, 
and  Syria,  and  Cilicia,"  and  that  Paul  and  Silas  travelled  "through 
Syria  and  Cilicia  "  in  the  early  part  of  their  progress. 

This  second  missionary  journey  originated  in  a  desire  expressed 
by  Paul  to  Barnabas  that  they  should  revisit  all  the  cities  where 
they  had  preached  the  gospel  and  founded  cluirches.  He  felt  that 
he  was  not  called  to  spend  a  peaceful  though  laborious  life  at  An- 


VISITATION  OF  THE  CHURCHES  PROPOSED.  217 


tioch,  but  that  his  true  work  was  "far  off  among  the  Gentiles."  He 
knew  that  his  campaigns  were  not  ended — that  as  the  soldier  of 
Jesus  Christ  he  must  not  rest  from  his  warfare,  but  must  "  endure 
hardness that  he  might  please  Him  who  had  called  him.  As  a 
careful  physician  he  remembered  that  they  whose  recovery  from 
sin  had  been  begun  might  be  in  danger  of  relapse;  or,  to  use 
another  metaphor  and  to  adopt  the  poetical  language  of  the  New 
Testament,  he  said,  Come,  let  us  get  up  early  to  the  vineyards  : 
let  us  see  if  the  vine  flourish."  The  words  actually  recorded  as 
used  by  Paul  on  this  occasion  are  these :  "  Come,  let  us  turn  back 
and  visit  our  brethren  in  every  city  where  we  have  announced  the 
word  of  the  Lord,  and  let  us  see  how  they  fare."  We  notice  here, 
for  the  first  time,  a  trace  of  that  tender  solicitude  concerning  his 
converts,  that  earnest  longing  to  behold  their  faces,  which  appears 
in  the  letters  which  he  wrote  afterward  as  one  of  the  most  remark- 
able and  one  of  the  most  attractive  features  of  his  character.  Paul 
was  the  speaker,  and  not  Barnabas.  The  feelings  of  Barnabas  might 
not  be  so  deep  nor  his  anxiety  so  urgent.  Paul  thought  doubtless  of 
the  Pisidians  and  Lycaonians,  as  he  thought  afterward  at  Athens 
and  Corinth  of  the  Thessalonians,  from  whom  he  had  been  lately 
"  taken — in  presence,  not  in  heart — endeavoring  to  see  their  face 
with  great  desire,  night  and  day  praying  exceedingly  that  he  might 
see  their  face,  and  might  perfect  that  which  was  lacking  in  their 
faith."  He  was  "  not  ignorant  of  Satan's  devices."  He  feared 
lest  by  any  means  the  tempter  had  tempted  them  and  his  labor 
had  been  in  vain.  He  "  stood  in  doubt  of  them,"  and  desired  to 
be  present  with  them  "  once  more.  His  wish  was  to  revisit  every 
city  where  converts  had  been  made.  We  are  reminded  here  of  the 
importance  of  continuing  a  religious  work  when  once  begun.  We 
have  had  the  institution  of  presbyters  and  of  councils  brought  be- 
fore us  in  the  sacred  narrative,  and  now  we  have  an  example  of 
that  system  of  church  visitation  of  the  happy  effects  of  which 
we  have  still  some  experience  when  we  see  weak  resolutions 
strengthened  and  expiring  faith  rekindled  in  confirmations  at 
home  or  in  missionary  settlements  abroad. 

This  plan,  however,  of  a  combined  visitation  of  the  churches 
was  marred  by  an  outbreak  of  human  infirmity.  The  two  apostolic 
friends  were  separated  from  each  other  by  a  quarrel,  which  proved 
^hat  they  were  indeed,  as  they  had  lately  told  the  Lystrians,  '^men 
of  like  passions  "  with  others.    Barnabas  was  unwilling  to  under- 


218 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


take  the  journey  unless  he  were  accompanied  hy  his  relation  Mark. 
Paul  could  not  consent  to  the  companionship  of  one  who  "  departed 
from  them  from  Pamphylia,  and  went  not  with  them  to  the  work 
and  neither  of  them  could  yield  his  opinion  to  the  other.  This 
quarrel  was  much  more  closely  connected  with  personal  feelings 
than  that  which  had  recently  occurred  between  Peter  and  Paul, 
and  it  was  proportionally  more  violent.  There  is  little  doubt  that 
severe  words  were  spoken  on  the  occasion.  It  is  unwise  to  be  over- 
anxious to  dilute  the  words  of  Scripture  and  to  exempt  even  apos- 
tles from  blame.  By  such  criticism  we  lose  much  of  the  instruction 
which  the  honest  record  of  their  lives  was  intended  to  convey. 
We  are  taught  by  this  scene  at  Antioch  that  a  good  work  may  be 
blessed  by  God,  though  its  agents  are  encompassed  with  infirmity, 
and  that  changes  which  are  violent  in  their  beginnings,  may  be 
overruled  for  the  best  results.  Without  attempting  to  balance  too 
nicely  the  faults  on  either  side,  our  simplest  course  is  to  believe 
that,  as  in  most  quarrels,  there  was  blame  with  both.  Paul's  natural 
disposition  was  impetuous  and  impatient,  easily  kindled  to  indig- 
nation, and  (possibly)  overbearing.  Barnabas  had  shown  his  weak- 
ness when  he  yielded  to  the  influence  of  Peter  and  the  Judaizers. 
The  remembrance  of  the  indirect  censure  he  then  received  may  have 
been  perpetually  irritated  by  the  consciousness  that  his  position 
was  becoming  daily  more  and  more  subordinate  to  that  of  the 
friend  who  rebuked  him.  Once  he  was  spoken  of  as  chief  of  those 
"prophets  at  Antioch"  among  whom  Saul  was  the  last;  now  his 
name  was  scarcely  heard  except  when  he  was  mentioned  as  the 
companion  of  Paul.  In  short,  this  is  one  of  those  quarrels  in  which, 
by  placing  ourselves  in  imagination  on  the  one  side  and  the  other, 
we  can  alternately  justify  both,  and  easily  see  that  the  purest 
Christian  zeal,  when  combined  with  human  weakness  and  par- 
tiality, may  have  led  to  the  misunderstanding.  How  could  Paul 
consent  to  take  with  him  a  companion  who  would  really  prove  an 
embarrassment  and  a  hinderance  ?  Such  a  task  as  that  of  spreading 
the  gospel  of  God  in  a  hostile  world  needs  a  resolute  will  and  an 
undaunted  courage.  And  the  work  is  too  sacred  to  be  put  in  jeop- 
ardy by  any  experiments.  Mark  had  been  tried  once  and  found 
wanting.  "  No  man,  having  put  his  hand  to  the  plough,  and  look- 
ing back,  is  fit  for  the  kingdom  of  God."  And  Barnabas  would 
not  be  without  strong  arguments  to  defend  the  justice  of  his  claims. 
It  was  hard  to  expect  him  to  resign  his  interest  in  one  who  had 


PAUL  AND  BAENABUS  SEPARATE. 


219 


cost  him  much  anxiety  and  many  prayers.  His  dearest  wish  was 
to  see  his  young  kinsman  approving  himself  as  a  missionary  of 
Christ.  Now,  too,  he  had  been  won  back  to  a  willing  obedience, — 
he  had  come  from  his  home  at  Jerusalem, — he  was  ready  now  to 
face  all  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of  the  enterprise.  To  repel  him 
in  the  moment  of  his  repentance  was  surely  "  to  break  a  bruised 
reed  "  and  to  "  quench  the  smoking  flax." 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  obstinacy  with  which  each 
of  the  disputants,  when  his  feelings  were  once  excited,  clung  to  his 
opinion  as  to  a  sacred  truth.    The  only  course  which  now  remained 
was  to  choose  two  different  paths  and  to  labor  independently,  and 
the  Church  saw  the  humiliating  spectacle  of  the  separation  of  its 
two  great  missionaries  to  the  heathen.    We  cannot,  however,  sup- 
pose that  Paul  and  Barnabas  parted  like  enemies,  in  anger  and 
hatred.    It  is  very  likely  that  they  made  a  deliberate  and  amicable 
arrangement  to  divide  the  region  of  their  first  mission  between  them, 
Paul  taking  the  continental  and  Barnabas  the  insular  part  of  the 
proposed  visitation.    Of  this  at  least  we  are  certain,  that  the  quar- 
rel was  overruled  by  Divine  Providence  to  a  good  result.  One 
stream  of  missionary  labor  had  been  divided,  and  the  regions 
blessed  by  the  waters  of  life  were  proportionally  multiplied.  Paul 
speaks  of  Barnabas  afterward  as  of  an  apostle  actively  engaged  in 
his  Master^s  service.    We  know  nothing  of  the  details  of  his  life 
beyond  the  moment  of  his  sailing  for  Cyprus,  but  we  may  reason- 
ably attribute  to  him  not  only  the  confirming  of  the  first  converts, 
but  the  full  establishment  of  the  Church  in  his  native  island.  At 
Paphos  the  impure  idolatry  gradually  retreated  before  the  presence 
f  Christianity ;  and  Salamis,  where  the  tomb  of  the  Christian 
evite  is  shown,  has  earned  an  eminent  place  in  Christian  history 
hrough  the  writings  of  its  bishop,  Epiphanius.    Mark,  too,  who 
egan  his  career  as  a    minister''  of  the  gospel  in  this  island,  jus- 
•ified  the  good  opinion  of  his  kinsman.    Yet  the  severity  of  Paul 
ay  have  been  of  eventual  service  to  his  character  in  leading  him 
feel  more  deeply  the  serious  importance  of  the  work  he  had  un- 
ertaken.    And  the  time  came  when  Paul  himself  acknowledged, 
with  affectionate  tenderness,  not  only  that  he  had  again  become 
his  ''fellow-laborer,"  but  that  he  was  "profitable  to  the  ministry'^ 
nd  one  of  the  causes  of  his  own  "  comfort." 

It  seems  that  Barnabas  was  the  first  to  take  his  departure.  The 
eeling  of  the  majority  of  the  Church  was  evidently  with  Paul, 


220  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

for  when  he  had  chosen  Silas  for  his  companion  and  was  ready  to 
begin  his  journey,  he  was  specially  "  commended  by  the  brethren 
to  the  grace  of  God."  The  visitation  of  Cyprus  having  now  been 
undertaken  by  others,  his  obvious  course  was  not  to  go  by  sea  in 
the  direction  of  Perga  or  Attaleia,  but  to  travel  by  the  eastern 
passes  directly  to  the  neighborhood  of  Iconium.  It  appears,  more- 
over, that  he  had  an  important  work  to  accomplish  in  Cilicia, 
The  early  fortunes  of  Christianity  in  that  province  w^ere  closely 
bound  up  with  the  city  of  Antioch  and  the  personal  labors  of 
Paul.  When  he  withdrew  from  Jerusalem  "three  years"  after 
his  conversion,  his  residence  for  some  time  was  in  "the  regions 
of  Syria  and  Cilicia."  He  was  at  Tarsus,  in  the  course  of  that 
residence,  w^hen  Barnabas  first  brought  him  to  Antioch.  The 
churches  founded  by  the  apostle  in  his  native  province  must  often 
have  been  visited  by  him,  for  it  is  far  easier  to  travel  from  Antioch 
to  Tarsus  than  from  Antioch  to  Jerusalem,  or  even  from  Tarsus  to 
Iconium.  Thus  the  religious  movements  in  the  Syrian  metropolis 
penetrated  into  Cilicia.  The  same  great  "  prophet"  had  been 
given  to  both,  and  the  Christians  in  both  w^ere  bound  together 
by  the  same  feelings  and  the  same  doctrines.  When  the  Judaizing 
agitators  came  to  Antioch  the  result  was  anxiety  and  perplexity, 
not  only  in  Syria,  but  also  in  Cilicia.  This  is  nowhere  literally 
stated,  but  it  can  be  legitimately  inferred.  We  are,  indeed,  only 
told  that  certain  men  came  down  with  false  teaching  from  Judaea 
to  Antioch.  But  the  apostolic  decree  is  addressed  to  "  the  Gentiles 
of  (7^7^c^a"  as  well  as  those  of  Antioch,  thus  implying  that  the 
Judaizing  spirit,  with  its  mischievous  consequences,  had  been  at 
work  beyond  the  frontier  of  Syria.  And  doubtless  the  attacks  on 
Paul's  apostolic  character  had  accompanied  the  attack  on  apostolic 
truth,  and  a  new  fulfilment  of  the  proverb  was  nearly  realized, 
that  a  prophet  in  his  own  country  is  without  honor.  He  had, 
therefore,  no  ordinary  work  to  accomplish  as  he  went  "through 
Syria  and  Cilicia  confirming  the  churches;"  and  it  must  have  been 
with  much  comfort  and  joy  that  he  was  able  to  carry  with  him  a 
document  emanating  from  the  apostles  at  Jerusalem  which  justi- 
fied the  doctrine  he  had  taught  and  accredited  his  personal  cha- 
l^-cter.  Nor  was  he  alone  as  the  bearer  of  this  letter,  but  Silas 
was  with  him  also,  ready  "to  tell  the  same  things  by  mouth."  It 
is  a  cause  for  thankfulness  that  God  put  it  into  the  heart  of  Silas 
to  "abide  still  at  Antioch"  when  Judas  returned  to  Jerusalem, 


PAUL  AND  SILAS  IN  CILICIA. 


221 


and  to  accompany  Paul  on  his  northward  journey.  For  when  the 
Cilician  Christians  saw  their  countryman  arrive  without  his  com- 
panion Barnabas,  whose  name  was  coupled  with  his  own  in  the 
apostolic  letter,  their  confidence  might  have  been  shaken,  occa- 
sion might  have  been  given  to  the  enemies  of  the  truth  to  slander 
Paul,  had  not  Silas  been  present  as  one  of  those  who  were  author- 
ized to  testify  that  both  Paul  and  Barnabas  were  men  who  had 
hazarded  their  lives  for  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ/' 

Where  "the  churches"  were  which  he  "confirmed"  on  his 
journey,  in  what  particular  cities  of  "  Syria  and  Cilicia,"  we  are 
not  informed.  After  leaving  Antioch  by  the  bridge  over  the 
Orontes,  he  would  cross  Mount  Amaniis  by  the  gorge  which  was 
anciently  called  the  "  Syrian  Gates,"  and  is  now  known  as  the 
Beilan  Pass.  Then  he  would  come  to  Alexandria  and  Issus,  two 
cities  that  were  monuments  of  the  Macedonian  conqueror — one 
as  retaining  his  name,  the  other  as  the  scene  of  his  victory. 
After  entering  the  Cilician  plain  he  may  have  visited  Adana, 
-^gse,  or  Mopsuestia,  three  of  the  conspicuous  cities  on  the  old 
Koman  roads.  With  all  these  places  Paul  must  have  been  more 
or  less  familiar:  probably  there  were  Christians  in  all  of  them, 
anxiously  waiting  for  the  decree,  and  ready  to  receive  the  con- 
solation it  was  intended  to  bring.  And  one  other  city  must 
certainly  have  been  visited.  If  there  were  churches  anywhere  in 
Cilicia,  there  must  have  been  one  at  Tarsus.  It  was  the  metropo- 
lis of  the  province ;  Paul  had  resided  there,  perhaps  for  some 
years,  since  the  time  of  his  conversion  ;  and  if  he  loved  his  native 
place  well  enough  to  speak  of  it  with  something  like  pride  to  the 
Roman  officer  at  Jerusalem,  he  could  not  be  indifferent  to  its 
religious  welfare.  Among  the  "Gentiles  of  Cilicia"  to  whom  the 
letter  which  he  carried  was  addressed,  the  Gentiles  of  Tarsus  had 
no  mean  place  in  his  affections.  And  his  heart  must  have  over- 
flowed with  thankfulness  if,  as  he  passed  through  the  streets  which 
had  been  familiar  to  him  since  his  childhood,  he  knew  that  many 
households  were  around  him  where  the  gospel  had  come  "not  in 
word  only,  but  in  power,"  and  the  relations  between  husband 
and  wife,  parent  and  child,  master  and  slave,  had  been  purified 
and  sanctified  by  Christian  love.  No  doubt  the  city  retained  all  the 
aspect  of  the  cities  of  that  day,  where  art  and  amusement  were 
consecrated  to  a  false  religion.  The  symbols  of  idolatry  remained 
in  the  public  places — statues,  temples,  and  altars — and  the  various 


222         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


"objects  of  devotion"  which  in  all  Greek  towns,  as  well  as  in 
Athens  (Acts  xvii.  23),  were  conspicuous  on  every  side.  But  the  si- 
lent revolution  was  begun.  Some  families  had  already  turned  "  from 
idols  to  serve  the  living  and  true  God."  The  "  dumb  idols  "  to 
which,  as  Gentiles,  they  had  "been  carried  away  even  as  they 
were  led,"  had  been  recognized  as  "nothing  in  the  world,"  and 
been  "  cast  to  the  moles  and  to  the  bats."  The  homes  which  had 
once  been  decorated  with  the  emblems  of  a  vain  mythology  were 
now  bright  with  the  better  ornaments  of  faith,  hope,  and  love. 
And  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  rejoiced  in  looking  forward  to 
the  time  when  the  grace  which  had  been  triumphant  in  the 
household  should  prevail  against  principalities  and  pow- 
ers— wlien  "  every  knee  should  bow  at  the  name  of  Jesus,  and 
every  tongue  confess  that  he  is  Lord,  to  .the  glory  of  God  the 
Father." 

But  it  has  pleased  God  that  we  should  know  more  of  the  details 
of  early  Christianity  in  the  wilder  and  remoter  regions  of  Asia 
Minor.  To  these  regions  the  footsteps  of  Paul  were  turned  after 
ho  had  accomplished  the  work  of  confirming  the  churches  in 
Sjria  and  Cilicia.  The  task  now  before  him  was  the  visitation 
of  the  churches  he  had  formed  in  conjunction  with  Barnabas. 
We  proceed  to  follow  him  in  his  second  journey  across  Mount 
Taurus. 

The  vast  mountain-barrier  which  separates  the  sunny  plains  of 
Cilicia  and  Pamphylia  from  the  central  table-land  has  frequently 
been  mentioned.  On  the  former  journey  Paul  travelled  from  the 
Pamphylian  plain  to  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  and  thence  by  Iconium 
to  Lystra  and  Derbe.  His  present  course  across  the  mountains 
was  more  to  the  eastward,  and  the  last-mentioned  cities  were 
visited  first.  More  passes  than  one  lead  down  from  Lycaonia  and 
Cappadocia  through  the  chain  of  Taurus  into  Cilicia.  And  it  has 
been  supposed  that  the  apostle  travelled  through  one  of  the  minor 
passes,  which  quits  the  lower  plain  at  Pompeiopolis  and  enters 
the  upland  plain  of  Iconium  not  far  from  the  conjectural  site  of 
Derbe.  But  there  is  no  sufficient  reason  to  suppose  that  he  went 
by  any  other  than  the  ordinary  road.  A  traveller  wishing  to  reach 
the  Valais  conveniently  from  the  banks  of  the  Lago  Maggiore 
would  rather  go  by  the  Simplon  than  by  the  difficult  path  across 
the  Monte  Moro ;  and  there  is  one  great  pass  in  Asia  Minor  which 
may  be  called  the  Simplon  of  Mount  Taurus — described  as  a  rent 


CROSSING  THE  TAURUS.  223 

or  fissure  in  the  mountain-cliam  extending  from  north  to  south 
through  a  distance  of  eighty  miles,  and  known  in  ancient  days  by 
the  name  of  the  ^'Cilician  Gates" — which  has  been  in  all  ages  the 
easiest  and  most  convenient  entrance  from  the  northern  and  cen- 
tral parts  of  the  peninsula  to  the  level  by  the  sea-shore  where  the 
traveller  pauses  before  he  enters  Syria.  The  securing  of  this  pass 
was  the  greatest  cause  of  anxiety  to  Cyrus  w^hen  he  marched  into 
Babylonia  to  dethrone  his  brother.  Through  this  gorge  Alexander 
descended  to  that  Cilician  plain  which  has  been  finely  described 
by  a  Greek  historian  as  a  theatre  made  by  Nature's  hand  for  the 
drama  of  great  battles.  Cicero  followed  in  the  steps  of  Alex- 
ander, as  he  tells  his  friend  Atticus  in  a  letter  written  with  cha- 
racteristic vanity.  And,  to  turn  to  the  centuries  which  have 
elapsed  since  the  time  of  the  apostles  and  the  first  Roman  em- 
perors, tw^ice,  at  least,  this  pass  has  been  the  pivot  on  which  the 
struggle  for  the  throne  of  the  East  seemed  to  turn — once  in  the 
war  described  by  obscure  historians,  when  a  pretender  at  Antioch 
made  the  Taurus  his  defence  against  the  emperor  of  Rome;  and 
once  in  a  war  which  we  remember,  when  a  pretender  at  Alex- 
andria fortified  it  and  advanced  beyond  it  in  his  attempt  to  de- 
throne the  sultan.  In  the  wars  between  the  Crescent  and  the 
Cross  which  have  filled  up  much  of  the  intervening  period  this 
defile  has  decided  the  fate  of  many  an  army.  The  Greek  histor- 
ians of  the  first  Saracen  invasions  describe  it  by  a  word  unknown 
to  classical  Greek,  which  denotes  that  when  this  passage  (between 
Cappadocia  and  Cilicia)  was  secure  the  frontier  was  closed.  The 
Crusaders,  shrinking  from  the  remembrance  of  its  precipices  and 
dangers,  called  it  by  the  more  awful  name  of  the  "Gates  of 
Judas.'' 

Through  this  pass  we  conceive  Paul  to  have  travelled  on  his  way 
from  Cilicia  to  Lycaonia.  And  if  we  say  that  the  journey  was 
made  in  the  spring  of  the  year  51,  we  shall  not  deviate  very  far 
from  the  actual  date.  By  those  who  have  never  followed  the 
apostle's  footsteps  the  successive  features  of  the  scenery  through 
which  he  passed  may  be  compiled  from  the  accounts  of  recent 
travellers  and  arranged  in  the  following  order:  After  leaving  Tar- 
sus the  road  ascends  the  valley  of  the  Cydnus,  which  for  some 
distance  is  nothing  more  than  an  ordinary  mountain-valley,  with 
wooded  eminences  and  tributary  streams.  Beyond  the  point  where 
the  road  from  Adanah  comes  in  from  the  right  the  hills  suddenly 


224  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


draw  together  and  form  a  narrow  pass,  which  has  always  been 
guarded  by  precipitous  cliffs  and  is  now  crowned  by  the  ruins  of  a 
mediaeval  castle.  In  some  places  the  ravine  contracts  to  a  width 
of  ten  or  twelve  paces,  leaving  room  for  only  one  chariot  to  pass. 
It  is  an  anxious  place  to  any  one  in  command  of  a  military  expe- 
dition. To  one  who  is  unburdened  by  such  responsibility  the 
scene  around  is  striking  and  impressive.  A  canopy  of  fir  trees  is 
high  overhead.  Bare  limestone  cliffs  rise  above  on  either  hand  to 
an  elevation  of  many  hundred  feet.  The  streams  which  descend 
towards  the  Cydnus  are  closed  by  the  road,  and  here  and  there 
undermine  it  or  wash  over  it.  When  the  higher  and  more  distant 
of  these  streams  are  left  behind,  the  road  emerges  upon  an  open 
and  elevated  region  four  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
This  space  of  high  land  may  be  considered  as  dividing  the  whole 
mountain-journey  into  two  parts,  for  when  it  is  passed  the  streams 
are  seen  to  flow  in  a  new  direction.  Not  that  we  have  attained 
the  point  where  the  highest  land  of  Asia  Minor  turns  the  waters 
north  and  south.  The  torrents  which  are  seen  descending  to  the 
right  are  merely  the  tributaries  of  the  Sarus,  another  river  of 
Cilicia.  The  road  is  conducted  northward  through  this  new 
ravine;  and  again  the  rocks  close  in  upon  it,  with  steep  naked 
cliffs,  among  cedars  and  pines,  forming  "  an  intricate  defile  which 
a  handful  of  men  might  convert  into  another  Thermopylae."  When 
the  highest  peaks  of  Taurus  are  left  behind  the  road  to  Tyana  is 
continued  in  the  same  northerly  direction,  while  that  to  Iconium 
takes  a  turn  to  the  left,  and  passes  among  wooded  slopes  with 
rocky  projections  and  over  ground  comparatively  level  to  the  great 
Lycaonian  plain. 

The  whole  journey  from  Tarsus  to  Konieh  is  enough  in  modern 
times  to  occupy  four  laborious  days,  and  from  the  nature  of  the 
ground  the  time  required  can  never  have  been  much  less.  The  road, 
however,  was  doubtless  more  carefully  maintained  in  the  time  of  Paul 
than  at  the  present  day,  when  it  is  only  needed  by  Tartar  couriers 
and  occasional  traders.  Antioch  and  Ephesus  had  a  more  system- 
atic civilization  than  Aleppo  or  Smyrna,  and  the  governors  of 
Cilicia,  Cappadocia,  and  Galatia  were  more  concerned  than  a 
modern  pasha  in  keeping  up  the  lines  of  internal  communication. 
At  various  parts  of  the  journey  from  Tarsus  to  Iconium  traces  of 
the  old  military  way  are  visible — marks  of  ancient  chiselling,  sub- 
structions, and  pavement,  stones  that  have  fallen  over  into  the 


ICONIUM,  LYSTRA,  AND  DEEBE. 


225 


rugged  river-bed,  and  sepulchres  hewn  out  in  the  cliffs  or  erected 
on  the  level  ground.  Some  such  traces  still  follow  the  ancient 
line  of  road  where  it  enters  the  plain  of  Lycaonia,  beyond  Cybis- 
tra,  near  the  spot  where  we  conceive  the  town  of  Derbe  to  have 
been  formerly  situated. 

As  Paul  emerged  from  the  mountain-passes  and  came  along  the 
lower  heights  through  which  the  Taurus  recedes  to  the  Lycaonian 
levels,  the  heart  which  had  been  full  of  affection  and  anxiety  all 
through  the  journey  would  beat  more  quickly  at  the  sight  of  the 
well-know^n  objects  before  him.  The  thought  of  his  disciples 
would  come  with  new  force  upon  his  mind,  with  a  warm  thanks- 
giving that  he  w^as  at  length  allowed  to  revisit  them  and  to  ^*see 
how  they  fared."  The  recollection  of  friends  from  whom  we  have 
parted  with  emotion  is  often  strongly  associated  with  natural 
scenery,  especially  when  the  scenery  is  remarkable.  And  here  the 
tender-hearted  apostle  was  approaching  the  home  of  his  Lycaonian 
converts.  On  his  first  visit,  when  he  came  as  a  stranger,  he  had 
travelled  in  the  opposite  direction,  but  the  same  objects  were  again 
before  his  eyes — the  same  widespreading  plain,  the  same  black 
summit  of  the  Kara-Dagh.  In  the  farther  reach  of  the  plain, 
beyond  the  "  Black  Mount,"  was  the  city  of  Iconium  ;  nearer  to 
its  base  was  Lystra;  and  nearer  still  to  the  traveller  himself  was 
Derbe,  the  last  point  of  his  previous  journey.  Here  was  his  first 
meeting  now  with  the  disciples  he  had  then  been  enabled  to  gather. 
The  incidents  of  such  a  meeting — the  inquiries  after  Barnabas,  the 
welcome  given  to  Silas,  the  exhortations,  instructions,  encourage- 
ments, warnings  of  Paul — may  be  left  to  the  imagination  of  those 
who  have  pleasure  in  picturing  to  themselves  the  features  of  the 
apostolic  age,  when  Christianity  was  new. 

This  is  all  we  can  say  of  Derbe,  for  we  know  no  details  either 
of  the  former  or  present  visit  to  the  place.  But  when  we  come  to 
Lystra,  w^e  are  at  once  in  the  midst  of  all  the  interest  of  Paul's 
public  ministry  and  private  relations.  Here  it  was  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas  were  regarded  as  heathen  divinities;  that  the  Jews,  who 
had  first  cried  "  Hosanna  !"  and  then  crucified  the  Saviour,  turned 
the  barbarians  from  homage  to  insult;  and  that  the  little  Church 
of  Christ  had  been  fortified  by  the  assurance  that  the  kingdom  of 
heaven  can  only  be  entered  through  ''much  tribulation. Here 
too  it  was  that  the  child  of  Lois  and  Eunice,  taught  the  Holy 
Scriptures  from  his  earliest  years,  had  been  trained  to  a  religious 
15 


226 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  AP0ST3.E  PAUL. 


life,  and  prepared  through  the  providence  of  God,  by  the  sight  of 
the  apostle's  sufferings,  to  be  his  comfort,  support,  and  companion. 

Spring  and  summer  had  passed  over  Lystra  since  the  apostles 
had  preached  there.  God  had  continued  to  "bless"  them,  and 
given  them  "  rain  from  heaven  and  fruitful  seasons,  filling  their 
hearts  with  food  and  gladness."  But  still  "  the  living  God,  who 
made  the  heavens,  and  the  earth,  and  the  sea,  and  all  things  that 
are  therein,"  was  only  recognized  by  a  few.  The  temple  of  the 
Lystrian  Jupiter  still  stood  before  the  gate,  and  the  priest  still 
offered  the  people's  sacrifices  to  the  imaginary  protector  of  the 
city.  Heathenism  was  invaded,  but  not  yet  destroyed.  Some  vo- 
taries had  been  withdrawn  from  that  polytheistic  religion  which 
wrote  and  sculptured  in  stone  its  dim  ideas  of  present  deities," 
crowding  its  thoroughfares  with  statues  and  altars,  ascribing  to  the 
king  of  the  gods  the  attributes  of  beneficent  protection  and  the 
government  of  atmospheric  changes,  and  vaguely  recognizing 
Mercury  as  the  dispenser  of  fruitful  seasons  and  the  patron  of 
public  happiness.  But  many  years  of  difficulty  and  persecution 
were  yet  to  elapse  before  Greeks  and  barbarians  fully  learnt  that 
the  God  whom  Paul  preached  was  a  Father  everywhere  present 
to  his  children  and  the  one  Author  of  every  "  good  and  perfect 

gift." 

Lystra,  however,  contributed  one  of  the  principal  agents  in  the 
accomplishment  of  this  result.  We  have  seen  how  the  seeds  of 
gospel  truth  were  sown  in  the  heart  of  Timotheus.  The  instruc- 
tion received  in  childhood,  the  sight  of  Paul's  sufferings,  the  hear- 
ing of  his  words,  the  example  of  the  "unfeigned  faith  which  first 
dwelt  in  his  grandmother  Lois  and  his  mother  Eunice,"  and  what- 
ever other  influences  the  Holy  Spirit  had  used  for  his  soul's  good, 
had  resulted  in  the  full  conviction  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah. 
And  if  we  may  draw  an  obvious  inference  from  the  various  pas- 
sages of  Scripture  which  describe  the  subsequent  relation  of  Paul 
and  Timothy,  we  may  assert  that  natural  qualities  of  an  engaging 
character  were  combined  with  the  Christian  faith  of  this  young 
disciple.  The  apostle's  heart  seems  to  have  been  drawn  towards 
him  with  peculiar  tenderness.  He  singled  him  out  from  the  other 
disciples.  "  Him  would  Paul  have  to  go  forth  with  him.''  This 
feeling  is  in  harmony  with  all  we  read  in  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles 
of  Paul's  affectionate  and  confiding  disposition.  He  had  no  rela- 
tive ties  which  were  of  service  in  his  apostolic  work;  his  com- 


TIMOTHY. 


227 


panions  were  few  and  changing;  and,  thoiigli  Silas  may  well  be 
supposed  to  have  supplied  the  place  of  Barnabas,  it  was  no  weak- 
ness to  yearn  for  the  society  of  one  who  might  become  what  Mark 
had  once  appeared  to  be,  a  son  in  the  gospel.  Yet  how  could  he 
consistently  take  an  untried  youth  on  so  difficult  an  enterprise  ; 
How  could  he  receive  Timothy  into  ^'the  glorious  company  of 
apostles"  when  he  had  rejected  Mark  ?  Such  questions  might  be 
raised  if  we  were  not  distinctly  told  that  the  highest  testimony  was 
given  to  Timothy's  Christian  character,  not  only  at  Lystra,  but  in 
Iconium  also.  We  infer  from  this  that  diligent  inquiry  was  made 
concerning  his  fitness  for  the  work  to  which  he  was  willing  to  de- 
vote himself.  To  omit,  at  present,  all  notice  of  the  prophetic  in- 
timations which  sanctioned  the  appointment  of  Timothy,  we  have 
the  best  proof  that  he  united  in  himself  those  outward  and  inward 
qualifications  which  a  careful  prudence  would  require.  One  other 
point  must  be  alluded  to  which  was  of  the  utmost  moment  at  that 
particular  crisis  of  the  Church.  The  meeting  of  the  council 
at  Jerusalem  had  lately  taken  place.  And,  though  it  had  been 
decided  that  the  Gentiles  were  not  to  be  forced  into  Judaism  on 
embracing  Christianity,  and  though  Paul  carried  with  him  the 
decree  to  be  delivered  'Ho  all  the  churches,''  yet  still  he  was  in  a 
delicate  and  difficult  position.  The  Jewish  Christians  had  natu- 
rally a  great  jealousy  on  the  subject  of  their  ancient  divine  Law, 
and  in  dealing  with  the  two  parties  the  apostle  had  need  of  the 
utmost  caution  and  discretion.  We  see,  then,  that  in  choosing  a 
fellow-worker  for  his  future  labors  there  was  a  peculiar  fitness  in 
electing  one  "  whose  mother  was  a  Jewess,  while  his  father  was  a 
Greek." 

We  may  be  permitted  here  to  take  a  short  retrospect  of  the 
childhood  and  education  of  Paul's  new  associate.  The  hand  of 
the  apostle  himself  has  drawn  for  us  the  picture  of  his  early 
years.  That  picture  represents  to  us  a  mother  and  a  grandmother, 
full  of  tenderness  and  faith,  piously  instructing  the  young  Timo- 
theus  in  the  ancient  Scriptures,  making  his  memory  familiar  with 
that  "cloud  of  witnesses"  which  encompassed  all  the  history  of 
the  chosen  people,  and  training  his  hopes  to  expect  the  Messiah 
of  Israel.  It  is  not  allowed  to  us  to  trace  the  previous  history  of 
hese  godly  women  of  the  Dispersion.  It  is  highly  probable  that 
they  may  have  been  connected  with  those  Babylonian  Jews  whom 
Antiochus  settled  in  Phrygia  three  centuries  before,  or  they  may 


228  IJFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

have  been  conducted  into  Lycaonia  by  some  of  those  mercantile 
and  other  changes  which  affected  the  movements  of  so  many 
families  at  the  epoch  we  are  writing  of — such,  for  instance,  as 
those  which  brought  the  household  of  the  Corinthian  Chloe  into 
relations  with  Ephesus,  and  caused  the  proselyte  Lydia  to  remove 
from  Thyatira  to  Philippi.  There  is  one  difficulty  which  at  first 
sight  seems  considerable — namely,  the  fact  that  a  religious  Jewess 
like  Eunice  should  have  been  married  to  a  Greek.  Such  a  mar- 
riage was  scarcely  in  harmony  with  the  stricter  spirit  of  early 
Judaism,  and  in  Palestine  itself  it  could  hardly  have  taken  place. 
But  among  the  Jews  of  the  Dispersion,  and  especially  in  remote 
districts,  where  but  few  of  the  scattered  people  were  established, 
the  case  was  rather  different.  Mixed  marriages  under  such  cir- 
cumstances were  doubtless  very  frequent.  We  are  at  liberty  to 
suppose  that  in  this  case  the  husband  was  a  proselyte.  We  hear 
of  no  objections  raised  to  the  circumcision  of  Timothy,  and  we 
may  reasonably  conclude  that  the  father  was  himself  inclined  to 
Judaism,  if,  indeed,  he  were  not  already  deceased  and  Eunice  a 
widow.  This  very  circumstance,  however,  of  his  mixed  origin 
gave  to  Timothy  an  intimate  connection  with  both  the  Jewish  and 
Gentile  worlds.  Though  far  removed  from  the  larger  colonies  of 
Israelitish  families,  he  was  brought  up  in  a  thoroughly  Jewish 
atmosphere;  his  heart  was  at  Jerusalem,  while  his  footsteps  were 
in  the  level  fields  near  Lystra  or  on  the  volcanic  crags  of  the 
Black  Mount ;  and  his  mind  w^as  stored  with  the  Hebrew  or  Greek 
words  of  inspired  men  of  old  in  the  midst  of  the  rude  idolaters 
whose  language  was  the  ''speech  of  Lycaonia.''  And  yet  he 
could  hardly  be  called  a  Jewish  boy,  for  he  had  not  been  admitted 
within  the  pale  of  God's  ancient  covenant  by  the  rite  of  circum- 
cision. He  was  in  the  same  position  with  respect  to  the  Jewish 
Church  as  those  with  respect  to  the  Christian  Church  who,  in 
various  ages  and  for  various  reasons,  have  deferred  their  baptism 
to  the  period  of  mature  life.  And  "  the  Jews  which  were  in  those 
quarters,"  however  much  they  may  have  respected  him,  yet, 
knowing  "that  his  father  was  a  Greek"  and  that  he  himself  was 
uncircumcised,  must  have  considered  him  all  but  an  ''  alien  from 
the  commonwealth  of  Israel." 

Now,  for  Paul  to  travel  among  the  synagogues  with  a  companion 
in  this  condition,  and  to  attempt  to  convince  the  Jews  that  Jesus 
was  the  Messiah  when  his  associate  and  assistant  in  the  work 


CIRCUMCISION  OF  TIMOTHY. 


229 


was  an  un circumcised  heathen,  would  evidently  have  been  to 
encumber  his  progress  and  embarrass  his  work.  We  see  in  the 
first  aspect  of  the  case  a  complete  explanation  of  what  to  many  has 
seemed  inconsistent,  and  w^hat  some  have  ventured  to  pronounce  as 
culpable,  in  the  conduct  of  Paul.  "He  took  and  circumcised 
Timotheus.^^  How  could  he  do  otherwise  if  he  acted  with  his 
usual  far-sighted  caution  and  deliberation  ?  Had  Timothy  not 
been  circumcised,  a  storm  would  have  gathered  round  the  apostle 
in  his  further  progress.  The  Jews,  who  were  ever  ready  to  per- 
secute him  from  city  to  city,  would  have  denounced  him  still  more 
violently  in  every  synagogue  when  they  saw  in  his  personal  prefer- 
ences and  in  the  co-operation  he  most  valued  a  visible  revolt  against 
the  Law  of  his  forefathers.  To  imagine  that  they  could  have  over- 
looked the  absence  of  circumcision  in  Timothy's  case  as  a  matter  of 
no  essential  importance  is  to  suppose  they  had  already  become 
enlightened  Christians.  Even  in  the  bosom  of  the  Church  we 
have  seen  the  difficulties  which  had  recently  been  raised  by 
scrupulousness  and  bigotry  on  this  very  subject.  And  the  diffi- 
culties would  have  been  increased  tenfold  in  the  untrodden  field 
before  him  by  proclaiming  everywhere  on  his  very  arrival  that 
circumcision  was  abolished.  His  fixed  line  of  procedure  was  to 
act  on  the  cities  through  the  synagogues,  and  to  preach  the  gospel 
first  to  the  Jew  and  then  to  the  Gentile.  He  had  no  intention 
of  abandoning  this  method,  and  we  know  that  he  continued  it  for 
many  years.  But  such  a  course  would  have  been  impossible  had 
not  Timothy  been  circumcised.  He  must  necessarily  have  been 
repelled  by  that  people  who  endeavored  once  to  murder  Paul 
because  they  imagined  he  had  taken  a  Greek  into  the  temple. 
The  very  intercourse  of  social  life  would  have  been  hindered,  and 
made  almost  impossible,  by  the  presence  of  a  half-heathen  com- 
panion ;  for,  however  far  the  stricter  practice  may  have  been 
relaxed  among  the  Hellenizing  Jews  of  the  Dispersion,  the  gene- 
ral principle  of  exclusiveness  everywhere  remained,  and  it  was 
still  "an  abomination''  for  the  circumcised  to  eat  with  the 
uncircumcised. 

It  may  be  thought,  however,  that  Paul's  conduct  in  circumcising 
Timothy  was  inconsistent  with  the  principle  and  practice  he 
maintained  at  Jerusalem  when  he  refused  to  circumcise  Titus. 
But  the  two  cases  were  entirely  different.  Then  there  was  an 
attempt  to  enforce  circumcision  as  necessary  to  salvation  ;  now 


230 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


it  was  performed  as  a  voluntary  act  and  simply  on  prudential 
grounds.  Those  who  insisted  on  the  ceremony  in  the  case  of  Titu^ 
were  Christians,  who  were  endeavoring  to  burden  the  gospel  with 
the  yoke  of  the  Law;  those  for  whose  sake  Timothy  became  obedient 
to  one  provision  of  the  Law  were  Jews,  whom  it  was  desirable  not  to 
provoke,  that  they  might  more  easily  be  delivered  from  bondage. 
By  conceding  in  the  present  case  prejudice  was  conciliated  and 
the  gospel  furthered ;  the  results  of  yielding  in  the  former  case 
would  have  been  disastrous,  and  perhaps  ruinous,  to  the  cause 
of  pure  Christianity. 

If  it  be  said  that  even  in  this  case  there  was  danger  lest  serious 
results  should  follow,  that  doubt  might  be  thrown  on  the  freedom 
of  the  gospel,  and  that  color  might  be  given  to  the  Judaizing 
propensity,  it  is  enough  to  answer  that  indifferent  actions  become 
right  or  wrong  according  to  our  knowledge  of  their  probable 
consequences,  and  that  Paul  was  a  better  judge  of  the  consequences 
likely  to  follow  from  Timothy's  circumcision  than  we  can  possibly 
be.  Are  we  concerned  about  the  effects  likely  to  have  been 
produced  on  the  mind  of  Timothy  himself?  There  was  no  risk, 
at  least,  lest  he  should  think  that  circumcision  was  necessary  to 
salvation,  for  he  had  been  publicly  recognized  as  a  Christian 
before  he  was  circumcised,  and  the  companion,  disciple,  and 
minister  of  Paul  was  in  no  danger,  we  should  suppose,  of  becoming 
a  Judaizer.  And  as  for  the  moral  results  which  might  be  ex- 
pected to  follow  in  the  minds  of  the  other  Lycaonian  Christians, 
it  must  be  remembered  that  at  this  very  moment  Paul  was  carrying 
with  him  and  publishing  the  decree  which  announced  to  all 
Gentiles  that  they  were  not  to  be  burdened  with  a  yoke  which  the 
Jews  had  never  been  able  to  bear.  Luke  notices  this  circumstance 
in  the  very  next  verse  after  the  mention  of  Timothy's  circumcision, 
as  if  to  call  our  atttention  to  the  contiguity  of  the  two  facts. 
It  would  seem,  indeed,  that  the  very  best  arrangements  were 
adopted  which  a  divinely  enlightened  prudence  could  suggest. 
Paul  carried  with  him  the  letter  of  the  apostles  and  elders,  that 
no  Gentile  Christian  might  be  enslaved  to  Judaism.  He  circum- 
cised his  minister  and  companion,  that  no  Jewish  Christian  might 
have  his  prejudices  shocked.  His  language  was  that  which  he 
always  used:  ''Circumcision  is  nothing,  and  uncircumcision  is 
nothing.  The  renovation  of  the  heart  in  Christ  is  everything. 
Let  every  man  be  persuaded  in  his  own  mind."    No  innocent 


PAUL,  SILAS,  AND  TIMOTHY  AT  ICONIUM.  231 

prejudice  was  ever  treated  roughly  by  Paul.  To  the  Jew  he 
became  a  Jew,  to  the  Gentile  a  Gentile;  he  was  all  things  to  all 
men,  if  by  any  means  he  might  save  some/' 

Iconium  appears  to  have  been  the  place  where  Timothy  ^vas 
circumcised.  The  opinion  of  the  Christians  at  Iconium,  as  well 
as  those  at  Lystra,  had  been  obtained  before  the  apostle  took  him 
as  his  companion.  These  towns  were  separated  only  by  the  dis- 
tance of  a  few  miles,  and  constant  communication  must  have  been 
going  on  between  the  residents  in  the  two  places,  Avhether  Gen- 
tile, Jewish,  or  Christian.  Iconium  was  by  far  the  most  populous 
and  important  city  of  the  two,  and  it  was  the  point  of  intersec- 
tion of  all  the  great  roads  in  the  neighborhood.  For  these  rea- 
sons w^e  conceive  that  Paul's  stay  in  Iconium  was  of  greater 
moment  than  his  visits  to  the  smaller  towns,  such  as  Lystra. 
Whether  the  ordination  of  Timothy,  as  w^ell  as  his  circumcision, 
took  place  at  this  particular  place  and  time,  is  a  point  not  easy  to 
determine.  But  this  view  is  at  least  as  probable  as  any  other  that 
can  be  suggested  ;  and  it  gives  a  new  and  solemn  emphasis  to  this 
occasion  if  we  consider  it  as  that  to  which  reference  is  made  in 
the  tender  allusions  of  the  pastoral  letters,  where  Paul  reminds 
Timothy  of  his  good  confession  before  ^'  many  witnesses,"  of  the 

prophecies"  which  sanctioned  his  dedication  to  God's  service, 
and  of  the  "gifts"  received  by  the  laying  on  of  "the  hands  of 
the  presbyters"  and  the  apostle's  "  own  hands."  Such  references 
to  the  day  of  ordination,  with  all  its  well-remembered  details,  not 
only  were  full  of  serious  admonition  of  Timothy,  but  possess  the 
deepest  interest  for  us.  And  this  interest  becomes  still  greater  if 
w^e  bear  in  mind  that  the  "  witnesses"  who  stood  by  were  Paul's 
own  converts  and  the  very  "  brethren"  who  gave  testimony  to 
Timothy's  high  character  at  Lystra  and  Iconium ;  that  the  "proph- 
ecy" which  designated  him  to  his  office  was  the  same  spiritual  gift 
which  had  attested  the  commission  of  Barnabas  and  Saul  at  An- 
Cioch;  and  that  the  college  of  presbyters  who,  in  conjunction  with 
the  apostle,  ordained  the  new  minister  of  the  gospel,  consisted  of 
those  who  had  been  "  ordained  in  every  church"  at  the  close  of 
that  same  journey. 

On  quitting  Iconium,  Paul  left  the  route  of  his  previous  jour- 
ney, unless  indeed  he  went  in  the  first  place  to  Antioch  in  Pisidia, 
a  journey  to  which  city  was  necessary  in  order  to  complete  a  full 
visitation  of  the  churches  founded  on  the  continent  in  conjunc- 


232 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


tion  with  Barnabas.  It  is  certainly  most  in  harmony  with  our 
first  impressions  to  believe  that  this  city  was  not  unvisited.  No 
mention,  however,  is  made  of  the  place,  and  it  is  enough  to  re- 
mark that  a  residence  of  a  few  weeks  at  Iconium  as  his  head- 
quarters would  enable  the  apostle  to  see  more  than  once  all  the 
Cnristians  at  Antioch,  Lystra,  and  Derbe.  It  is  highly^robable 
that  he  did  so,  for  the  whole  aspect  of  the  departure  from  Ico- 
ijiuni,  as  it  is  related  to  us  in  the  Bible,  is  that  of  a  new  mission- 
ary enterprise  undertaken  after  the  work  of  visitation  was  con- 
cluded. Paul  leaves  Iconium,  as  formerly  he  left  the  Syrian 
Antioch,  to  evangelize  the  heathen  in  new  countries.  Silas  is  his 
companion  in  place  of  Barnabas,  and  Timothy  is  with  him  "for 
his  minister,''  as  Alark  was  with  him  then.  Many  roads  were  be- 
fore him.  By  travelling  westward  he  would  soon  cross  the  frontier 
of  the  province  of  Asia,  and  he  might  descend  by  the  valley  of 
the  Mseander  to  Ephesus,  its  metropolis,  or  the  roads  to  the  south 
might  have  conducted  him  to  Perga  and  Attaleia  and  the  other 
cities  on  the  coast  of  Pamphylia.  But  neither  of  these  routes  was 
chosen.  Guided  by  the  ordinary  indications  of  Providence  or 
consciously  taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  he  advanced  in  a  north- 
erly direction  through  what  is  called,  in  the  general  language  of 
Scripture,    Phrygia  and  the  region  of  Galatia.'' 

We  have  seen  that  the  term  Phrygia''  had  no  political  signif- 
icance in  the  time  of  Paul.  It  was  merely  a  geographical  ex- 
pression, denoting  a  debatable  country  of  doubtful  extent  diffused 
over  the  frontiers  of  the  provinces  of  Asia  and  Galatia,  but  mainly 
belonging  to  the  former.  We  believe  that  this  part  of  the  apostle's 
journey  might  be  described  under  various  forms  of  expression, 
according  as  the  narrator  might  speak  politically  or  popularly.  A 
traveller  proceeding  from  Cologne  to  Hanover  might  be  described 
as  going  through  Westphalia  or  through  Prussia.  The  course  of 
the  railroad  would  be  the  best  indication  of  his  real  path.  So  we 
imagine  that  our  best  guide  in  conjecturing  Paul's  path  through 
this  part  of  Asia  Minor  is  obtained  by  examining  the  direction  of 
the  ancient  and  modern  roads.  We  have  marked  his  route  along 
the  general  course  of  the  Roman  military  way  and  the  track  of 
Turkish  caravans,  which  leads  by  Laodicea,  Philomelium,  and 
Synnada,  or,  to  use  the  existing  terms,  by  Ladik,  Ak-Sher,  and 
Eski-Karahisser.  This  road  follows  the  northern  side  of  that 
ridge  which  Strabo  describes  as  separating  Philomelium  and  An- 


GALATIA. 


233 


tioch  in  Pisidia,  and  which,  as  we  have  seen,  materially  assisted 
Mr.  Arundell  in  discovering  the  latter  city.  If  Paul  revisited 
Antioch  on  his  way — and  we  cannot  be  sure  that  he  did  not — he 
would  follow  the  course  of  his  former  journey,  and  then  regain 
the  road  to  Synnada  by  crossing  the  ridge  to  Philomelium.  We 
must  again  repeat  that  the  path  marked  down  here  is  conjectural. 
We  have  nothing  either  in  Luke's  narrative  or  in  Paul's  own  let- 
ters to  lead  us  to  any  place  in  Phrygia  as  certainly  visited  by  him 
on  this  occasion  and  as  the  home  of  the  converts  he  then  made. 
One  city,  indeed,  which  is  commonly  reckoned  among  the  Phryg- 
ian cities,  has  a  great  place  in  Paul's  biography,  and  it  lay  on 
the  line  of  an  important  Roman  road.  But  it  was  situated  far 
within  the  province  of  Asia,  and  for  several  reasons  we  think  it 
highly  improbable  that  he  visited  Colosse  on  this  journey,  if  in- 
deed he  ever  visited  it  at  all.  The  most  probable  route  is  that 
which  lies  more  to  the  northward,  in  the  direction  of  the  true 
Galatia. 

The  remarks  which  have  been  made  on  Phrygia  must  be  repeated, 
with  some  modification,  concerning  Galatia.  It  is  true  that  Gala- 
tia was  a  province,  but  we  can  plainly  see  that  the  term  is  used 
here  in  its  popular  sense — not  as  denoting  the  whole  territory 
which  was  governed  by  the  Galatian  proconsul,  but  rather  the 
primitive  region  of  the  tetrarchs  and  kings,  without  including 
those  districts  of  Phrygia  or  Lycaonia  which  were  now  politically 
united  with  it.  There  is  absolutely  no  city  in  true  Galatia  which 
is  mentioned  by  the  sacred  writers  in  connection  with  the  first 
spread  of  Christianity.  From  the  peculiar  form  of  expression  with 
which  the  Christians  of  this  part  of  Asia  Minor  are  addressed  by 
Paul  in  the  Epistle  which  he  wrote  to  them,  and  alluded  to  in 
another  of  his  Epistles,  we  infer  that  "the  churches  of  Galatia" 
were  not  confined  to  any  one  city,  but  distributed  through  various 
parts  of  the  country.  If  we  were  to  mention  two  cities  which, 
both  from  their  intrinsic  importance  and  from  their  connection 
with  the  leading  roads,  are  likely  to  have  been  visited  and  revisited 
by  the  apostle,  we  should  be  inclined  to  select  Pessinus  and  An- 
cyra.  The  first  of  these  cities  retained  some  importance  as  the 
former  capital  of  one  of  the  Galatian  tribes,  and  its  trade  was  con- 
siderable under  the  early  emperors.  Moreover,  it  had  an  ancient 
and  widespread  renown  as  the  seat  of  the  primitive  worship  of 
Cybele,  the  "great  mother."    Though  her  oldest  and  most  sacred 


"ZM  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

image  (which,  like  that  of  Diana  at  Ephesus,  had  fallen  down 
from  heaven'')  had  been  removed  to  Rome,  her  wor8hip  continued 
to  thrive  in  Galatia  under  the  superintendence  of  her  effeminate 
and  fanatical  priests  or  Galli,  and  Pessinus  was  the  object  Df  one 
of  Julian's  pilgrimages  when  heathenism  was  on  the  decline. 
Ancyra  was  a  place  of  still  greater  moment,  for  it  was  the  capital 
of  the  province.  The  time  of  its  highest  eminence  was  not  under 
the  Gaulish,  but  the  Eoman  government.  Augustus  built  tliere  a 
magnificent  temple  of  marble,  and  inscribed  there  a  history  of  his 
deeds  almost  in  the  style  of  an  Asiatic  sovereign.  This  city  was 
the  meeting-place  of  all  the  great  roads  in  the  north  of  the  penin- 
sula. And,  when  we  add  that  Jews  had  been  established  there 
from  the  time  of  Augustus,  and  probably  earlier,  we  can  hardly 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  temple  and  inscription  at  Angora, 
which  successive  travellers  have  described  and  copied  during  the 
last  three  hundred  years,  were  once  seen  by  the  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles. 

However  this  may  have  been,  we  have  some  information  from 
his  own  pen  concerning  his  first  journey  through  the  region  of 
Galatia."  We  know  that  he  was  delayed  there  by  sickness,  and 
we  know  in  what  spirit  the  Galatians  received  him. 

Paul  affectionately  reminds  the  Galatians  that  it  was  "  bodily  sick- 
ness which  caused  him  to  preach  the  glad  tidings  to  them  at  the 
first."  The  allusion  is  to  his  first  visit ;  and  the  obvious  inference 
is,  that  he  was  passing  through  Galatia  to  some  other  district 
(possibly  Pontus,  where  we  know  that  many  Jews  were  established) 
when  the  state  of  his  bodily  health  arrested  his  progress.  Thus 
he  became,  as  it  were,  the  evangelist  of  Galatia  against  his  will. 
But  his  zeal  to  discharge  the  duty  that  was  laid  on  him  did  not 
allow  him  to  be  silent.  He  was  instant  ^'  in  season  and  out  of 
season."  "Woe"  was  on  him  if  he  did  not  preach  the  gospel. 
The  same  providence  detained  him  among  the  Gauls  which  would 
not  allow  him  to  enter  Asia  or  Bithynia;  and  in  the  midst  of  his 
weakness  he  made  the  glad  tidings  known  to  all  who  would  listen 
to  him.  We  cannot  say  what  this  sickness  was,  or  even  confidently 
identify  it  with  that  thorn  in  the  flesh  "  to  which  he  feelingly 
alludes  in  his  Epistles  as  a  discipline  which  God  had  laid  on  him. 
But  the  remembrance  of  what  he  suffered  in  Galatia  seems  so 
much  to  color  all  the  phrases  in  this  part  of  the  Epistle  that  a  deep 
personal  interest  is  connected  with  the  circumstance.  Sickness 


Paul's  reception  in  galatia. 


235 


in  a  foreign  country  has  a  peculiarly  depressing  effect  on  a  sensi- 
tive mind.  And  though  doubtless  Timotheus  watched  over  the 
apostle's  weakness  with  the  most  affectionate  solicitude,  yet  those 
who  have  experienced  what  fever  is  in  a  land  of  strangers  will 
Know  how  to  sympathize  even  with  Paul  in  this  human  trial. 
The  climate  and  the  prevailing  maladies  of  Asia  Minor  may  have 
been  modified  with  the  lapse  of  centuries,  and  we  are  without  the 
guidance  of  Luke's  medical  language,  which  sometimes  throws  a 
light  ov  diseases  alluded  to  in  Scripture,  but  two  Christian  suf- 
ferers, in  wideh  different  ages  of  the  Church,  occur  to  the  memory 
as  we  look  on  the  map  of  Galatia.  We  could  hardly  mention  any 
two  men  more  thoroughly  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  Paul  than 
John  Chrysostom  and  Henry  Martyn.  And  when  we  read  how 
these  two  saints  suffered  in  their  last  hours  from  fatigue,  pain, 
rudeness,  and  cruelty  among  the  mountains  of  Asia  Minor  which 
surround  the  place  where  they  rest,  we  can  well  enter  into  the 
meaning  of  Paul's  expressions  of  gratitude  to  those  who  received 
him  kindly  in  the  hour  of  his  weakness. 

The  apostle's  reception  among  the  frank  and  warm-hearted  Gauls 
was  particularly  kind  and  disinterested.  No  Church  is  reminded 
by  the  apostle  so  tenderly  of  the  time  of  their  first  meeting.  The 
recollection  is  used  by  him  to  strengthen  his  reproaches  of  their 
mutability,  and  to  enforce  the  pleading  with  which  he  urges  them 
to  return  to  the  true  gospel.  That  gospel  had  been  received  in  the 
first  place  with  the  same  affection  which  they  extended  to  the 
apostle  himself.  And  the  subject,  the  manner,  and  the  results  of 
his  preaching  are  not  obscurely  indicated  in  tlie  Epistle  itself.  The 
great  topic  there,  as  at  Corinth  and  everywhere,  was  the  cross  of 
Christ  — Christ  crucified''  set  forth  among  them.  The  divine 
evidence  of  the  Spirit  followed  the  word  spoken  by  the  mouth  of 
the  apostle  and  received  by  "  the  hearing  of  the  ear."  Many  were 
converted,  both  Greeks  and  Jews,  men  and  women,  free  men  and 
slaves.  The  worship  of  false  divinities,  whether  connected  with 
the  old  superstition  at  Pessinus  or  the  Roman  idolatry  at  Ancyra, 
was  forsaken  for  that  of  the  true  and  living  God.  And  before 
Paul  left  the  region  of  Galatia  "  on  his  onward  progress  various 
Christian  communities  were  added  to  those  of  Cilicia,  Lycaonia, 
and  Phrygia. 

In  following  Paul  on  his  departure  from  Galatia  we  come  to  a 
passage  of  acknowledged  difficulty  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 


236 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Not  that  the  words  themselves  are  obscure.  The  difficulty  relates 
not  to  grammatical  construction,  but  to  geographical  details.  The 
statement  contained  in  Luke's  words  is  as  follows :  After  preaching 
the  gospel  in  Phrygia  and  Galatia,  they  were  hindered  from  preach- 
ing it  in  Asia ;  accordingly,  when  in  Mysia  or  its  neighborhood, 
they  attempted  to  penetrate  into  Bithynia ;  and  this  also  being 
forbidden  by  the  Divine  Spirit,  they  passed  by  Mysia  and  came 
down  to  Troas.  Now,  everything  depends  here  on  the  sense  we 
assign  to  the  geographical  terms.  What  is  meant  by  the  words 
"  Mysia,"  Asia,''  and  Bithynia  "  ?  It  will  be  remembered  that 
all  these  words  had  a  wider  and  a  more  restricted  sense.  They 
might  be  used  popularly  and  vaguely,  or  they  might  be  taken  in 
their  exacter  political  meaning.  It  seems  to  us  that  the  whole 
difficulty  disappears  by  understanding  them  in  the  former  sense, 
and  by  believing  (what  is  much  the  more  probable,  a  priori)  that 
Luke  wrote  in  the  usual  popular  language,  without  any  precise 
reference  to  the  provincial  boundaries.  We  need  hardly  mention 
Bithynia,  for,  whether  we  speak  of  it  traditionally  or  politically,  it 
was  exclusive  both  of  Asia  and  Mysia.  In  this  place  it  is  evident 
that  Ahjsia  is  'excluded  also  from  Asia,  just  as  Phrygia  is  above — 
not  because  these  two  districts  were  not  parts  of  it  in  its  political 
character  of  a  province,  but  because  they  had  a  history  and  a  tra- 
ditional character  of  their  own  sufficiently  independent  to  give 
them  a  name  in  papular  usage.  As  regards  Asia,  it  is  simply 
viewed  as  the  western  portion  of  Asia  Minor.  Its  relation  to  the 
peninsula  has  been  very  well  described  by  saying  that  it  occupied 
the  same  relative  position  which  Portugal  occupies  with  regard  to 
Spain.  The  comparison  would  be  peculiarly  just  in  the  passage 
before  us.  For  the  Mysia  of  Luke  is  to  Asia  what  Gallicia  is  to 
Portugal,  and  the  journey  from  Galatia  and  Phrygia  to  the  city  of 
Troas  has  its  European  parallel  in  a  journey  from  Castile  to  Vigo. 

We  are  evidently  destitute  of  materials  for  laying  down  the  route 
of  Paul  and  his  companions.  All  that  relates  to  Phrygia  and 
Galatia  must  be  left  vague  and  blank,  like  an  unexplored  country 
in  a  map  (as  in  fact  this  region  itself  is  in  the  maps  of  Asia  Minor), 
where  we  are  at  liberty  to  imagine  mountains  and  plains,  rivers 
and  cities,  but  are  unable  to  furnish  any  proofs.  As  the  path  of 
the  apostle,  however,  approaches  the  ^gean,  it  comes  out  into 
comparative  light;  the  names  of  places  are  again  mentioned,  and 
the  country  and  the  coast  have  been  explored  and  described.  The 


JOURNEY  TO  THE  iEGEAN. 


237 


early  part  of  the  route,  then,  must  be  left  indistinct.  Thus  much, 
however,  we  may  venture  to  say — that  since  the  apostle  usually 
turned  his  steps  towards  the  large  towns,  where  many  Jew^s  were 
established,  it  is  most  likely  that  Ephesus,  Smyrna,  or  Pergamus 
was  the  point  at  which  he  aimed  when  he  sought  "  to  preach  the 
word  in  Asia."  There  is  nothing  else  to  guide  our  conjectures 
except  the  boundaries  of  the  provinces  and  the  direction  of  the 
principal  roads.  If  he  moved  from  Angora  in  the  general  direction 
above  pointed  out,  he  would  cross  the  river  Sangarius  near  Kiutayah, 
which  is  a  great  modern  thoroughfare,  and  has  been  mentioned 
before  (Chap.  VI.)  in  connection  with  the  route  from  Adalia  to 
Constantinople ;  and  a  little  farther  to  the  west,  near  Aizani,  he 
w^ould  be  about  the  place  where  the  boundaries  of  Asia,  Bithynia, 
and  Mysia  meet  together,  and  on  the  watershed  which  separates 
the  waters  flowing  northward  to  the  Propontis  and  those  which 
feed  the  rivers  of  the  ^Egean. 

Here,  then,  we  may  imagine  the  apostle  and  his  three  companions 
to  pause,  uncertain  of  their  future  progress — on  the  chalk  downs 
which  lie  between  the  fountains  of  the  Ehyndacus  and  those  of  the 
Hermus,  in  the  midst  of  scenery  not  very  unlike  what  is  familiar 
to  us  in  England.  The  long  range  of  the  Mysian  Olympus  to  the 
north  is  the  boundary  of  Bithynia.  The  summits  of  the  Phrygian 
Dindymus  on  the  south  are  on  the  frontier  of  Galatia  and  Asia. 
The  Hermus  flows  through  the  province  of  Asia  to  the  islands  of 
the  jEgean.  The  Ehyndacus  flows  to  the  Propontis,  and  separates 
Mysia  from  Bithynia.  By  following  the  road  near  the  former 
river  they  would  easily  arrive  at  Smyrna  or  Pergamus.  By  de- 
scending the  valley  of  the  latter,  and  then  crossing  Olympus,  they 
would  be  in  the  richest  and  most  prosperous  part  of  Bithynia.  In 
which  direction  shall  their  footsteps  be  turned?  Some  divine  inti- 
mation, into  the  nature  of  which  we  do  not  presume  to  inquire, 
told  the  apostles  that  the  gospel  was  not  yet  to  be  preached  in  the 
populous  cities  of  Asia.  The  time  was  not  yet  come  for  Christ  to 
be  made  known  to  the  Greeks  and  Jews  of  Ephesus,  and  for  the 
churches  of  Sardis,  Pergamus,  Philadelphia,  Smyrna,  Thyatira, 
and  Laodicea  to  be  admitted  to  their  period  of  privilege  and  trial 
for  the  warning  of  future  generations.  Shall  they  turn,  then,  in 
the  direction  of  Bithynia?  This  also  is  forbidden.  Paul  (so  far 
as  we  know)  never  crossed  the  Mysian  Olym'pus  or  entered  the 
cities  of  Nicsea  and  Chalcedon,  illustrious  places  in  the  Christian 


238  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


history  of  a  later  age.  By  revelations  which  were  anticipative  of 
the  fuller  and  clearer  communication  at  Troas  the  destined  path 
of  the  apostolic  company  was  pointed  out  through  the  intermediate 
country,  directly  to  the  west.  Leaving  the  greater  part  of  what 
was  popularly  called  Mysia  to  the  right,  they  came  to  the  shores 
of  the  jEgean  about  the  place  where  the  deep  Gulf  of  Adramyt- 
tium,  over  against  the  island  of  Lesbos,  washes  the  very  base  of 
Mount  Ida. 

At  Adramyttium,  if  not  before,  Paul  is  on  the  line  of  a  great 
Eoman  road.  We  recognize  the  place  as  one  which  is  mentioned 
again  in  the  description  of  the  voyage  to  Eome  (Acts  xxvii.  2). 
It  was  a  mercantile  town,  with  important  relations  both  with 
foreign  harbors  and  the  towns  of  the  interior  of  Asia  Minor. 
From  this  point  the  road  follows  the  northern  shore  of  the  gulf, 
crossing  a  succession  of  the  streams  which  flow  from  Ida,  and 
alternately  descending  to  the  pebbly  beach  and  rising  among  the 
rocks  and  evergreen  brushwood,  while  Lesbos  appears  and  reap- 
pears through  the  branches  of  the  rich  forest  trees,  till  the  sea  is 
left  behind  at  the  city  of  Assos.  This  also  is  a  city  of  Paul.  The 
nineteen  miles  of  road  which  lie  between  it  and  Troas  is  the  dis- 
tance which  he  travelled  by  land  before  he  rejoined  the  ship  which 
had  brought  him  from  Philippi  (Acts  xx.  13),  and  the  town  across 
the  strait,  on  the  shore  of  Lesbos,  is  Mitylene,  whither  the  vessel 
proceeded  when  the  apostle  and  his  companions  met  on  board. 

But  to  return  to  the  present  journey.  Troas  is  the  name  either 
of  a  district  or  a  town.  As  a  district  it  had  a  history  of  its  own. 
Though  geographically  a  part  of  Mysia  and  politically  a  part  of 
the  province  of  Asia,  it  was  yet  usually  spoken  of  as  distinguished 
from  both.  This  region,  extending  from  Mount  Ida  to  the  plain 
watered  by  the  Simois  and  Scamander,  was  the  scene  of  the  Trojan 
war ;  and  it  was  due  to  the  poetry  of  Homer  that  the  ancient  name 
of  Priam's  kingdom  should  be  retained.  This  shore  has  been 
visited  on  many  memorable  occasions  by  the  great  men  of  this 
world.  Xerxes  passed  this  way  when  he  undertook  to  conquer 
Greece.  Julius  Csesar  was  here  after  the  battle  of  Pharsalia.  But, 
above  all,  we  associate  the  spot  with  a  European  conqueror  of 
Asia  and  an  Asiatic  conqueror  of  Europe  —  with  Alexander 
of  Macedon  and  Paul  of  Tarsus.  For  here  it  was  that  the  enthu- 
siasm of  Alexander  was  kindled  at  the  tomb  of  Achilles  by  the 
memory  of  his  heroic  ancestors,  here  he  girded  on  their  armor,  and 


ALEXANDRIA  TROAS. 


239 


from  this  goal  he  started  to  overthrow  the  august  dynasties  of  the 
East.  And  now  the  great  apostle  rests  in  his  triumphal  progress 
upon  the  same  poetic  shore;  here  he  is  armed  by  heavenly  visit- 
ants with  the  weapons  of  a  warfare  that  is  not  carnal,  and  hence 
he  is  sent  forth  to  subdue  all  the  powers  of  the  West,  and  bring 
the  civilizaJiion  of  the  world  into  captivity  to  the  obedience  of 
Christ. 

Turning  now  from  the  district  to  the  city  of  Troas,  we  must 
remember  that  its  full  and  correct  name  was  Alexandria  Troas. 
Sometimes,  as  in  the  New  Testament,  it  is  simply  called  Troas ; 
sometimes,  as  by  Pliny  and  Strabo,  simply  Alexandria.  It  was 
not,  however,  one  of  those  cities  (amounting  in  number  to  nearly 
twenty)  which  were  built  and  named  by  the  conqueror  of  Darius. 
This  Alexandria  received  its  population  and  its  name  under  the 
successors  of  Alexander.  It  was  an  instance  of  that  centralization 
of  small  scattered  towns  into  one  great  mercantile  city  which  was 
characteristic  of  the  period.  Its  history  was  as  follows :  Antigonus, 
who  wished  to  leave  a  monument  of  his  name  on  this  classical 
ground,  brought  together  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  towns 
to  one  point  on  the  coast,  where  he  erected  a  city  and  called  ifc 
Antigonia  Troas.  Lysimachus,  who  succeeded  to  his  power  on  the 
Dardanelles,  increased  and  adorned  the  city,  but  altered  its  name, 
calling  it,  in  honor  of  *'the  man  of  Macedonia"  (if  we  may  make 
this  application  of  a  phrase  which  Holy  Writ  has  associated  with 
the  place),  Alexandria  Troas.  This  name  was  retained  ever  after- 
ward. When  the  Eomans  began  their  Eastern  wars  the  Greeks 
of  Troas  espoused  their  cause,  and  were  thenceforward  regarded 
with  favor  at  Kome.  But  this  willingness  to  recompense  useful 
service  was  combined  with  other  feelings,  half  poetical,  half  politi- 
cal, which  about  this  time  took  possession  of  the  mind  of  the 
Eomans.  They  fancied  they  saw  a  primeval  Rome  on  the  Asiatic 
shore.  The  story  of  JEnesiS  in  Virgil,  who  relates  in  twelve  books 
how  the  glory  of  Troy  was  transferred  to  Italy, — the  warning 
of  Horace,  who  admonishes  his  fellow-citizens  that  their  great- 
ness was  gone  if  they  rebuilt  the  ancient  walls, — reveal  to  us  the 
fancies  of  the  past  and  the  future  which  were  popular  at  Home. 
Alexandria  Troas  was  a  recollection  of  the  city  of  Priam,  and  a 
prophecy  of  the  city  of  Constantine.  The  Romans  regarded  it  in 
its  best  days  as  a  "  New  Troy,"  and  the  Turks  even  now  call  its 
ruins  "  Old  Constantinople."    It  is  said  that  Julius  Caesar,  in  his 


240 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


dreams  of  a  monarchy  which  should  embrace  the  East  and  the 
West,  turned  his  eyes  to  this  city  as  his  intended  capital ;  and  there 
is  no  doubt  that  Constantine,  before  he  gave  a  just  preference  to 
the  situation  of  Byzantium,  had  conceived  the  design  of  erecting 
the  seat  of  empire  on  this  celebrated  spot,  from  whence  the  Ro- 
mans derived  their  fabulous  origin."  Augustus  brought  the  town 
into  close  and  honorable  connection  with  Rome  by  making  it  a 
colonia,  and  assimilated  its  land  to  that  of  Italy  by  giving  it  the 
jus  lialicum.  When  Paul  was  there  it  had  not  attained  its  utmost 
growth  as  a  city  of  the  Romans.  The  great  aqueduct  was  not  yet 
built  by  which  Herod es  Atticus  brought  water  from  the  fountains 
of  Ida,  and  the  piers  of  which  are  still  standing  The  enclosure 
of  the  walls,  extending  above  a  mile  from  east  to  west,  and  near  a 
mile  from  north  to  south,  may  represent  the  limits  of  the  city  in 
the  age  of  Claudius.  The  ancient  harbor,  even  yet  distinctly 
traceable,  and  not  without  a  certain  desolate  beauty  when  it  is  the 
foreground  of  a  picture  with  the  hills  of  Imbros  and  the  higher 
peak  of  Samothrace  in  the  distance,  is  an  object  of  greater  interest 
than  the  aqueduct  and  the  walls.  All  furthur  allusions  to  the 
topography  of  the  place  may  be  deferred  till  we  describe  the  apos- 
tle's subsequent  and  repeated  visits.  At  present  he  is  hastening 
towards  Europe.  Everything  in  this  part  of  our  narrative  turns 
our  eyes  to  the  West. 

What  w^ere  the  thoughts  in  Paul's  mind  when  he  looked  toward 
Europe  across  the  ^gean?  Though  ignorant  of  the  precise 
nature  of  the  supernatural  intimations  which  had  guided  his 
recent  journey,  we  are  led  irresistibly  to  think  that  he  associated 
his  future  work  with  the  distant  prospect  of  the  Macedonian  hills. 
We  are  reminded  of  another  journey,  when  the  prophetic  Spirit 
gave  him  partial  revelations  on  his  departure  from  Corinth  and 
on  his  way  to  Jerusalem :  "  After  I  have  been  there  I  must  also 
see  Rome.  I  have  no  more  place  in  these  parts.  I  know  not  what 
shall  befall  me,  save  that  the  Holy  Ghost  witnesseth  that  bonds 
and  afflictions  abide  me." 

Such  thoughts,  it  may  be,  had  been  in  the  apostle's  mind  at 
Troas  when  the  sun  set  behind  Athos  and  Samothrace  and  the 
shadows  fell  on  Ida  and  settled  dark  on  Tenedos  and  the  deep. 
With  the  view  of  the  distant  land  of  Macedonia  imprinted  on  his 
memory,  and  the  thought  of  Europe's  miserable  heathenism  deep 
in  his  heart,  he  was  prepared,  like  Peter  at  Joppa,  to  receive  the 


LUKE  JOINS  THE  MISSION. 


241 


full  meaaing  of  the  voice  which  spoke  to  him  in  a  dream.  In  the 
visions  of  the  night  a  form  appeared  to  come  and  stand  by  him, 
and  he  recognized  in  the  supernatural  visitant  "a  man  of  Mace- 
donia," who  came  to  plead  the  spiritual  wants  of  his  country.  It 
was  the  voice  of  the  sick  inquiring  for  a  physician,  of  the  ignorant 
seeking  for  wisdom — the  voice  which  ever  since  has  been  calling 
on  the  Church  to  extend  the  gospel  to  heathendom :  "  Come  over 
and  help  us." 

Virgil  has  described  an  evening  and  a  sunrise  on  this  coast 
before  and  after  an  eventful  night.  That  night  was  indeed  eventful 
in  which  Paul  received  his  commission  to  proceed  to  Macedonia. 
The  commission  was  promptly  executed.  The  morning  star  ap- 
peared over  the  cliffs  of  Ida.  The  sun  rose  and  spread  the  day 
over  the  sea  and  the  islands  as  far  as  Athos  and  Samothrace.  The 
men  of  Troas  awoke  to  their  trade  and  their  labor.  Among  those 
who  were  busy  about  the  shipping  in  the  harbor  were  the  newly- 
arrived  Christian  travellers,  seeking  for  a  passage  to  Europe — 
Paul,  and  Silas,  and  Timotheus,  and  that  new  companion,  "  Luke 
the  beloved  physician,"  who,  whether  by  prearrangement  or  by  a 
providential  meeting,  or  (it  may  be)  even  in  consequence  of  the 
apostle's  delicate  health,  now  joined  the  mission,  of  which  he 
afterward  wrote  the  history.  God  provided  a  ship  for  the  mes- 
sengers he  had  chosen,  and  (to  use  the  language  of  a  more  sacred 
poetry  than  that  which  has  made  these  coasts  illustrious)  he 
brought  the  wind  out  of  his  treasuries,  and  by  his  power  he 
brought  in  the  south  wind,"  and  prospered  the  voyage  of  his  ser- 
Tants. 

16 


CHAPTEK  IX. 


VOYAGE  BY  SAMOTHRACE  TO  NEAPOLIS. — PHILIPPI. — CONSTITU- 
TION OF  A  COLONY. — LYDIA. — THE  DEMONIAC  SLAVE. — PAUL 
AND  SILAS  ARRESTED. — THE  PRISON  AND  THE  JAILER. — THE 
MAGISTRATES. — DEPARTURE  FROM  PHILIPPI. — LUKE. — MACE- 
DONIA DESCRIBED. — ITS  CONDITION  AS  A  PROVINCE. — THE  VIA 
EGNATIA. — PAUL'S  JOURNEY  THROUGH  AMPHIPOLIS  AND  APOL- 
LONIA.  —  THESSALONICA.  —  THE  SYNAGOGUE.  —  SUBJECTS  OF 
PAUL'S  PREACHING. — PERSECUTION,  TUMULT,  AND  FLIGHT. — 
THE  JEWS  AT  BERGEA. — PAUL  AGAIN  PERSECUTED. — PROCEEDS 
TO  ATHENS. 

The  weather  itself  was  propitious  to  the  voyage  from  Asia  to 
Europe.  It  is  evident  that  Paul  and  his  companions  sailed  from 
Troas  with  a  fair  wind.  On  a  later  occasion  we  are  told  that  five 
days  were  spent  on  the  passage  from  Philippi  to  Troas.  On  the 
present  occasion  the  same  voyage,  in  the  opposite  direction,  was 
made  in  two.  If  we  attend  to  Luke's  technical  expression — which 
literally  means  that  they  "  sailed  before  the  wind  " — and  take  into 
account  that  the  passage  to  the  west,  between  Tenedos  and  Lemnos, 
is  attended  with  some  risk,  we  may  infer  that  the  wind  blew  from  the 
southward.  The  southerly  winds  in  this  part  of  the  Archipelago 
do  not  usually  last  long,  but  they  often  blow  with  considerable 
force.  Sometimes  they  are  sufficiently  strong  to  counteract  the 
current  which  sets  to  the  southward  from  the  mouth  of  the  Dar- 
danelles. However  this  might  be  on  the  day  when  Paul  passed 
over  these  waters,  the  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  would  soon  cleave 
her  way  through  the  strait  between  Tenedos  and  the  main,  past 
the  Dardanelles  and  near  the  eastern  shore  of  Imbros.  On  round- 
ing the  northern  end  of  this  island  they  would  open  Samothrace, 
which  had  hitherto  appeared  as  a  higher  and  more  distant  summit 
over  the  lower  mountains  of  Imbros.  The  distance  between  the 
two  islands  is  about  twelve  miles.  Leaving  Imbros,  and  bearing 
242 


SAMOTHRACE. 


243 


now  a  little  to  the  west,  and  having  the  wind  still  (as  our  sailors 
Bay)  two  or  three  points  ahaft  the  beam,  the  helmsman  steered  for 
Samothrace,  and  under  the  shelter  of  its  high  shore  they  anchored 
for  the  night. 

Samothrace  is  the  highest  land  in  the  north  of  the  Archipelago 
with  the  exception  of  Mount  Athos.  These  two  eminences  have 
been  in  all  ages  the  familiar  landmarks  of  the  Greek  mariners  of 
the  ^gean.  Even  from  the  neighborhood  of  Troas,  Mount  Athos 
is  seen  towering  over  Lemnos,  like  Samothrace  over  Imbros.  And 
what  Mount  Athos  is  in  another  sense  to  the  superstitious  Christian 
of  the  Levant,  the  peak  of  Samothrace  was  in  the  days  of  heathenism 
to  his  Greek  ancestors  in  the  same  seas.  It  was  the  "  Monte  Santo/' 
to  which  the  Greek  mariner  looked  with  awe  as  he  gazed  on  it  in 
the  distant  horizon  or  came  to  anchor  under  the  shelter  of  its  coast. 
It  was  the  sanctuary  of  an  ancient  superstition  which  was  widely 
spread  over  the  neighboring  continents,  and  the  history  of  which 
was  vainly  investigated  by  Greek  and  Roman  writers.  If  Paul 
had  stayed  here  even  a  few  days,  we  might  be  justified  in  saying 
something  of  the  "  Cabiri,"  but  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that 
he  even  landed  on  the  island.  At  present  it  possesses  no  good 
harbor,  though  many  places  of  safe  anchorage,  and  if  the  wind  was 
from  the  southward,  there  would  be  smooth  water  anywhere  on 
the  north  shore.  The  island  was  doubtless  better  supplied  with 
artificial  advantages  in  an  age  not  removed  by  many  centuries  from 
the  flourishing  period  of  that  mercantile  empire  which  the  Phoe- 
nicians founded  and  the  Athenians  inherited  in  the  -^gean  Sea. 

The  relations  of  Samothrace  with  the  opposite  coast  were  close 
and  frequent  when  the  merchants  of  Tyre  had  their  miners  at 
work  in  Mount  Pangaeus,  and  when  Athens  diffused  her  citizens 
as  colonists  or  exiles  on  all  the  neighboring  shores.  Nor  can  those 
relations  have  been  materially  altered  when  both  the  Phoenician 
and  Greek  settlements  on  the  sea  were  absorbed  in  the  wider  and 
continental  dominion  of  Rome.  Ever  since  the  day  when  Perseus 
fled  to  Samothrace  from  the  Roman  conqueror,  frequent  vessels 
had  been  passing  and  repassing  between  the  island  and  the  coasts 
of  Macedonia  and  Thrace. 

The  Macedonian  harbor  at  which  Paul  landed  was  Neapolis. 
Its  direction  from  Samothrace  is  a  little  to  the  north  of  east.  But 
a  southerly  breeze  would  still  be  a  fair  wind,  though  they  could 
not  literally  "  run  before  it."    A  run  of  seven  or  eight  hours,  not- 


244          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


withstanding  the  easterly  current,  would  bring  the  vessel  under 
the  lee  of  the  island  of  Thasos  and  within  a  few  miles  of  the  coast 
of  Macedonia.  The  shore  of  the  mainland  in  this  part  is  low,  but 
mountains  rise  1o  a  considerable  height  behind.  To  the  westward 
of  the  channel  which  separates  it  from  Thasos  the  coast  recedes 
and  forms  a  bay,  within  which,  on  a  promontory  with  a  port  on 
each  side,  the  ancient  Neapolis  was  situated. 

Some  difference  of  opinion  has  existed  concerning  the  true 
position  of  this  harbor;  but  the  traces  of  paved  military  roads 
approaching  the  promontory  we  have  described,  in  two  directions 
corresponding  to  those  indicated  in  the  ancient  itineraries,  the 
Latin  inscriptions  which  have  been  found  on  the  spot,  the  remains 
of  a  great  aqueduct  on  two  tiers  of  Eoman  arches,  and  of  cisterns 
like  those  at  BaisB  near  the  other  Neapolis  on  the  Campanian  shore, 
seem  to  leave  little  doubt  that  the  small  Turkish  village  of  Cavallo 
is  the  Naples  of  Macedonia,  the  ^'  Neapolis''  at  which  Paul  landed, 
and  the  seaport  of  Philippi,  the  first  city  "  which  the  traveller 
reached  on  entering  this  "  part  of  Macedonia,"  and  a  city  of  no 
little  importance  as  a  Eoman  military  "  colony." 

A  ridge  of  elevated  land,  which  connects  the  range  of  Pangseus 
with  the  higher  mountains  in  the  interior  of  Thrace,  is  crossed 
between  Neapolis  and  Philippi.  The  whole  distance  is  about  ten 
miles.  The  ascent  of  the  ridge  is  begun  immediately  from  the 
town  through  a  defile  formed  by  some  precipices  almost  close  upon 
the  sea.  When  the  higher  ground  is  attained  an  extensive  and 
magnificent  sea-view  is  opened  towards  the  south.  Samothrace 
is  seen  to  the  east,  Thasos  to  the  south-east,  and  more  distant  and 
farther  to  the  ^  right  the  towering  summit  of  Athos.  When  the 
descent  on  the  opposite  side  begins  and  the  sea  is  lost  to  view, 
another  prospect  succeeds,  less  extensive,  but  not  less  worthy  of 
our  notice.  We  look  down  on  a  plain  which  is  level  as  an  inland 
sea,  and  which,  if  the  eye  could  range  over  its  remoter  spaces, 
would  be  seen  winding  far  within  its  mountain-enclosure  to  the 
west  and  the  north.  Its  appearance  is  either  exuberantly  green 
(for  its  fertility  has  been  always  famous)  or  cold  and  dreary  (for 
tie  streams  which  water  it  are  often  diffused  into  marshes)  accord- 
ing to  the  season  when  we  visit  this  corner  of  Macedonia — whether 
it  be  when  the  snows  are  white  and  chill  on  the  summits  of  the 
Thracian  Hgemus,  or  when  the  roses,  of  which  Theophrastus  and 


THE  CITY  OF  PHILIPPI. 


245 


Pliny  speak,  are  displaying  tlieir  bloom  on  the  warmer  slopes  of 
the  Panfrsean  hills. 

This  plain,  between  Hsemus  and  Pangseus,  is  the  plain  of  Philippi, 
where  the  last  battle  was  lost  by  the  republicans  of  Eome.  The 
whole  region  around  is  eloquent  of  the  history  of  this  battle. 
Among  the  mountains  on  the  right  was  the  difficult  path  by  which 
the  republican  army  penetrated  into  Macedonia ;  on  some  part  of 
the  very  ridge  on  which  we  stand  were  the  camps  of  Brutus  and 
Cassius ;  the  stream  before  us  is  the  river  which  passed  in  front  of 
them ;  below  us,  "  upon  the  left  hand  of  the  even  field,"  is  the 
marsh  by  which  Antony  crossed  as  he  approached  his  antagonist ; 
directly  opposite  is  the  hill  of  Philippi,  where  Cassius  died  ;  behind 
us  is  the  narrow  strait  of  the  sea,  across  which  Brutus  sent  his  body 
to  the  island  of  Thasos,  lest  the  army  should  be  disheartened  before 
the  final  struggle.  The  city  of  Philippi  was  itself  a  monument  of 
the  termination  of  that  struggle.  It  had  been  founded  by  the 
father  of  Alexander  in  a  place  called,  from  its  numerous  streams, 
"  The  Place  of  Fountains,"  to  commemorate  the  addition  of  a  new 
province  to  his  kingdom  and  to  protect  the  frontier  against  the 
Thracian  mountaineers.  For  similar  reasons  the  city  of  Philip 
was  gifted  by  Augustus  with  the  privileges  of  a  colonia.  It  thus 
became  at  once  a  border  garrison  of  the  province  of  Macedonia 
and  a  perpetual  memorial  of  his  victory  over  Brutus.  And  now  a 
Jewish  apostle  came  to  the  same  place,  to  win  a  greater  victory 
than  that  of  Philippi,  and  to  found  a  more  durable  empire  than 
that  of  Augustus.  It  is  a  fact  of  deep  significance  that  the  "  first 
city  "  at  which  Paul  arrived  on  his  entrance  into  Europe  should  be 
that  colony  "  which  was  more  fit  than  any  other  in  the  empire  to 
be  considered  the  representative  of  the  power  and  greatness  of 
imperial  Eome. 

The  characteristic  of  a  colonia  was,  that  it  was  a  miniature  re- 
semblance of  Rome.  Philippi  is  not  the  first  city  of  this  kind  to 
which  we  have  traced  the  footsteps  of  Paul — Antioch  in  Pisidia 
and  Alexandria  Troas  both  possessed  the  same  character — but  this 
is  the  first  place  where  the  Scriptures  call  our  attention  to  the  dis- 
tinction ;  and  the  events  which  befell  the  apostle  at  Philippi  were 
directly  connected  with  the  privileges  of  the  place  as  a  Roman 
colony  and  with  his  own  privileges  as  a  Roman  citizen.  It  will  be 
convenient  to  consider  these  two  subjects  together.  A  glance  at 
Bome  of  the  differences  which  subsisted  among  individuals  and 


246         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

communities  in  the  provincial  system  will  enable  us  to  see  very 
clearly  the  position  of  the  citizen  and  of  the  colony. 

We  have  had  occasion  (Chap.  I.)  to  speak  of  the  combination 
of  actual  provinces  and  nominally  independent  states  through 
which  the  power  of  the  Roman  emperor  was  variously  diffused; 
and  again  (Chap,  V.)  we  have  described  the  division  of  the  prov- 
inces by  Augustus  into  those  of  the  senate  and  those  of  the 
emperor.  Descending  now  to  examine  the  component  population 
of  any  one  province,  and  to  inquire  into  the  political  condition 
of  individuals  and  communities,  we  find  here  again  a  complicated 
system  of  rules  and  exceptions.  As  regards  individuals,  the  broad 
distinction  we  must  notice  is  that  between  those  who  were  citizens 
and  those  who  were  not  citizens.  When  the  Greeks  spoke  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  world  they  divided  them  into  ''Greeks"  and 

barbarians,''  according  as  the  language  in  which  poets  and 
philosophers  had  written  was  native  to  them  or  foreign.  Among 
the  Romans  the  phrase  was  different.  The  classes  into  which  they 
divided  mankind  consisted  of  those  who  were  politically  Ro- 
mans,'' and  those  who  had  no  link  (except  that  of  subjection)  with 
the  city  of  Rome.  The  technical  words  were  cives  Siud  pereg7Hni — 
"citizens"  and  strangers."  The  inhabitants  of  Italy  were  citi- 
zens;" the  inhabitants  of  all  other  parts  of  the  empire  (until 
Caracalla  extended  to  the  provinces  the  same  privileges  which 
Julius  Cjesar  had  granted  to  the  peninsula)  were  naturally  and 
essentially  "strangers."  Italy  was  the  Holy  Land  of  the  kingdom 
of  this  world.  We  may  carry  the  parallel  further  in  order  to  illus- 
trate the  difference  which  existed  among  the  citizens  themselves. 
Those  true-born  Italians  who  were  diffused  in  vast  numbers 
through  the  provinces  might  be  called  citizens  of  the  Dispersion, 
while  those  strangers  who  at  various  times  and  for  various  reasons 
had  received  the  gift  of  citizenship  were  irt  the  condition  of  polit- 
ical proselytes.  Such  were  Paul  and  Silas,  in  their  relation  to 
the  empire,  among  their  fellow-Romans  in  the  colony  of  Philippi. 
Both  these  classes  of  citizens,  however,  were  in  full  possession  of 
the  same  privileges,  the  most  important  of  which  were  exemption 
from  scourging  and  freedom  from  arrest  except  in  extreme  cases, 
and  in  all  cases  the  right  of  appeal  from  the  magistrate  to  the 
emperor. 

The  remarks  which  have  been  made  concerning  individuals  may 
be  extended  in  some  degree  to  communities  in  the  provinces.  The 


CHARACTER  OF  A  ROMAN  COLONY. 


247 


city  of  Rome  might  be  transplanted,  as  it  were,  into  various  parts 
of  the  empire  and  reproduced  as  a  colo72ia,  or  an  alien  city  might 
be  adopted,  under  the  title  of  a  municijnumj  into  a  close  political 
communion  with  Rome.  Leaving  out  of  view  all  cities  of  the 
latter  kind — and  indeed  they  were  limited  entirely  to  the  Western 
provinces — we  will  confine  ourselves  to  what  was  called  a  colonia, 
A  Roman  colony  was  very  different  from  anything  which  we 
usually  intend  by  the  term.  It  was  no  mere  mercantile  factory, 
such  as  those  which  the  Phoenicians  established  in  Spain  or  on 
those  very  shores  of  Macedonia  with  which  we  are  now  engaged, 
or  such  as  modern  nations  have  founded  in  the  Hudson's  Bay 
territory  or  on  the  coast  of  India.  Still  less  was  it  like  those  in- 
coherent aggregates  of  human  beings  which  England  has  thrown, 
without  care  or  system,  on  distant  islands  and  continents.  It  did 
not  even  go  forth  as  a  young  Greek  republic  left  its  parent  state, 
carrying  with  it,  indeed,  the  respect  of  a  daughter  for  a  mother, 
but  entering  upon  a  new  and  independent  existence.  The  Roman 
colonies  were  primarily  intended  as  military  safeguards  of  the 
frontiers  and  as  checks  upon  insurgent  provincials.  Like  the 
military  roads,  they  were  part  of  the  great  system  of  fortification 
by  which  the  empire  was  made  safe.  They  served  also  as  con- 
venient possessions  for  rewarding  veterans  who  had  served  in  the 
wars,  and  for  establishing  freedmen  and  other  Italians  whom  it 
was  desirable  to  remove  to  a  distance.  The  colonists  went  out 
with  all  the  pride  of  Roman  citizens  to  represent  and  reproduce 
the  city  in  the  midst  of  an  alien  population.  They  proceeded  to 
their  destination  like  an  army  with  its  standards,  and  the  limits 
of  the  new  city  were  marked  out  by  the  plough.  Their  names 
were  still  enrolled  in  one  of  the  Roman  tribes.  Every  traveller 
who  passed  through  a  colonia  saw  there  the  insignia  of  Rome.  He 
heard  the  Latin  language,  and  was  amenable  in  the  strictest  sense 
to  the  Roman  law.  The  coinage  of  the  city,  even  if  it  were  in  a 
Greek  province,  had  Latin  inscriptions.  Cyprian  tells  us  that  in 
his  own  episcopal  city,  which  once  had  been  Rome^s  greatest 
enemy,  the  Laws  of  the  XII.  Tables  were  inscribed  on  brazen 
tablets  in  the  market-place.  Though  the  colonists,  in  addition  to 
the  poll-tax,  which  they  paid  as  citizens,  were  compelled  to  pay  a 
ground-tax  (for  the  land  on  which  their  city  stood  was  provincial 
land,  and  therefore  tributary,  unless  it  were  assimilated  to  Italy  by 
a  special  exemption),  yet  they  we^t  entirely  free  from  any  intru- 


248 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


sion  by  the  governor  of  the  province.  Their  affairs  were  regulated 
by  their  own  magistrates.  These  officers  were  named  duumviri, 
and  they  took  a  pride  in  calling  themselves  by  the  Roman  title 
of  prsetors  [arpaTriyoL),  The  primary  settlers  in  the  colony  w^ere, 
as  we  have  seen,  real  Italians,  but  a  state  of  things  seems  to  have 
taken  place  in  many  instances  very  similar  to  what  happened  in 
the  early  history  of  Eome  itself.  A  number  of  the  native  provin- 
cials grew  up  in  the  same  city  with  the  governing  body,  and  thus 
two  (or  sometimes  three)  co-ordinate  communities  w^ere  formed 
which  ultimately  coalesced  into  one,  like  the  patricians  and  ple- 
beians. Instances  of  this  state  of  things  might  be  given  from 
Oorinth  and  Carthage  and  from  the  colonies  of  Spain  and  Gaul ; 
and  w^e  have  no  reason  to  suppose  that  Philippi  was  different  from 
the  rest. 

Whatever  the  relative  proportion  of  Greeks  and  Romans  at 
Philippi  may  have  been,  the  number  of  the  Jews  was  small.  This 
is  sufficiently  accounted  for  when  we  remember  that  it  was  a  mil- 
itary and  not  a  mercantile  city.  There  was  no  synagogue  in 
Philippi,  but  only  one  of  those  buildings  called  proseuchcdy  which 
w^ere  distinguished  from  the  regular  places  of  worship  by  being 
of  a  more  slight  and  temporary  structure  and  frequently  open  to 
the  sky.  For  the  sake  of  greater  quietness  and  freedom  from 
interruption  this  place  of  prayer  was  ^'outside  the  gate,''  and  in 
consequence  of  the  ablutions  which  were  connected  with  the 
worship  it  was  "by  the  river-side,"  on  the  bank  of  the  Gaggitas, 
the  fountains  of  which  gave  the  name  to  the  city  before  the  time 
of  Philip  of  Macedon,  and  which  in  the  great  battle  of  the  Ro- 
mans had  been  polluted  by  the  footsteps  and  blood  of  the  con- 
tending armies. 

The  congregation  which  met  here  for  worship  on  the  sabbath 
consisted  chiefly,  if  not  entirely,  of  a  few  women  ;  and  these  were 
not  all  of  Jewish  birth  and  not  all  residents  of  Philippi.  Lydia, 
who  is  mentioned  by  name,  was  a  proselyte,  and  Thyatira,  her 
native  place,  was  a  city  of  the  province  of  Asia.  The  business 
which  brought  her  to  Philippi  was  connected  with  the  dyeing 
trade,  which  had  flourished  from  a  very  early  period,  as  we  learn 
from  Homer,  in  the  neighborhood  of  Thyatira,  and  is  permanently 
commemorated  in  inscriptions  which  relate  to  the  "  guild  of  dyers" 
in  that  city,  and  incidentally  give  a  singular  confirmation  of  the 
veracity  of  Luke  in  his  casual  allusions. 


LYDIA. 


249 


In  this  unpretending  place  and  to  this  coDgregation  of  piou3 
women  the  gospel  was  first  preached  within  the  limits  of  Europe. 
Paul  and  his  companions  seem  to  have  arrived  in  the  early  part 
of  the  week,  for  '^some  days''  elapsed  before  ''the  sabbath."  On 
that  day  the  strangers  went  and  joined  the  little  company  of  wor- 
shippers at  their  prayer  by  the  river-side.  Assuming  at  once  the 
attitude  of  teachers,  they  ''sat  down"  and  spoke  to  the  women  who 
were  assem^bled  together.  The  Lord,  who  had  summoned  his  ser- 
vants from  Troas  to  preach  the  gospel  in  Macedonia,  now  vouch- 
safed to  them  the  signs  of  his  presence  by  giving  divine  energy  to 
the  words  which  they  spoke  in  his  name.  Lydia  "  was  one  of  the 
listeners,"  and  the  Lord  "  opened  her  heart,  that  she  took  heed  to 
the  things  that  were  spoken  of  Paul." 

Lydia,  being  convinced  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  and  having 
made  a  profession  of  her  faith,  was  forthwith  baptized.  Tb.e  place 
of  her  baptism  was  doubtless  the  stream  which  flowed  by  the 
proseucha.  The  waters  of  Europe  were  "sanctified  to  the  mysti- 
cal washing  away  of  sin."  With  the  baptism  of  Lydia  that  of  her 
*' household"  was  associated.  Whether  we  are  to  understand  by 
this  term  her  children,  her  slaves,  or  the  workpeople  engaged  in 
the  manual  employment  connected  with  her  trade,  or  all  these  col- 
lectively, cannot  easily  be  decided.  But  we  may  observe  that  it  is 
the  first  passage  in  the  life  of  Paul  where  we  have  an  example  of 
that  family  religion  to  which  he  often  alludes  in  his  Epistles. 
The  "connections  of  Chloe,"  the  "household  of  Stephanas,"  the 
"church  in  the  house"  of  Aquila  and  Priscilla  are  parallel  cases 
to  which  we  shall  come  in  the  course  of  the  narrative.  It  may  also 
be  rightly  added  that  we  have  here  the  first  example  of  that  Chris- 
tian haspitality  which  was  so  emphatically  enjoined  and  so  lovingly 
practised  in  the  apostolic  Church.  The  frequent  mention  of  the 
"hosts"  who  gave  shelter  to  the  apostles  reminds  us  that  they  led 
a  life  of  hardship  and  poverty,  and  were  the  followers  of  Him  "for 
whom  there  was  no  room  in  the  inn.'^  The  Lord  had  said  to  his 
apostles  that  when  they  entered  into  a  city  they  were  to  seek  out 
"  those  who  w^re  worthy,"  and  with  them  to  abide.  The  search  at 
Philippi  was  not  difficult.  Lydia  voluntarily  presented  herself  to 
her  spiritual  benefactors,  and  said  to  them  earnestly  and  humbly 
that,  "  since  they  had  regarded  her  as  a  believer  on  the  Lord,"  her 
house  should  be  their  home.  She  admitted  of  no  refusal  to  her 
request,  and  "  their  peace  was  on  that  house." 


250 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL 


Thus  the  gospel  has  obtained  a  home  in  Europe.  It  is  true  that 
the  family  with  whom  the  apostles  lodged  was  Asiatic  rather  than 
European,  and  the  direct  influence  of  Lydia  may  be  supposed  to 
have  contributed  more  to  the  establishment  of  the  Church  of 
Thyatira,  addressed  by  John,  than  to  that  of  Philippi,  which 
received  the  letter  of  Paul.  But  still,  the  doctrine  and  practice  of 
Christianity  were  established  in  Europe ;  and  nothing  could  be 
more  calm  and  tranquil  than  its  first  beginnings  on  the  shore  of 
that  continent  which  it  has  long  overspread.  The  scenes  by  the 
river-side  and  in  the  house  of  Lydia  are  beautiful  prophecies  of 
the  holy  influence  which  Avomen,  elevated  by  Christianity  to  their 
true  position,  and  enabled  by  divine  grace  to  w^ear  "the  ornament 
of  a  meek  and  quiet  spirit,"  have  now  for  centuries  exerted  over 
domestic  happiness  and  the  growth  of  piety  and  peace.  If  we  wish 
to  see  this  in  a  forcible  light,  we  may  contrast  the  picture  which  is 
drawn  for  us  by  Luke  with  another  representation  of  women  in 
the  same  neighborhood  given  by  the  heathen  poets,  who  tell  us  of 
the  frantic  excitement  of  the  Edonian  matrons  wandering  under 
the  name  of  religion  with  dishevelled  hair  and  violent  cries  on  the 
banks  of  the  Strymon. 

Thus  far,  all  was  peaceful  and  hopeful  in  the  work  of  preaching 
the  gospel  to  Macedonia :  the  congregation  met  in  the  house  or  by 
the  river-side,  souls  w^ere  converted  and  instructed,  and  a  church 
consisting  both  of  men  and  w^omen  was  gradually  built  up.  This 
continued  for  "  many  days.''  It  was  difficult  to  foresee  the  storm 
which  was  to  overcast  so  fair  a  prospect.  A  bitter  persecution, 
however,  was  unexpectedly  provoked,  and  the  apostles  were 
brought  into  collision  with  heathen  superstition  in  one  of  its 
worst  forms  and  with  the  rough  violence  of  the  colonial  author- 
ities. As  if  to  show  that  the  work  of  divine  grace  is  advanced  by 
difficulties  and  discouragements  rather  than  by  ease  and  pros- 
perity, the  apostles,  who  had  been  supernaturally  summoned  to  a 
new  field  of  labor,  and  who  were  patiently  cultivating  it  with 
good  success,  were  suddenly  called  away  from  it,  silenced,  and  im- 
prisoned. 

In  tracing  the  life  of  Paul  we  have  not  as  yet  seen  Christianity 
directly  brought  into  conflict  with  heathenism.  The  sorcerer  who 
had  obtained  influence  over  Sergius  Paulus  in  Cyprus  was  a  Jew, 
like  the  apostle  himself.  The  first  impulse  of  the  idolaters  of 
Lystra  v/as  to  worship  Paul  and  Barnabas,  and  it  was  only  after 


BELIEF  IN  DiEMONS. 


251 


the  Jews  had  perverted  their  minds  that  they  began  to  persecute 
them.  But  as  we  travel  farther  from  the  East,  and  especially 
through  countries  where  the  Israelites  were  thinly  scattered,  we 
must  expect  to  find  pagan  creeds  in  immediate  antagonism  with 
the  gospel;  and  not  merely  pagan  creeds,  but  the  evil  powers 
themselves  which  give  paganism  its  supremacy  over  the  minds  of 
men.  The  questions  which  relate  to  evil  spirits,  false  divinities, 
and  demoniacal  possessions  are  far  too  difficult  and  extensive  to 
be  entered  on  here.  We  are  content  to  express  our  belief  that  in 
the  demoniacs  of  the  New  Testament  allusion  is  really  made  to 
personal  spirits  who  exercised  power  for  evil  purposes  on  the 
human  will.  The  unregenerate  world  is  represented  to  us  in 
Scripture  as  a  realm  of  darkness,  in  which  the  invisible  agents 
of  wickedness  are  permitted  to  hold  sway  under  conditions  and 
limitations  which  we  are  not  able  to  define.  The  degrees  and 
modes  in  which  their  presence  is  made  visibly  apparent  may  vary 
widely  in  different  countries  and  in  different  ages.  In  the  time  of 
Jesus  Christ  and  his  apostles  we  are  justified  in  saying  that  their 
workings  in  one  particular  mode  were  made  peculiarly  manifest. 
As  it  was  in  the  life  of  our  great  Master,  so  it  was  in  that  of  his 
immediate  followers.  The  daemons  recognized  Jesus  as  "  the  holy 
One  of  God,"  and  they  recognized  his  apostles  as  the  bondsmen 
of  the  most  high  God,  who  preach  the  way  of  salvation.''  Jesus 
"cast  out  daemons,"  and  by  virtue  of  the  power  which  he  gave  the 
apostles  were  able  to  do  in  his  name  what  he  did  in  his  own. 

If  in  any  region  of  heathendom  the  evil  spirits  had  pre-eminent 
sway,  it  was  in  the  mythological  system  of  Greece,  which,  with  all 
its  beautiful  imagery  and  all  its  ministrations  to  poetry  and  art, 
left  man  powerless  against  his  passions,  and  only  amused  him 
while  it  helped  him  to  be  unholy.  In  the  lively  imagination  of 
the  Greeks  the  whole  visible  and  invisible  world  was  peopled  with 
spiritua'  powers  or  dcemons.  The  same  terms  were  often  used  on 
this  subject  by  pagans  and  by  Christians.  But  in  the  language  of 
the  pagan  the  daemon  might  be  either  a  beneficent  or  malignant 
power;  in  the  language  of  the  Christian  it  always  denoted  what 
vv{is  evil.  When  the  Athenians  said  that  Paul  was  introducing 
"new  dcxmons"  among  them,  they  did  not  necessarily  mean  that 
he  was  in  league  with  evil  spirits;  but  when  Paul  told  the  Cor- 
inthians that  though  "idols"  in  themselves  were  nothing,  yet  the 
sacrifices  offered  to  them  were,  in  reality,  offered  to  "  da3mons," 


252  LIFE  AND  EPISTI.es  OF  THE  APOSTEE  PAUL. 


he  spoke  of  those  false  divinities  which  were  the  enemies  of  the 
true. 

Again,  the  language  concerning  physical  changes,  especially  in 
the  human  frame,  is  very  similar  in  the  sacred  and  profane  writers. 
Sometimes  it  contents  itself  with  stating  merely  the  facts  and  symp- 
toms of  disease;  sometimes  it  refers  the  fjicts  and  symptoms  to  in- 
visible personal  agency.  One  class  of  phenomena,  affecting  the 
mind  as  well  as  the  body,  was  more  particularly  referred  to  preter- 
natural agency.  These  were  the  prophetic  states  of  mind,  showing 
themselves  in  stated  oracles  or  in  more  irregular  manifestations, 
and  accompanied  with  convulsions  and  violent  excitement  which 
are  described  or  alluded  to  by  almost  all  heathen  authors.  Here, 
again,  we  are  brought  to  a  subject  which  is  surrounded  with  diffi- 
culties. How  far,  in  such  cases,  imposture  was  combined  with 
real  possession, — how  we  may  disentangle  the  one  from  the  other, — • 
how  far  the  supreme  will  of  God  made  use  of  these  prophetic 
powers  and  overruled  them  to  good  ends, — such  questions  inevita- 
bly suggest  themselves,  but  we  are  not  concerned  to  answer  them 
here.  It  is  enough  to  say  that  we  see  no  reason  to  blame  the  opin- 
ion of  those  writers  who  believe  that  a  wicked  spiritual  agency  was 
really  exerted  in  the  prophetic  sanctuaries  and  prophetic  person- 
ages of  the  heathen  world.  The  heathens  themselves  attributed 
these  phenomena  to  the  agency  of  Apollo,  the  deity  of  Pythonic 
spirits ;  and  such  phenomena  were  of  very  frequent  occurrence  and 
displayed  themselves  under  many  varieties  of  place  and  circum- 
stance. Sometimes  those  who  were  possessed  were  of  the  highest 
condition  ;  sometimes  they  went  about  the  streets  like  insane  im- 
postors of  the  lowest  rank.  It  was  usual  for  the  prophetic  spirit 
to  make  itself  known  by  an  internal  muttering  or  ventriloquism. 
We  read  of  persons  in  this  miserable  condition  used  by  others  for 
the  purpose  of  gain.  Frequently  they  were  slaves,  and  there  were 
cases  of  joint  proprietorship  in  these  unhappy  ministers  of  public 
superstition. 

In  the  case  before  us  it  was  a  female  slave  "  who  was  possessed 
with  "a  spirit  of  divination and  she  was  the  property  of  more 
than  one  master,  who  kept  her  for  the  purpose  of  practising  on  the 
credulity  of  the  Philippians,  and  realized  much  profit in  this 
way.  We  all  know  the  kind  of  sacredness  with  which  the  ravings 
of  common  insanity  are  apt  to  be  invested  by  the  ignorant,  and  we 
can  easily  understand  the  notoriety  which  the  gestures  and  words 


PAUL  AND  SILAS  AllRESTP^D. 


253 


of  this  dtmoniac  would  obtain  in  Philippi.  It  was  far  from  a 
matter  of  indifference  when  she  met  the  members  of  the  Christian 
congregation  on  the  road  to  the  proseucha,  and  began  to  follow 
Paul  and  to  exclaim  (either  because  the  words  she  had  overheard 
mingled  with  her  diseased  imaginations,  or  because  the  evil  spirit 
in  her  was  compelled  to  speak  the  truth),  These  men  are  the 
bondsmen  of  the  most  high  God,  who  are  come  to  announce  unto 
you  the  way  of  salvation."  This  was  continued  for  "  several  days," 
and  the  whole  city  must  soon  have  been  familiar  with  her  words. 
Paul  was  well  aware  of  this,  and  he  could  not  bear  the  thought 
that  the  credit  even  of  the  gospel  should  be  enhanced  by  such  un- 
holy means.  Possibly  one  reason  why  our  blessed  Lord  himself 
forbade  the  demoniacs  to  make  him  known  was  that  his  holy  cause 
would  be  polluted  by  resting  on  such  evidence.  And  another  of 
our  Saviour's  feelings  must  have  found  an  imitation  in  Paul's 
breast — that  of  deep  compassion  for  the  poor  victim  of  demoniac 
power.  At  length  he  could  bear  this  satanic  interruption  no 
longer,  and  being  grieved,  he  commanded  the  evil  spirit  to  come 
out  of  her.''  It  would  be  profaneness  to  suppose  that  the  apostle 
spoke  in  mere  irritation,  as  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  imagine  that 
divine  help  would  have  been  vouchsafed  to  gratify  such  a  feeling. 
No  doubt  there  was  grief  and  indignation,  but  the  grief  and  indig- 
nation of  an  apostle  may  be  the  impulses  of  divine  inspiration. 
He  spoke  not  in  his  own  name,  but  in  that  of  Jesus  Christ,  and 
power  from  above  attended  his  words.  The  prophecy  and  com- 
mand of  Jesus  concerning  his  apostles  were  fulfilled — that in  his 
name  they  should  cast  out  daemons."  It  was  as  it  had  been  at 
Jericho  and  by  the  Sea  of  Gennesareth.  The  demoniac  at  Philippi 
was  restored  "to  her  right  mind."  Her  natural  powers  resumed 
their  course,  and  the  gains  of  her  masters  were  gone. 

Violent  rage  on  the  })art  of  these  men  was  the  immediate  result. 
They  saw  that  their  influence,  with  the  people,  and  with  it  *'all 
hope"  of  any  future  gain,  was  at  an  end.  They  proceeded  therefore 
to  take  a  summary  revenge.  Laying  violent  hold  of  Paul  and  Silas 
(for  Timotheus  and  Luke  were  not  so  evidently  concerned  in  what 
happened),  they  dragged  them  into  the  forum  before  the  city  au- 
thorities. The  case  was  brought  before  the  praetors  (so  we  may 
venture  to  call  them,  since  this  was  the  title  which  colonial  duum- 
viri were  fond  of  assuming),  but  the  complainants  must  have  felt 
some  difficulty  in  stating  their  grievance.  The  slave  that  had  lately 


254 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


been  a  lucrative  possession  had  suddenly  become  valueless,  but  the 
law  had  no  remedy  for  property  depreciated  by  exorcism.  The 
true  state  of  the  case  was  therefore  concealed,  and  an  accusation 
was  laid  before  the  praetors  in  the  following  form :  "  These  men  are 
throwing  the  whole  city  into  confusion ;  moreover,  they  are  Jews, 
and  they  are  attempting  to  introduce  new  religious  observances, 
which  we,  being  Roman  citizens,  cannot  legally  receive  and  adopt." 
The  accusation  was  partly  true  and  partly  false.  It  was  quite  false 
that  Paul  and  Silas  were  disturbing  the  colony,  for  nothing  could 
have  been  more  calm  and  orderly  than  their  worship  and  teaching 
at  the  house  of  Lydia  or  in  the  synagogue  by  the  water-side.  In 
the  other  part  of  the  indictment  there  was  a  certain  amount  of 
truth.  The  letter  of  the  Roman  law,  even  under  the  republic,  was 
opposed  to  the  introduction  of  foreign  religions ;  and  though  ex- 
ceptions were  allowed,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Jews  themselves,  yet 
the  spirit  of  the  law  entirely  condemned  such  changes  in  worship 
as  were  likely  to  unsettle  the  minds  of  the  citizens  or  to  produce 
any  tumultuous  uproar;  and  the  advice  given  to  Augustus,  which 
both  he  and  his  successors  had  studiously  followed,  was  to  check 
religious  innovations  as  promptly  as  possible,  lest  in  the  end  they 
should  undermine  the  monarchy.  Thus,  Paul  and  Silas  had  un- 
doubtedly been  doing  what  in  some  degree  exposed  them  to  legal 
penalties,  and  were  beginning  a  change  which  tended  to  bring 
down — and  which  ultimately  did  bring  down — the  whole  weight  of 
the  Roman  law  on  the  martyrs  of  Christianity.  The  force  of 
another  part  of  the  accusation,  which  was  adroitly  introduced — 
namely,  that  the  men  were  Jews  to  begin  with  — will  be  fully 
apprehended  if  we  remember  not  only  that  the  Jews  were 'gene- 
rally hated,  suspected,  and  despised,  but  that  they  had  lately  been 
driven  out  of  Rome  in  consequence  of  an  uproar,  and  that  it  was 
incumbent  on  Philippi,  as  a  colony,  to  copy  the  indignation  of  the 
mother-city. 

Thus  we  can  enter  into  the  feelings  which  caused  the  mob  to  rise 
against  Paul  and  Silas,  and  tempted  the  praetors  to  dispense  with 
legal  formalities  and  consign  the  offenders  to  immediate  punish- 
ment. The  mere  loss  of  the  slave's  prophetic  powers,  so  far  as  it 
was  generally  known,  was  enough  to  cause  a  violent  agitation,  for 
mobs  are  always  more  fond  of  excitement  and  wonder  than  of 
truth  and  holiness.  The  Philipi)ians  had  been  willing  to  pay 
money  for  the  demoniac's  revelations,  and  now  strangers  had  come 


THE  JAIL  AND  THE  JAILER. 


255 


and  deprived  them  of  that  which  gratified  their  superstitious  curi- 
osity. And  when  they  learned,  moreover,  that  these  strangers  were 
Jews  and  were  breaking  the  laws  of  Eome,  their  discontent  became 
fanatical.  It  seems  that  the  prsetors  had  no  time  to  hesitate  if  they 
would  retain  their  popularity.  The  rough  words  were  spoken: 
'*Go,  lictors!  strip  off  their  garments;  let  them  be  scourged." 
The  order  was  promptly  obeyed,  and  the  heavy  blows  descended. 
It  is  happy  for  us  that  few  modern  countries  know,  by  the  example 
of  a  similar  punishment,  what  the  severity  of  a  Roman  scourging 
was.  The  apostles  received  many  stripes,"  and  when  they  were 
consigned  to  prison,  bleeding  and  faint  from  the  rod,  the  jailer 
received  a  strict  injunction  "to  keep  them  safe."  Well  might 
Paul,  when  at  Corinth,  look  back  to  this  day  of  cruelty,  and 
remind  the  Thessalonians  how  he  and  Silas  had  "suffered  before, 
and  were  shamefully  treated,  at  Philippi." 

The  jailer  fulfilled  the  directions  of  the  magistrates  with  rigor- 
ous and  conscientious  cruelty.  Not  content  with  placing  the 
apostles  among  the  other  offenders  against  the  law  who  were  in 
custody  at  Philippi,  he  "thrust  them  into  the  inner  prison,"  and 
then  forced  their  limbs,  lacerated  as  they  were  and  bleeding  from 
the  scourge,  into  a  painful  and  constrained  posture  by  means  of 
an  instrument  employed  to  confine  and  torture  the  bodies  of  the 
worst  malefactors.  Though  we  are  ignorant  of  the  exact  relation 
of  the  outer  and  inner  prisons,  and  of  the  connection  of  the 
jailer's  "house"  with  both,  we  are  not  without  very  good  notions 
of  the  misery  endured  in  the  Roman  places  of  captivity.  We 
must  picture  to  ourselves  something  very  different  from  the 
austere  comfort  of  an  English  jail.  It  is  only  since  that  Chris- 
tianity for  which  the  apostles  bled  has  had  influence  on  the  hearts 
of  men  that  the  treatment  of  felons  has  been  a  distinct  subject  of 
philanthropic  inquiry,  and  that  we  have  learnt  to  pray  "  for  all 
prisoners  and  captives."  The  inner  prisons  of  which  we  read  in 
the  ancient  world  were  like  that  "  dungeon  in  the  court  of  the 
prison  "  into  which  Jeremiah  was  let  down  with  cords,  and  where 
"he  sank  in  the  mire."  They  were  pestilential  cells,  damp  and 
cold,  from  which  the  light  was  excluded,  and  where  the  chains 
rusted  on  the  limbs  of  the  prisoners.  One  such  place  may  be 
seen  to  this  day  on  the  slope  of  the  Capitol  at  Rome.  It  is  known 
to  the  readers  of  Cicero  and  Sallust  as  the  place  where  certain 
notorious  conspirators  were  executed.    The  Tu/lianum  {for  so  it 


256  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

was  called)  is  a  type  of  the  dungeons  in  the  provinces,  and  we 
find  the  very  name  applied  in  one  instance  to  a  dungeon  in  the 
province  of  Macedonia.  What  kind  of  torture  was  inflicted  by 
the  stocks,"  in  which  the  arms  and  legs,  and  even  the  necks, 
of  offenders  were  confined  and  stretched,  we  are  sufficiently  in- 
formed by  the  allusions  to  the  punishment  of  slaves  in  the  Greek 
and  Roman  writers;  and  to  show  how  far  the  cruelty  of  heathen 
persecution,  which  may  be  said  to  have  begun  at  Philippi,  was 
afterward  carried  in  this  peculiar  kind  of  torture,  we  may  refer 
to  the  sufferings  which  "  Origen  endured  under  an  iron  collar  and 
in  the  deepest  recesses  of  the  prison,  when  for  many  days  he 
was  extended  and  stretched  to  the  distance  of  four  holes  on  the 
racky 

A  few  hours  had  made  a  serious  change  from  the  quiet  scene  by 
the  water-side  to  the  interior  of  a  stifling  dungeon.  But  Paul 
and  Silas  had  learnt  "in  whatever  state  they  were,  therewith  to 
be  content."  They  were  even  able  to  "rejoice"  that  they  were 
"  counted  worthy  to  suffer  "  for  the  name  of  Christ.  And  if  some 
thoughts  of  discouragement  came  over  their  minds,  not  for  their 
own  sufferings,  but  for  the  cause  of  their  Master,  and  if  it  seemed 
a  "strange  thing"  that  a  work  to  which  they  liad  been  beckoned  by 
God  should  be  arrested  in  its  very  beginning,  yet  they  had  faith 
to  believe  that  his  arm  would  be  revealed  at  the  appointed  time. 
Joseph's  feet,  too,  had  been  "  hurt  in  the  stocks,"  and  he  became 
a  prince  in  Egypt.  Daniel  had  been  cast  into  the  lions'  den,  and 
he  was  made  ruler  of  Babylon.  Thus,  Paul  and  Silas  remembered 
with  joy  the  "Lord  our  Maker,  who  giveth  songs  in  the  night^^ 
(Job  XXXV.  10).  Racked  as  they  were  with  pain,  sleepless  and 
weary,  they  were  heard  "about  midnight,"  from  the  depth  of 
their  prison-house,  "  praying  and  singing  hymns  to  God."  What  it 
was  that  they  sang,  we  know  not,  but  the  Psalms  of  David  have  ever 
been  dear  to  those  who  suffer;  they  have  instructed  both  Jew  and 
Christian  in  the  language  of  prayer  and  praise.  And  the  Psalms 
abound  in  such  sentences  as  these  :  "  The  Lord  looketh  down  from 
his  sanctuary:  out  of  heaven  the  Lord  beholdeth  the  earth:  that 
he  might  hear  the  mournings  of  such  as  are  in  captivity,  and 
deliver  the  children  appointed  unto  death." — "Oh  let  the  sorrow- 
ful sighing  of  the  prisoners  come  before  thee:  according  to  the 
greatness  of  thy  power,  preserve  thou  those  that  are  appointed  to 
die." — "The  Lord  helpeth  them  to  right  that  suffer  wrong:  the 


THE  BANDS  OF  THE  PRISONERS  LOOSED.  257 


Lord  looseth  men  out  of  prison :  the  Lord  belpeth  them  that  are 
fallen :  the  Lord  careth  for  the  righteous/'  Such  sounds  «is  these 
were  new  in  a  Roman  dungeon.  Whoever  the  other  prisoners 
might  be,  whether  they  were  the  victims  of  oppression  or  were 
suffering  the  punishment  of  guilt — debtors,  slaves,  robbers,  or 
murderers — they  listened  with  surprise  to  the  voices  of  those  who 
filled  the  midnight  of  the  prison  with  sounds  of  cheerfulness  and 
joy.  Still  the  apostles  continued  their  praises  and  the  prisoners 
listened — "They  that  sit  in  darkness,  and  in  the  shadow  of  death: 
being  fast  bound  in  misery  and  iron ;  when  they  cried  unto  the 
Lord  in  their  trouble,  he  delivered  them  out  of  their  distress. 
For  he  brought  them  out  of  darkness,  and  out  of  the  shadow  of 
death:  and  brake  their  bonds  in  sunder.  Oh  that  men  would 
therefore  praise  the  Lord  for  his  goodness,  and  declare  the  wonders 
that  he  doeth  for  the  children  of  men !  for  he  hath  broke  the 
gates  of  brass  and  smitten  the  bars  of  iron  in  sunder,'" — when 
suddenly,  as  if  in  direct  answer  to  the  prayer  of  his  servants,  an 
earthquake  shook  the  very  foundations  of  the  prison,  the  gates 
were  broken,  the  bars  smitten  asunder,  and  the  bands  of  the 
prisoners  loosed.  Without  striving  to  draw  a  line  between  the 
natural  and  the  supernatural  in  this  occurrence,  and  still  less 
endeavoring  to  resolve  what  was  evidently  miraculous  into  the 
results  of  ordinary  causes,  we  turn  again  to  the  thought  suggested 
by  that  single  but  expressive  phrase  of  Scripture,  'Hhe  prisoners 
were  listening.''^  When  we  reflect  on  their  knowledge  of  the 
apostles'  sufferings  (for  they  were  doubtless  aware  of  the  manner 
in  which  they  had  been  brought  in  and  thrust  into  the  dungeon), 
and  on  the  wonder  they  must  have  experienced  on  hearing  sounds 
of  joy  from  those  who  were  in  pain,  and  on  the  awe  which  must 
have  overpowered  them  when  they  felt  the  prison  shaken  and  the 
chains  fall  from  their  limbs, — and  when  to  all  this  we  add  the 
effect  produced  on  their  minds  by  all  that  happened  on  the  follow- 
ing day,  and  especially  the  fact  that  the  jailer  himself  became  a 
Christian, — we  can  hardly  avoid  the  conclusion  that  the  hearts 
of  many  of  those  unhappy  bondsmen  were  prepared  that  night  to 
receive  the  gospel ;  that  the  tidings  of  spiritual  liberty  came  to 
those  whom,  but  for  the  captivity  of  the  apostles,  it  would  never 
have  reached ;  and  that  the  jailer  himself  was  their  evangelist 
and  teacher. 

The  effect  produced  by  that  night  on  the  jailer's  own  mind  has 
17 


258  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

been  fully  related  to  us.  Awakened  in  a  moment  by  the  earth- 
quake, his  first  thought  was  of  his  prisoners ;  and  in  the  shock  of 
surprise  and  alarm,  seeing  the  doors  of  the  prison  open,  and 
supposing  that  the  prisoners  were  fled,"  aware  that  inevitable 
death  awaited  him,  with  the  stern  and  desperate  resignation  of  a 
Roman  official  he  resolved  that  suicide  was  better  than  disgrace, 
and  "  drew  his  sword." 

Philippi  is  famous  in  the  annals  of  suicide.  Here  Cassius, 
unable  to  survive  defeat,  covered  his  face  in  the  empty  tent  and 
ordered  his  freedman  to  strike  the  blow ;  his  messenger  Titinius 
held  it  to  be  "  a  Roman's  part  "  to  follow  the  stern  example  ;  here 
Brutus  bade  adieu  to  his  friends,  exclaiming,  "  Certainly  we  must 
fly,  yet  not  with  the  feet,  but  with  the  hands  ; "  and  many  whose 
names  hav^e  never  reached  us  ended  their  last  struggle  for  the 
republic  by  self-inflicted  death.  Here,  too,  another  despairing 
man  would  have  committed  the  same  crime  had  not  his  hand  been 
arrested  by  an  apostle's  voice.  Instead  of  a  sudden  and  hopeless 
death,  the  jailer  received  at  the  hands  of  his  prisoner  the  gift  both 
of  temporal  and  spiritual  life. 

The  loud  exclamation  of  Paul,  "  Do  thyself  no  harm,  for  we  are 
all  here,"  gave  immediate  reassurance  to  the  terrified  jailer.  He 
laid  aside  his  sword  and  called  for  a  light,  and  rushed  to  the  "  inner 
prison,"  where  Paul  and  Silas  were  confined.  But  now  a  new  fear 
of  a  higher  kind  took  possession  of  his  soul.  The  recollection  of 
all  he  had  heard  before  concerning  these  prisoners,  and  all  that  he 
had  observed  of  their  demeanor  when  he  brought'  them  into  the 
dungeon,  the  shuddering  thought  of  the  earthquake,  the  burst  of 
his  gratitude  towards  them  as  the  preservers  of  his  life,  and  the 
consciousness  that  even  in  the  darkness  of  midnight  they  had  seen 
his  intention  of  suicide, — all  these  mingling  and  conflicting  emo- 
tions made  him  feel  that  he  was  in  the  presence  of  a  higher  power. 
He  fell  down  before  them,  and  brought  them  out,  as  men  whom  he 
had  deeply  injured  and  insulted,  to  a  place  of  greater  freedom  and 
comfort;  and  then  he  asked  them  with  earnest  anxiety  what  he 
must  do  to  be  saved.  We  see  the  apostle,  here  self-possessed  in 
the  earthquake  as  afterward  in  the  storm  at  sea,  able  to  overawe 
and  control  those  who  were  placed  over  him,  and  calmly  turning 
the  occasion  to  a  spiritual  end.  It  is  surely,  however,  a  mistake 
to  imagine  that  the  jailer's  inquiry  had  reference  merely  to  tem- 
poral and  immediate  danger.    The  awakening  of  his  conscience, 


THE  JAILER  AND  HIS  FAMILY  BAPTIZED.  259 

the  presence  of  the  unseen  world,  the  miraculous  visitation,  the 
nearness  of  death — coupled,  perhaps,  with  some  confused  recollec- 
tion of  the  way  of  salvation^'  which  these  strangers  were  said  to 
have  been  proclaiming — were  enough  to  suggest  that  inquiry 
which  is  the  most  momentous  that  any  human  s^ul  can  make: 
"  What  must  I  do  to  be  saved  f  "  Their  answer  was  that  of  faithful 
apostles.  They  preached  "  not  themselves,  but  Christ  Jesus  the 
Lord.''  Believe  not  in  us,  but  in  the  Lord  Jesus ,  and  thou  shalt 
he  saved;  and  not  only  thou,  but  the  like  faith  shall  bring  salva- 
tion to  all  thy  house From  this  last  expression  and  the  words 
which  follow  we  infer  that  the  members  of  the  jailer's  family  had 
crowded  round  him  and  the  apostles.  No  time  was  lost  in  making 
known  to  them  "  the  word  of  the  Lord."  All  thought  of  bodily 
comfort  and  repose  was  postponed  to  the  work  of  saving  the  soul. 
The  meaning  of  "  faith  in  Jesus"  was  explained,  and  the  gospel 
was  preached  to  the  jailer's  family  at  midnight,  while  the  prisoners 
were  silent  around  and  the  light  was  thrown  on  anxious  faces  and 
the  dungeon-wall. 

And  now  we  have  an  instance  of  that  sympathetic  care,  that 
interchange  of  temporal  and  spiritual  service,  which  has  ever  at- 
tended the  steps  of  true  Christianity.  As  it  was  in  the  miracles 
of  our  Lord  and  Saviour,  where  the  soul  and  the  body  were  regarded 
together,  so  has  it  always  been  in  his  Church.  ^'  In  the  same  hour 
of  the  night"  the  jailer  took  the  apostles  to  the  well  or  fountain 
of  water  which  was  within  or  near  the  precincts  of  the  prison,  and 
there  he  washed  their  wounds,  and  there  also  he  and  his  household 
were  baptized.  He  did  what  he  could  to  assuage  the  bodily  pain 
of  Paul  and  Silas,  and  they  admitted  him  and  his,  by  the  "  laver 
of  regeneration,"  to  the  spiritual  citizenship  of  the  kingdom  of 
God.  The  prisoners  of  the  jailer  were  now  become  his  guests; 
his  cruelty  was  changed  into  hospitality  and  love.  "  He  look  them 
up  into  his  house,"  and,  placing  them  in  a  posture  of  repose,  set 
food  before  them  and  refreshed  their  exhausted  strength.  It  was 
a  night  of  happiness  for  all.  They  praised  God  that  his  power  had 
been  made  effectual  in  their  weakness,  and  the  jailer's  family  had 
their  first  experience  of  that  joy  which  is  the  fruit  of  believing  in 
God. 

At  length  morning  broke  on  the  eventful  night,  [n  the  course 
of  that  night  the  greatest  of  all  changes  had  been  wrought  in  the 
jailer's  relations  to  this  world  and  the  next.    From  being  the  igno- 


260  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

rant  slave  of  a  heathen  magistracy  he  had  become  the  religious 
head  of  a  Christian  family.  A  change  also,  in  the  same  interval 
of  time,  had  come  over  the  minds  of  the  magistrates  themselves. 
Either  fr  :m  refi-^iL.g  that  they  had  acted  more  harshly  than  the 
case  hac  \^  cirranted,  or  from  hearing  a  more  accurate  statement 
of  facts,  or  through  alarm  caused  by  the  earthquake,  or  through 
that  vague  misgiving  which  sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  Pilate  and 
his  wife,  haunts  the  minds  of  those  who  have  no  distinct  religious 
convictions,  they  sent  new  orders  in  the  morning  to  the  jailer.  The 
message  conveyed  by  the  lictors  was  expressed  in  a  somewhat 
contemptuous  form,  Let  those  men  goP  But  the  jailer  received  it 
with  the  utmost  joy.  He  felt  his  infinite  debt  of  gratitude  to  the 
apostles,  not  only  for  his  preservation  from  a  violent  death,  but  for 
the  tidings  they  had  given  him  of  eternal  life.  He  would  willingly 
have  seen  them  freed  from  their  bondage,  but  he  was  dependent 
on  the  will  of  ihe  magistrates  and  could  do  nothing  without  their 
sanction.  When,  therefore,  the  lictors  brought  the  order,  he  went 
with  them  to  announce  the  intelligence  to  the  prisoners,  and  joy- 
fully told  them  to  leave  their  dungeon  and  "go  in  peace." 

But  Paul,  not  from  any  fanatical  love  of  braving  the  authorities, 
but  calmly  looking  to  the  ends  of  justice  and  the  establishment  of 
Christianity,  refused  to  accept  his  liberty  without  some  public 
acknowledgment  of  the  wrong  he  had  suffered.  He  now  proclaimed 
a  fact  which  had  hitherto  been  unknown — that  he  and  Silas  were 
Roman  citizens.  Two  Roman  laws  had  been  violated  by  the  magis- 
trates of  the  colony  in  the  scourging  inflicted  the  day  before.  And 
this,  too,  with  signal  aggravations.  They  were  "  uncondemned.'' 
There  had  been  no  form  of  trial,  without  which,  in  the  case  of  a 
citizen,  even  a  slighter  punishment  w^ould  have  been  illegal.  And 
it  had  been  done  "  publicly."  In  the  face  of  a  colonial  population 
an  outrage  had  been  committed  on  the  majesty  of  the  name  in 
which  they  boasted,  and  Rome  had  been  insulted  in  her  citizens. 

No,"  said  Paul ;  "  they  have  oppressed  the  innocent  and  violated 
the  law.  Do  they  seek  to  satisfy  justice  by  conniving  at  a  secret 
escape?  Let  them  come  themselves  and  take  us  out  of  prison. 
They  have  publicly  treated  us  as  guilty ;  let  them  publicly  declare 
that  we  are  innocent." 

"  How  often,"  says  Cicero,  "  has  this  exclamation,  I  am  a  Uoman 
citizenj  brought  aid  and  safety  even  among  barbarians  in  the  re- 
motest parts  of  the  earth !"    The  lictors  returned  to  the  praetors, 


DEPARTURE  FROM  PHILIPPI. 


261 


and  the  praetors  were  alarmed.  They  felt  that  they  had  committed 
an  act  which  if  divulged  at  Eome  would  place  them  in  the  utmost 
jeopardy.  They  had  good  reason  to  fear  even  for  their  authority 
in  the  colony,  for  the  people  of  Philippi,  "  being  Eomans,"  might 
be  expected  to  resent  such  a  violation  of  the  law.  They  hastened, 
therefore,  immediately  to  the  prisoners  and  became  the  suppliants 
of  those  whom  they  had  persecuted.  They  brought  them  at  once 
out  of  the  dungeon,  and  earnestly  "  besought  them  to  depart  from 
the  city." 

The  whole  narrative  of  Paul's  imprisonment  at  Philippi  sets 
before  us  in  striking  colors  his  clear  judgment  and  presence  of 
mind.  He  might  have  escaped  by  help  of  the  earthquake  and 
under  the  shelter  of  the  darkness,  but  this  would  have  been  to 
depart  as  a  runaway  slave.  He  would  not  do  secretly  what  he 
knew  he  ought  to  be  allowed  to  do  openly.  By  such  a  course  his 
own  character  and  that  of  the  gospel  would  have  been  disgraced, 
the  jailer  would  have  been  cruelly  left  to  destruction,  and  all 
religious  influence  over  the  other  prisoners  would  have  been  gone. 
As  regards  these  prisoners,  his  influence  over  them  was  like  the 
sway  he  obtained  over  the  crew  in  the  sinking  vessel.  It  was  so 
great  that  not  one  of  them  attempted  to  escape.  And  not  only  in  the 
prison,  but  in  the  whole  town  of  Philippi,  Christianity  was  placed 
on  a  high  vantage-ground  by  the  apostle's  conduct  that  night.  It 
now  appeared  that  these  persecuted  Jews  were  themselves  sharers 
in  the  vaunted  Roman  privilege.  Those  very  laws  had  been 
violated  in  their  treatment  which  they  themselves  had  been  ac- 
cused of  violating.  That  no  appeal  was  made  against  this  treat- 
ment might  be  set  down  to  the  generous  forbearance  of  the 
apostles.  Their  cause  was  now,  for  a  time  at  least,  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  law,  and  they  themselves  were  felt  to  have  a  claim 
on  general  sympathy  and  respect. 

They  complied  with  the  request  of  the  magistrates.  Yet  even 
in  their  departure  they  were  not  unmindful  of  the  digrrity  and 
self-possession  which  ought  always  to  be  maintained  by  innocent 
men  in  a  righteous  cause.  They  did  not  retire  in  any  hasty  or 
precipitate  flight,  but  proceeded  "from  the  prison  to  the  house 
of  Lydia,"  and  there  they  met  the  Christian  brethren,  who  were 
assembled  to  hear  their  farewell  words  of  exhortation ;  and  so 
they  departed  from  the  city.  It  was  not,  however,  deemed  sufli- 
cient  that  this  infant  church  at  Philippi  should  be  left  alone  with 


262 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


the  mere  remembrance  of  words  of  exhortation.  Two  of  the 
apostolic  company  remained  behind — Timotheus,  of  whom  the 
Philippians  "learned  the  proof"  that  he  honestly  cared  for  their 
state — that  he  was  truly  like-minded  with  Paul,  "serving  him  in 
the  gospel  as  a  son  serves  his  father ;"  and  "  Luke  the  evangelist, 
whose  praise  is  in  the  gospel,"  though  he  never  praises  himself 
or  relates  his  own  labors,  and  though  we  only  trace  his  movements 
in  connection  with  Paul  by  the  change  of  a  pronoun  or  the  un- 
conscious variation  of  his  style. 

Timotheus  seems  to  have  rejoined  Paul  and  Silas,  if  not  at 
Thessalonica,  at  least  at  Bercea  (Acts  xvii.  14).  But  we  do  not  see 
Luke  again  in  the  apostle^s  company  till  the  third  missionary 
journey  and  the  second  visit  to  Macedonia  (Acts  xx.  4-6).  At 
this  exact  point  of  separation  we  observe  that  he  drops  the  style 
of  an  eye-witness  and  resumes  that  of  a  historian  until  the  second 
time  of  meeting,  after  which  he  writes  as  an  eye-witness  till  the 
arrival  at  Rome  and  the  very  close  of  the  Acts.  To  explain  and 
justify  the  remark  here  made,  we  need  only  ask  the  reader  to  con- 
trast the  detailed  narrative  of  events  at  Philippi  with  the  more 
general  account  of  what  happened  at  Thessalonica.  It  might  be 
inferred  that  the  writer  of  the  Acts  was  an  eye-witness  in  the 
former  city,  and  not  in  the  latter,  even  if  the  pronoun  did  not  show 
us  when  he  was  present  and  when  he  was  absent.  We  shall  trace 
him  again,  in  the  same  manner,  when  he  rejoins  Paul  in  the  same 
neighborhood.  He  appears  again  on  a  voyage  from  Philippi  to 
Troas  (Acts  xx.  56),  as  now  he  has  appeared  on  a  voyage  from 
Troas  to  Philippi.  It  is  not  an  improbable  conjecture  that  his 
vocation  as  a  physician  may  have  brought  him  into  connection 
with  these  contiguous  coasts  of  Asia  and  Europe.  It  has  even 
been  imagined,  on  reasonable  grounds,  that  he  may  have  been  in 
the  habit  of  exercising  his  professional  skill  as  a  surgeon  at  sea. 
Plowever  this  may  have  been,  we  have  no  reason  to  question  the 
ancient  opinion,  stated  by  Eusebius  and  Jerome,  that  Luke  was  a 
native  of  Antioch.  Such  a  city  was  a  likely  place  for  the  educa- 
tion of  a  physician.  It  is  also  natural  to  suppose  that  he  may 
have  met  with  Paul  there,  and  been  converted  at  an  earlier  period 
of  the  history  of  the  Church.  His  medical  calling  or  his  zeal  for 
Christianity,  or  both  combined — and  the  combination  has  ever 
been  beneficial  to  the  cause  of  the  gospel — may  account  for  his 
visits  to  the  north  of  the  Archipelago ;  or  Paul  may  himself  have 


MACEDONIA. 


203 


directed  his  movements,  as  he  afterward  directed  those  of  Timothy 
and  Titus.  All  these  suggestions,  though  more  or  less  conjectural, 
are  worthy  of  our  thoughts  when  we  remember  the  debt  of  grati- 
tude which  the  Church  owes  to  this  evangelist,  not  only  as  the 
historian  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  but  as  an  example  of  long- 
continued  devotion  to  the  truth  and  of  unshaken  constancy  to  that 
one  apostle  who  said  with  sorrow,  in  his  latest  trial,  that  others 
had  forsaken  him,  and  that  "only  Luke^'  was  with  him. 

Leaving  their  first  Macedonian  converts  to  the  care  of  Timo- 
theus  and  Luke,  aided  by  the  co-operation  of  godly  men  and 
women  raised  up  among  the  Philippians  themselves,  Paul  and 
Silas  set  forth  on  their  journey.  Before  we  follow  them  to  Thes- 
salonica  we  may  pause  to  take  a  general  survey  of  the  condition 
and  extent  of  Macedonia  in  the  sense  in  which  the  term  was 
understood  in  the  language  of  the  day.  It  has  been  well  said  that 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  have  made  JVIacedonia  a  kind  of  Holy 
Land ;  and  it  is  satisfactory  that  the  places  there  visited  and 
revisited  by  Paul  and  his  companions  are  so  well  known  that  we 
have  no  difficulty  in  representing  to  the  mind  their  position  and 
their  relation  to  the  surrounding  country. 

Macedonia,  in  its  popular  sense,  may  be  described  as  a  region 
bounded  by  a  great  semicircle  of  mountains,  beyond  which  the 
streams  flow  westward  to  the  Adriatic  or  northward  and  eastward 
to  the  Danube  and  the  Euxine.  This  mountain-barrier  sends 
down  branches  to  the  sea  on  the  eastern  or  Thracian  frontier,  over 
against  Thasos  and  Samothrace,  and  on  the  south  shuts  out  the 
plain  of  Thessaly,  and  rises  near  the  shore  to  the  high  summits  of 
Pelion,  Ossa,  and  the  snowy  Olympus.  The  space  thus  enclosed 
is  intersected  by  two  great  rivers.  One  of  these  is  Homer's  "  wide- 
flowing  Axius,"  which  directs  its  course  past  Pella,  the  ancient 
metropolis  of  the  Macedonian  kings  and  the  birthplace  of  Alex- 
ander, ^  the  low  levels  in  the  neighborhood  of  Thessalonica,  where 
other  rivers  flow  near  it  into  the  Thermaic  Gulf  The  other  is  the 
8trymon,  which  brings  the  produce  of  the  great  inland  level  of 
Serres  by  Lake  Cercinus  to  the  sea  at  Amphipolis,  and  beyond 
which  was  Philippi,  the  military  outpost  that  commemorated  the 
successful  conquests  of  Alexander's  father.  Between  the  mouths 
of  these  two  rivers  a  remarkable  tract  of  country — which  is  insular, 
rather  than  continental — projects  into  the  Archipelago,  and  divides 
itself  into  three  points,  on  the  farthest  of  which  Mount  Athos  rises 


264 


LIFE  AND  EnSTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


nearly  into  the  region  of  perpetual  snow.  Part  of  Paul's  path 
between  Philippi  and  Beroea  lay  across  the  neck  of  this  peninsula. 
The  whole  of  his  route  was  over  historical  ground.  At  Philippi 
he  was  close  to  the  confines  of  Thracian  barbarism  and  on  the  spot 
where  the  last  battle  was  fought  in  defence  of  the  republic.  At 
Beroea  he  came  near  the  mountains,  beyond  which  is  the  region 
of  classical  Greece,  and  close  to  the  spot  where  the  battle  was 
fought  which  reduced  Macedonia  to  a  province. 

If  we  wish  to  view  Macedonia  as  a  province,  some  modifications 
must  be  introduced  into  the  preceding  description.  It  applies,  in- 
deed, with  sufficient  exactness  to  the  country  on  its  first  conquest 
by  the  Eomans.  The  rivers  already  alluded  to  define  the  four 
districts  into  which  it  was  divided.  Macedonia  Prima  was  the 
region  east  of  the  Strymon,  of  which  Amphipolis  was  the  capital  ; 
Macedonia  Secunda  lay  between  the  Strymon  and  the  Axius,  and 
Thessalonica  was  its  metropolis;  and  the  other  two  regions  were 
situated  to  the  south  towards  Thessaly  and  on  the  mountains  to  the 
west.  This  was  the  division  adopted  by  Paulus  iEmilius  after  the 
battle  of  Pydna.  But  the  arrangement  was  only  temporary.  The 
whole  of  Macedonia,  along  with  some  adjacent  territories,  was 
made  one  province,  and  centralized  under  the  jurisdiction  of  a 
proconsul  who  resided  at  Thessalonica.  This  province  included 
Thessaly,  and  extended  over  the  mountain-chain  which  had  been 
the  western  boundary  of  ancient  Macedonia,  so  as  to  embrace  a 
seaboard  of  considerable  length  on  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic. 
The  provincial  limits  in  this  part  of  the  empire  are  far  more 
easily  discriminated  than  those  with  which  we  have  been  lately 
occupied  (Chap.  VIII.).  Three  provinces  divided  the  whole 
surface  which  extends  from  the  basin  of  the  Danube  to  Gape 
Matapan.  All  of  them  are  familiar  to  us  in  the  writings  of  Paul. 
The  extent  of  Macedonia  has  just  been  defined.  Its  relations  with 
the  other  provinces  were  as  follows :  On  the  north-west  it  \^as  con- 
tiguous to  Illyricumj  which  was  spread  down  the  shore  of  the 
Adriatic  nearly  to  the  same  point  to  which  the  Austrian  territory 
now  extends,  fringing  the  Mohammedan  empire  with  a  Christian 
border.  A  hundred  miles  to  the  southward,  at  the  Acroceraunian 
promontory,  it  touched  Achaia^  the  boundary  of  which  province 
ran  thence  in  an  irregular  line  to  the  Bay  of  Thermopylfe  and 
the  north  of  Euboea,  including  Epirus  and  excluding  Thessaly. 
Achaia  and  Macedonia  were  traversed  many  times  by  the  apostle, 


THE  VIA  EGNATIA. 


265 


and  be  could  say,  when  he  was  hoping  to  travel  to  Kome,  that  he 
had  preached  the  gospel  "  round  about  unto  lUyricum." 

When  we  allude  to  Rome,  and  think  of  the  relation  of  the  city 
to  the  provinces,  we  are  inevitably  reminded  of  the  military  roads ; 
and  here,  across  the  breadth  of  Macedonia,  was  one  of  the  greatest 
roads  of  the  empire.  It  is  evident  that  after  Constantinople  was 
founded  a  line  of  communication  between  the  Eastern  and  West- 
ern capitals  was  of  the  utmost  moment,  but  the  Via  Egnatia  was 
constructed  long  before  this  period.  S'trabo,  in  the  reign  of  Au- 
gustus, informs  us  that  it  was  regularly  made  and  marked  out  by 
milestones  from  Dyrrhachium  on  the  Adriatic  to  Cypselus  on  the 
Hebrus  in  Thrace;  and  even  before  the  close  of  the  republic  we 
find  Cicero  speaking,  in  one  of  his  speeches,  of  "  that  military  way 
of  ours  which  connects  us  with  the  Hellespont.''  Certain  districts 
on  the  European  side  of  the  Hellespont  had  been  part  of  the 
legacy  of  King  Attains,  and  the  simultaneous  possession  of 
Macedonia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia,  with  the  prospect  of  further 
conquests  in  the  East,  made  this  line  of  communication  abso- 
lutely necessary.  When  Paul  was  on  the  Roman  road  at  Troas 
or  Philippi  he  was  on  a  road  which  led  to  the  gates  of  Rome.  It 
was  the  same  pavement  which  he  afterward  trod  at  Appii  Forum 
and  the  Three  Taverns.  The  nearest  parallel  which  the  world 
has  seen  of  the  imperial  roads  is  the  present  European  railway 
system.  The  Hellespont  and  the  Bosphorus  in  the  reign  of 
Claudius  were  what  the  Straits  of  Dover  and  Holyhead  are  now, 
and  even  the  passage  from  Brundusium  in  Italy  to  Dyrrhachium 
and  Apollonia  in  Macedonia  was  only  a  tempestuous  ferry — only 
one  of  those  difficulties  of  Nature  which  the  Romans  would  have 
overcome  if  they  could,  and  which  the  boldest  of  the  Romans 
dared  to  defy.  From  Dyrrhachium  and  Apollonia  the  Via  Eg- 
natia, strictly  so  called,  extended  a  distance  of  five  hundred  miles, 
to  the  Hebrus  in  Thrace.  Thessalonica  was  about  halfway  be- 
tween these  remote  points,  and  Philippi  was  the  last  important 
town  in  the  province  of  Macedonia.  Our  concern  is  only  with 
that  part  of  the  Via  EgnatWi  which  lay  between  the  two  last- 
mentioned  cities. 

The  intermediate  stages  mentioned  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
are  Amphipolis  and  Apollonia.  The  distances  laid  down  in  the 
itineraries  are  as  follows:  Philippi  to  Amphipolis,  thirty-three 
miles;  Amphipolis  to  Apollonia,  thirty  miles;  Apollonia  to  Thes- 


266  LIFE  AND  EPTSTI.es  OF  TPIE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


salonica,  thirty-seven  miles.  These  distances  are  evidently  siicn 
as  might  have  been  traversed  each  in  one  day;  and  since  nothing 
is  said  of  any  delay  on  the  road,  but  everything  to  imply  that  the 
journey  was  rapid,  we  conclude  (unless,  indeed,  their  recent  suf- 
ferings made  rapid  travelling  impossible)  that  Paul  and  Silas 
rested  one  night  at  each  of  the  intermediate  places,  and  thus  our 
notice  of  their  journey  is  divided  into  three  parts. 

From  Philippi  to  Amphipolis  the  Roman  way  passed  across  the 
plain  to  the  north  of  Mount  PangjBUs.  A  traveller  going  direct 
from  Neapolis  to  the  mouth  of  th^e  Strymon  might  make  his  way 
through  an  opening  in  the  mountains  nearer  the  coast.  This  is 
the  route  by  which  Xerxes  brought  his  army  and  by  which  modern 
journeys  are  usually  made.  But  Philippi  was  not  built  in  the  time 
of  the  Persian  war,  and  now,  under  the  Turks,  it  is  a  ruined  vil- 
lage. Under  the  Roman  emperors  the  position  of  this  colony  de- 
termined the  direction  of  the  road.  The  very  productiveness  of 
the  soil  and  its  liability  to  inundations  must  have  caused  this  road 
to  be  carefully  constructed ;  for  the  surface  of  the  plain,  which  is 
intersected  with  multitudes  of  streams,  is  covered  with  planta- 
tions of  cotton  and  fields  of  Indian  corn,  and  the  villages  are  so 
numerous  that  when  seen  from  the  summits  of  the  neighboring 
mountains  they  appear  to  form  one  continued  town.  Not  far  from 
the  coast  the  Strymon  spreads  out  into  a  lake  as  large  as  Winder- 
mere ;  and  between  the  lower  end  of  this  lake  and  the  inner  reach 
of  the  Strymonic  Gulf,  where  the  mountains  leave  a  narrow  open- 
ing, Amphipolis  was  situated  on  a  bend  of  the  river. 

"  The  position  of  Amphipolis  is  one  of  the  most  important  in 
Greece.  It  stands  in  a  pass  which  traverses  the  mountains  border- 
ing the  Strymonic  Gulf,  and  it  commands  the  only  easy  communi- 
cation from  the  coast  of  that  gulf  into  the  great  Macedonian 
plains  which  extend  for  sixty  miles  from  beyond  'Meleniko  to 
Philippi."  The  ancient  name  of  the  place  was  "Nine  Ways," 
from  the  great  number  of  Thracian  and  Macedonian  roads  which 
met  at  this  point.  The  Athenians  saw  the  importance  of  the 
position,  and  established  a  colony  there,  which  they  called  Amphip- 
olis, because  the  river  surrounded  it.  Some  of  the  deepest  inter- 
est in  the  history  of  Thucydides,  not  only  as  regards  military  and 
political  movements,  but  in  reference  to  the  personal  experience 
of  the  historian  himself,  is  concentrated  on  this  spot.  And  again, 
Amphipolis  appears  in  the  speeches  of  Demosthenes  as  a  great 


APOLLONIA. 


267 


stake  in  the  later  struggle  between  Philip  of  Macedon  and  the 
citizens  of  Athens.  It  was  also  the  scene  of  one  striking  passage 
in  the  history  of  Eoman  conquest :  here  Paulus  ^milius  after  the 
battle  of  Pydna  publicly  proclaimed  that  the  Macedonians  should 
be  free;  and  now  another  Paulus  was  here,  whose  message  to  the 
Macedonians  was  an  honest  proclamation  of  a  better  liberty,  with- 
out conditions  and  without  reserve. 

Paul's  next  stage  was  to  the  city  of  Apollonia.  After  leaving 
Amphipolis  the  road  passes  along  the  edge  of  the  Strymonic  Gulf 
first  between  cliffs  and  the  sea,  and  then  across  a  well-woodea 
maritime  plain,  whence  the  peak  of  Athos  is  seen  far  across  the 
bay  to  the  left.  We  quit  the  sea-shore  at  the  narrow  gorge  of 
Aulon  or  Arethusa,  and  there  enter  the  valley  which  crosses  the 
neck  of  the  Chalcidic  peninsula.  Up  to  this  point  we  have  fre- 
quent historical  landmarks  reminding  us  of  Athens.  Thucydides 
has  just  been  mentioned  in  connection  with  Amphipolis  and  the 
Strymon.  As  wt-  leave  the  sea  we  have  before  us  on  the  opposite 
coast  Stagirus,  the  birthplace  of  Aristotle,  and  in  the  pass,  where 
the  mountains  close  on  the  road,  is  the  tomb  of  Euripides.  Thus 
the  steps  of  our  progress,  as  we  leave  the  East  and  begin  to  draw 
near  to  Athens,  are  already  among  her  historians,  philosophers, 
and  poets. 

Apollonia  is  somewhere  in  the  inland  part  of  the  journey,  where 
the  Via  Egnatia  crosses  from  the  gulf  of  the  Strymon  to  that  of  Thes- 
salonica,  but  its  exact  position  has  not  been  ascertained.  We  will, 
therefore,  merely  allude  to  the  scenery  through  v/hich  the  traveller 
moves  in  going  from  sea  to  sea.  The  pass  of  Arethusa  is  beautiful 
and  picturesque.  A  river  flows  through  it  in  a  sinuous  course, 
and  abundant  oaks  and  plane  trees  are  on  the  rocks  around. 
Presently  this  stream  is  seen  to  emerge  from  an  inland  lake,  whose 
promontories  and  villages,  with  the  high  mountains  rising  to  the 
south-west,  have  reminded  travellers  of  Switzerland.  As  we  jour- 
ney towards  the  west  we  come  to  a  second  lake.  Between  the  two 
is  the  modern  post-station  of  Klisali,  which  may  possibly  be  Apol- 
lonia, though  it  is  generally  believed  to  be  on  the  mountain-slope 
to  the  south  of  the  easternmost  lake.  The  whole  region  of  these 
two  lakes  is  a  long  valley,  or  rather  a  succession  of  plains,  where 
the  level  spaces  are  richly  wooded  with  forest  trees  and  the  nearer 
hills  are  covered  to  their  summits  with  olives.  Beyond  the  second 
lake  the  road  passes  over  some  rising  ground,  and  presently,  after 


268 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


passing  through  a  narrow  glen,  we  obtain  a  sight  of  the  sea  once 
more,  the  eye  ranges  freely  over  the  plain  of  the  Axius,  and  the 
city  of  Thessalonica  is  immediately  before  us. 

Once  arrived  in  this  city,  Paul  no  longer  follows  the  course  of 
the  Via  Egnatia.  He  may  have  done  so  at  a  later  period,  when 
he  says  that  he  had  preached  the  gospel  "  round  about  unto  Illyri- 
cum."  But  at  present  he  had  reached  the  point  most  favorable 
for  the  glad  proclamation.  The  direction  of  the  Roman  road  was 
of  course  determined  by  important  geographical  positions,  and 
along  the  whole  line  from  Dyrrhachium  to  the  Hebrus  no  city  was 
so  large  and  influential  as  Thessalonica. 

The  apostolic  city  at  which  we  are  now  arrived  was  known  in 
the  earliest  periods  of  its  history  under  various  names.  Under 
that  of  Therma  it  is  associated  with  some  interesting  recollections. 
It  was  the  resting-place  of  Xerxes  on  his  march,  it  is  not  unmen- 
tioned  in  the  Peloponnesian  war,  and  it  was  a  frequent  subject  of 
debate  in  the  last  independent  assemblies  of  Athens.  When  the 
Macedonian  power  began  to  overshadow  all  the  countries  where 
Greek  was  spoken,  this  city  received  its  new  name  and  began  a 
new  and  more  distinguished  period  of  its  history.  A  sister  of 
Alexander  the  Great  was  called  Thessalonica,  and  her  name  was 
given  to  the  city  of  Therma  when  rebuilt  and  embellished  by  her 
husband,  Cassander,  the  son  of  Antipater.  This  name,  under  a 
form  slightly  modified,  has  continued  to  the  present  day.  The 
Salneck  of  the  early  German  poets  has  become  the  Saloniki  of  the 
modern  Levant.  Its  history  can  be  followed  as  continuously  as  its 
name.  When  Macedonia  was  partitioned  into  four  provincial 
divisions  by  Paulus  -^milius,  Thessalonica  was  the  capital  of  that 
which  lay  between  the  Axius  and  the  Strymom  When  the  four 
regions  were  united  into  one  Roman  province,  this  city  was  chosen 
as  the  metropolis  of  the  whole.  Its  name  appears  more  than  once 
in  the  annals  of  the  civil  wars.  It  was  the  scene  of  the  exile  of 
Cicero,  and  one  of  the  stages  of  his  journey  between  Rome  and  his 
province  in  the  East.  Antony  and  Octavius  were  here  after  the 
battle  of  Philippi,  and  coins  are  still  extant  which  allude  to  the 

freedom granted  by  the  victorious  leaders  to  the  city  of  the 
Thermaic  Gulf.  Strabo,  in  the  first  century,  speaks  of  Thessa- 
lonica as  the  most  populous  town  in  Macedonia.  Lucian,  in  the 
second  century,  uses  similar  language.  Before  the  founding  of 
Constantinople  it  was  virtually  the  capital  of  Greece  and  Illyri- 


THESSALONICA. 


2G9 


cum,  as  well  as  of  Macedonia,  and  shared  the  trade  of  the  ^gean 
with  Ephesus  and  Corinth.  Even  after  the  eastern  Rome  was 
built  and  reigned  over  the  Levant,  we  find  both  pagan  and  Chris- 
tian writers  speaking  of  Thessalonica  as  the  metropolis  of  Mace- 
donia and  a  place  of  great  magnitude.  Through  the  Middle  Ages 
it  never  ceased  to  be  important,  and  it  is  at  the  present  day  the 
second  city  in  European  Turkey.  The  reason  of  this  continued 
pre-eminence  is  to  be  found  in  its  geographical  position.  Situated 
on  the  inner  bend  of  the  Thermaic  Gulf,  halfway  between  the 
Adriatic  and  the  Hellespont,  on  the  sea-margin  of  a  vast  plain 
watered  by  several  rivers,  and  at  the  entrance  of  the  pass  which 
commands  the  approach  to  the  other  great  Macedonian  level,  it 
was  evidently  destined  for  a  mercantile  emporium.  Its  relation 
with  the  inland  trade  of  Macedonia  was  as  close  as  that  of  Am- 
phipolis,  and  its  maritime  advantages  were  perhaps  even  greater. 
Thus,  while  Amphipolis  decayed  under  the  Byzantine  emperors, 
Thessalonica  continued  to  prosper.  There  probably  never  was  a 
time,  from  the  day  when  it  first  received  its  name,  that  this  city, 
as  viewed  from  the  sea,  has  not  had  the  aspect  of  a  busy  commer- 
cial town.  We  see  at  once  how  appropriate  a  place  it  was  for  one 
of  the  starting-points  of  the  gospel  in  Europe ;  and  we  can  appre- 
ciate the  force  of  the  expression  used  by  Paul  within  a  few  months 
of  his  departure  from  the  Thessalonians,  when  he  says  that  "from 
them  the  word  of  the  Lord  had  sounded  forth  like  a  trumpet,  not 
only  in  Macedonia  and  Achaia,  but  in  every  place.'' 

No  city  which  we  have  had  occasion  to  describe  has  had  so 
distinguished  a  Christian  history,  with  the  single  exception  of  the 
Syrian  Antioch,  and  the  Christian  glory  of  the  patriarchal  city 
gradually  faded  before  that  of  the  Macedonian  metropolis.  The 
heroic  age  of  Thessalonica  was  the  third  century.  It  was  the 
bulwark  of  Constantinople  in  the  shock  of  the  barbarians,  and  it 
held  up  the  torch  of  the  truth  to  the  successive  tribes  who  over- 
spread the  country  between  the  Danube  and  the  ^gean — the  Goths 
and  the  Sclaves,  the  Bulgarians  of  the  Greek  Church,  and  the 
Wallachians,  whose  language  still  seems  to  connect  them  with 
Philippi  and  the  Roman  colonies.  Thus  in  the  mediaeval  chron- 
icles it  has  deserved  the  name  of  "  the  orthodox  city."  The  re- 
mains of  its  hippodrome,  which  is  for  ever  associated  with  the 
history  of  Theodosius  and  Ambrose,  can  yet  be  traced  among  the 
Turkish  houses.    Its  bishops  have  sat  in  great  councils.  The 


270         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

writings  of  its  great  preacher  and  scholar,  Eustathius,  are  still 
preserved  to  us.  It  is  true  that  the  Christianity  of  Thessalonica, 
both  mediaeval  and  modern,  has  been  debased  by  humiliating  super- 
stition. The  glory  of  its  patron  saint,  Demetrius,  has  eclipsed  that 
of  Paul,  the  founder  of  its  Church.  But  the  same  Divine  Provi- 
dence wliich  causes  us  to  be  thankful  for  the  past  commands  us  to 
be  hopeful  for  the  future ;  and  we  may  look  forward  to  the  time 
when  a  new  harvest  of  the  work  of  faith  and  labor  of  love  and 
patience  of  hope  "  shall  spring  up  from  the  seeds  of  divine  truth 
which  were  first  sown  on  the  shore  of  the  Thermaic  Gulf  by  the 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 

[f  Thessalonica  can  boast  of  a  series  of  Christian  annals  un- 
broken since  the  day  of  Paul's  arrival,  its  relations  with  the  Jewish 
people  have  continued  for  a  still  longer  period.  In  our  own  day 
it  contains  a  multitude  of  Jews  commanding  an  influential  position, 
many  of  whom  are  occupied  (not  very  differently  from  Paul  him- 
self) in  the  manufacture  of  cloth.  A  considerable  number  of  them 
are  refugees  from  Spain  and  speak  the  Spanish  language.  There 
are  materials  for  tracing  similar  settlements  of  the  same  scattered 
and  persecuted  people  in  this  city  at  intervals  during  the  Middle 
Ages ;  and  even  before  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  we  find  them 
here,  numerous  and  influential  as  at  Antioch  and  Iconium.  Here, 
doubtless,  was  the  chief  colony  of  those  Jews  of  Macedonia  of 
whom  Philo  speaks,  for  while  there  was  only  a  proseucha  at  Philippi, 
and  while  Amphipolis  and  Apollonia  had  no  Israelite  communities 
to  detain  the  apostles,  "  the  synagogue  "  of  the  neighborhood  was 
at  Thessalonica. 

The  first  scene  to  which  we  are  introduced  in  this  city  is  entirely 
Jewish.  It  is  not  a  small  meeting  of  proselyte  women  by  the  river- 
side, but  a  crowded  assembly  of  true-born  Jews  intent  on  their 
religious  worship,  among  whom  Paul  and  Silas  now  make  their 
appearance.  If  the  traces  of  their  recent  hardships  were  manifest 
in  their  very  aspect,  and  if  they  related  to  their  Israelitish  brethren 
how  they  had  "  suffered  before  and  been  cruelly  treated  at  Philippi " 
(1  Thess.  ii.  2),  their  entrance  in  among  them  must  have  created  a 
strong  impression  of  indignation  and  sympathy  which  explains  the 
allusion  in  Paul's  Epistle.  He  spoke,  however,  to  the  Thessalonian 
Jews  with  the  earnestness  of  a  man  who  has  no  time  to  lose  and 
no  thought  to  waste  on  his  own  sufferings.  He  preached  not  him- 
self, but  Christ  crucified.    The  Jewish  Scriptures  were  the  ground 


THE  SYNAGOGUE  IN  THi:SSALONICA. 


271 


of  bis  argument.  He  recurred  to  the  same  subject  again  and  again. 
On  three  successive  sabbaths  he  argued  with  them;  and  the  whole 
body  of  Jews  resident  in  Thessalonica  were  interested  and  excited 
with  the  new  doctrine,  and  were  preparing  either  to  adopt  or  op- 
pose it. 

The  three  points  on  which  he  insisted  were  these :  that  He  who 
was  foretold  in  prophecy  was  to  be  a  suffering  Messiah,  that  after 
death  he  was  to  rise  again,  and  that  the  crucified  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
was  indeed  the  Messiah  who  was  to  come.  Such  is  the  distinct  and 
concise  statement  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  (xvii.  3) ;  and  the 
same  topics  of  teaching  are  implied  in  the  First  Epistle,  where  the 
Thessalonians  are  appealed  to  as  men  who  had  been  taught  to 
believe  that  Jesus  had  really  died  and  risen  again  "  (iv.  14),  and 
who  had  turned  to  serve  the  true  God,  and  to  wait  for  his  Son  from 
heaven  "whom  he  raised  from  the  dead,  even  Jesus"  (i.  10).  Of 
the  mode  in  which  these  subjects  would  be  presented  to  his  hearers 
we  can  form  some  idea  from  what  was  said  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia. 
The  very  aspect  of  the  worshippers  was  the  same;  proselytes  were 
equally  attached  to  the  congregations  in  Pisidia  and  Macedonia, 
and  the  "  devout  and  honorable  women  "  in  one  city  found  their 
parallel  in  the  "chief  women"  in  the  other.  The  impression,  too, 
produced  by  the  address  was  not  very  different  here  from  what  it 
had  been  there.  At  first  it  was  favorably  received,  the  interest  of 
novelty  having  more  influence  than  the  seriousness  of  conviction. 
Even  from  the  first  some  of  the  topics  must  have  contained  matter 
for  perplexity  or  cavilling.  Many  would  be  indisposed  to  believe 
the  fact  of  Christ's  resurrection,  and  many  more,  who  in  their 
exile  from  Jerusalem  were  looking  intently  for  the  restoration  of 
an  earthly  kingdom,  must  have  heard  incredulously  and  unwillingly 
of  the  humiliation  of  Messiah. 

That  Paul  did  speak  of  Messiah's  glorious  kingdom,  the  king- 
dom foretold  in  the  prophetic  Scriptures  themselves,  may  be  gath- 
ered by  comparing  together  the  Acts  and  the  Epistles  to  the  Thes- 
salonians. The  accusation  brought  against  him  (Acts  xvii.  7) 
was  that  he  was  proclaiming  another  king  and  virtually  rebelling 
against  the  emperor.  And  in  strict  conformity  to  this  the  Thessa- 
lonians are  reminded  of  the  exhortations  and  entreaties  he  gave 
them,  when  among  them,  that  they  would  "walk  worthily  of  the 
God  who  had  called  them  to  his  Hjir/dom  and  glory"  (1  Thess.  ii. 
12),  and  addressed  as  those  who  had  "  suffered  affliction  for  the  sake 


272  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


of  thsit  kingdom^'  (2  Thess.  i.  5).  Indeed,  the  royal  state  of  Christ's 
second  advent  was  one  chief  topic  which  was  urgently  enforced 
and  deeply  impressed  on  the  minds  of  the  Thessalonian  converts. 
This  subject  tinges  the  whole  atmosphere  through  which  the  aspect 
of  this  Church  is  presented  to  us.  It  may  be  said  that  in  each  rf 
the  primitive  churches  which  are  depicted  in  the  apostolic  Epistles 
there  is  some  peculiar  feature  which  gives  it  an  individual  charac- 
ter. In  Corinth  it  is  the  spirit  of  party,  in  Galatia  the  rapid  de- 
clension into  Judaism,  in  Philippi  it  is  a  steady  and  self-denying 
generosity.  And  if  we  were  asked  for  the  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic of  the  first  Christians  of  Thessalonica,  we  should  point  to 
their  overwhelming  sense  of  the  nearness  of  the  second  advent, 
accompanied  with  melancholy  thoughts  concerning  those  who 
might  die  before  it,  and  with  gloomy  and  unpractical  views  of 
the  shortness  of  life  and  the  vanity  of  the  world.  Each  chapter  in 
the  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  ends  with  an  allusion  to  this 
subject,  and  it  was  evidently  the  topic  of  frequent  conversations 
when  the  apostle  was  in  Macedonia.  But  Paul  never  spoke  or 
wrote  of  the  future  as  though  the  present  was  to  be  forgotten. 
When  the  Thessalonians  were  admonished  of  Christ's  advent,  he 
told  them  also  of  other  coming  events,  full  of  practical  warning  to 
all  ages,  though  to  our  eyes  still  they  are  shrouded  in  mystery — 
of  "the  falling  away"  and  "of  the  man  of  sin"  (2  Thess.  ii.). 
-  "These  awful  revelations,"  he  said,  "must  precede  the  revelation 
of  the  Son  of  God.  Do  you  not  remember he  adds  with  emphasis 
in  his  letter,  "  ihat  when  I  ivas  still  with  you  I  often  told  you  this? 
You  know  J  therefore  J  the  hinderance  why  he  is  not  revealed,  as  he 
will  be  in  his  own  season."  He  told  them,  in  the  words  of  Christ 
himself,  that  "  the  times  and  the  seasons  "  of  the  coming  revela- 
tions were  known  only  to  God,  and  he  warned  them,  as  the  first 
disciples  had  been  warned  in  Judaea,  that  the  great  day  would 
come  suddenly  on  men  unprepared,  "as  the  pangs  of  travail  on 
her  whose  time  is  full "  and  "  as  a  thief  in  the  night ;"  and  he 
showed  them,  both  by  precept  and  example,  that  though  it  be  true 
that  life  is  short  and  the  world  is  vanity,  yet  God's  work  must  be 
done  diligently  and  to  the  last. 

The  whole  demeanor  of  Paul  among  the  Thessalonians  may  be 
traced  by  means  of  these  Epistles  with  singular  minuteness.  We 
see  there  not  only  what  success  he  had  on  his  first  entrance  among 
them,  not  only  how  the  gospel  came  "  with  power  and  full  con  vie- 


Paul's  life  in  thessalonica. 


273 


tion  of  its  truth/'  but  also  what  manner  of  man  he  was  among 
them  for  their  sakes."  We  see  him  proclaiming  the  truth  with 
unflinching  courage,  endeavoring  to  win  no  converts  by  flattering 
words,  but  warning  his  hearers  of  all  the  danger  of  the  sins  and 
pollution  to  which  they  were  tempted;  manifestly  showing  that 
his  work  was  not  intended  to  gratify  any  desire  of  self- advance- 
ment, but  scrupulously  maintaining  an  honorable  and  unblamable 
character.  We  see  him  rebuking  and  admonishing  his  converts 
wnth  all  the  faithfulness  of  a  father  to  his  children,  and  cherishing 
them  with  all  the  aflection  of  a  mother  for  the  infant  of  her  bosom. 
We  see  in  this  apostle  at  Thessalonica  all  the  devotion  of  a  friend, 
who  is  ready  to  devote  his  life  for  those  whom  he  loves,  all  the 
watchfulness  of  the  faithful  pastor,  to  whom  "each  one''  of  his 
flock  is  the  separate  object  of  individual  care. 

And  from  these  Epistles  we  obtain  further  some  information 
concerning  wdiat  may  be  called  the  outward  incidents  of  Paul's 
residence  in  this  city.  He  might  when  there,  consistently  with 
the  Lord's  institution  and  with  the  practice  of  the  other  apostles, 
have  been  burdensome  "  to  those  whom  he  taught,  so  as  to  receive 
from  them  the  means  of  his  temporal  support.  But  that  he  might 
place  his  disinterestedness  above  all  suspicion,  and  that  he  might 
set  an  example  to  those  who  Avere  too  much  inclined  to  live  by  the 
labor  of  others,  he  declined  to  avail  himself  of  that  which  was  an 
undoubted  right.  He  was  enabled  to  maintain  this  independent 
position  partly  by  the  liberality  of  his  friends  at  Phili])pi,  who 
once  and  again,  on  this  first  visit  to  Macedonia,  sent  relief  to  his 
necessities  (Phil.  iv.  15,  16).  And  the  journeys  of  those  pious  men 
who  followed  the  footsteps  of  the  persecuted  apostles  along  the 
Via  Egnatia  by  Amphipolis  and  Apollonia,  bringing  the  alms 
which  had  been  collected  atPhilippi,  are  among  the  most  touching 
incidents  of  the  apostolic  history.  And  not  less  touching  is  that 
description  which  the  apostle  himself  gives  us  of  that  other  means 
of  support — "  his  own  labor  night  and  day,  that  he  might  not  be 
burdensome  to  any  of  them"  (1  Thess.  ii.  9).    He  did  not  merely 

rob  other  churches  "  that  he  might  do  the  Thessalonians  service, 
but  the  trade  he  had  learnt  when  a  boy  in  Cilicia  justified  the  old 
Jewish  maxim  :  ''he  was  like  a  vineyard  that  is  fenced,"  and  he 
was  able  to  show  an  example  not  only  to  the  *' disorderly  busy- 
bodies"  of  Thessalonica  (1  Thess.  iv.  11),  but  to  all  in  every  age 
*>£  the  Church  who  are  apt  to  neglect  their  proper  business  (2 
18 


274  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Thess.  iii.  11),  and  ready  to  eat  other  men's  bread  for  naught 
(2  Thess.  iii.  8).  Late  at  night,  when  the  sun  had  long  set  on  the 
incessant  spiritual  labors  of  the  day,  the  apostle  might  be  seen  by 
lamplight  laboring  at  the  rough  hair-cloth,  "  that  he  might  be 
chargeable  to  none."  It  was  an  emphatic  enforcement  of  the 
"commands''  which  he  found  it  necessary  to  give  when  he  was 
among  them,  that  they  should  study  to  be  quiet  and  to  work  with 
their  own  hands  "  (1  Thess.  iv.  11),  and  the  stern  principle  he  laid 
down,  that  ''if  a  man  will  not  work,  neither  should  he  eat"  (2 
Thess.  iii.  10). 

In  these  same  Epistles,  Paul  speaks  of  his  work  at  Thessalonica 
as  having  been  encompassed  with  afflictions,  and  of  the  gospel  as 
having  advanced  by  a  painful  struggle.  What  these  afflictions 
and  struggles  were  we  can  gather  from  the  slight  notices  of  events 
which  are  contained  in  the  Acts.  The  apostle's  success  among  the 
Gentiles  roused  the  enmity  of  the  Jews.  Even  in  the  synagogue 
the  proselytes  attached  themselves  to  him  more  readily  than  the 
Jews.  But  he  did  not  merely  obtain  an  influence  over  the  Gentile 
mind  by  the  indirect  means  of  his  disputations  on  the  sabbath  in 
the  synagogue  and  through  the  medium  of  the  proselytes,  but  on 
the  intermediate  days  he  was  doubtless  in  frequent  and  direct 
communication  with  the  heathen.  We  need  not  be  surprised  at 
the  results,  even  if  his  stay  was  limited  to  the  period  corresponding 
to  three  sabbaths.  No  one  can  say  what  effects  might  follow  from 
three  weeks  of  an  apostle's  teaching.  But  we  are  by  no  means 
forced  to  adopt  the  supposition  that  the  time  was  limited  to  three 
weeks.  It  is  highly  probable  that  Paul  remained  at  Thessalonica 
for  a  longer  period.  At  other  cities,  when  he  was  repelled  by  the 
Jews,  he  became  the  evangelist  of  the  Gentiles,  and  remained  till 
he  was  compelled  to  depart.  The  Thessalonian  letters  throw  great 
light  on  the  rupture  which  certainly  took  place  with  the  Jews  on 
this  occasion,  and  which  is  implied  in  that  one  word  in  the  Acts 
which  speaks  of  their  jealousy  against  the  Gentiles.  The  whole 
aspect  of  the  letter  shows  that  the  main  body  of  the  Thessalonian 
Church  was  not  Jewish,  but  Gentile.  The  Jews  are  spoken  of  as 
an  extraneous  body,  as  the  enemies  of  Christianity  and  of  all  men 
not  as  the  elements  out  of  which  the  Church  was  composed.  The 
ancient  Jewish  Scriptures  are  not  once  quoted  in  either  of 
these  Epistles.  The  converts  are  addressed  as  those  who  had 
turned,  not  from  Hebrew  fables  and  traditions,  but  from  the  prac- 


PERSECUTION  BY  THE  JEWS. 


275 


tices  of  heathen  idolatry.  How  new  and  how  comforting  to  them 
must  have  been  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  from  the  dead ! 
What  a  contrast  must  this  revelation  of  life  and  immortality" 
have  been  to  the  hopeless  lamentations  of  their  own  pagan  funerals, 
and  to  the  dismal  teaching  which  we  can  still  read  in  the  sepulchral 
inscriptions  of  heathen  Thessalonica — such  as  told  the  bystander 
that  after  death  there  is  no  revival,  after  the  grave  no  meeting  of 
those  who  have  loved  each  other  on  earth  !  How  ought  the  truth 
taught  by  the  apostle  to  have  comforted  the  new  disciples  at  the 
thought  of  inevitable  though  only  temporary  separation  from  their 
Christian  brethren!  And  yet  how  difficult  was  the  truth  to  realize 
when  they  saw  those  brethren  sink  into  lifeless  forms,  and  after 
they  had  committed  them  to  the  earth  which  had  received  all  their 
heathen  ancestors !  How  eagerly  can  we  imagine  them  to  have 
read  the  new  assurances  of  comfort  which  came  in  the  letter  from 
Corinth,  and  which  told  them  ''not  to  sorrow  as  the  rest  that  have 
no  hope  " ! 

But  we  are  anticipating  the  events  which  occurred  between  the 
apostle's  departure  from  Thessalonica  and  the  time  when  he  wrote 
the  letter  from  Coi-inth.  We  must  return  to  the  persecution  that 
led  him  to  undertake  that  journey  which  brought  him  from  the 
capital  of  Macedonia  to  that  of  Achaia. 

When  the  Jews  saw  proselytes  and  Gentiles  and  many  of  the 
leading  women  of  the  city  convinced  by  Paul's  teaching,  they 
must  have  felt  that  his  influence  was  silently  undermining  theirs. 
In  proportion  to  his  success  in  spreading  Christianity  their  power 
of  spreading  Judaism  declined.  Their  sensitiveness  would  be  in- 
creased in  consequence  of  the  peculiar  dislike  with  which  they 
were  viewed  at  this  time  by  the  Roman  power.  Thus  they  adopted 
the  tactics  which  had  been  used  with  some  success  before  at 
Iconium  and  Lystra,  and  turned  against  Paul  and  his  companions 
those  weapons  which  are  the  readiest  instruments  of  vulgar 
bigotry.  They  excited  the  mob  of  Thessalonica,  gathering  together 
a  multitude  of  those  worthless  idlers  about  the  markets  and 
landing-places  which  abound  in  every  such  city  and  are  always 
ready  for  any  evil  work.  With  this  multitude  they  assaulted  the 
house  of  Jason  (perhaps  some  Hellenistic  Jew^  whose  name  had 
been  moulded  into  Gentile  form,  and  possibly  one  of  Paul's  re- 
lations who  is  mentioned  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans),  with 
whom  Paul  and  Silas  seem  to  have  been  lodging.    Their  wish  was 


276  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

to  bring  Paul  and  Silas  out  to  the  demus,  or  assembly  of  the  peo- 
ple. But  they  were  absent  from  the  house,  and  Jason  and  some 
other  Christians  were  dragged  before  the  city  magistrates.  The 
accusation  vociferously  brought  against  them  was  to  the  following 
effect:  "These  Christians,  who  are  setting  the  whole  w^orld  in 
confusion,  are  come  hither  at  last;  and  Jason  has  received  them 
into  his  house;  and  they  are  all  acting  in  the  face  of  the  emperor's 
decrees,  for  they  assert  that  there  is  another  king,  whom  they  call 
Jesus."  We  have  seen  how  some  of  the  parts  of  Paul's  teaching 
at  Thessalonica  may  have  given  occasion  to  the  latter  phrase  in 
this  indictment ;  and  we  obtain  a  deeper  insight  into  the  cause  why 
the  whole  indictment  was  brought  forward  with  so  much  vehemence, 
and  why  it  was  so  likely  to  produce  an  effect  on  the  magistrates, 
if  we  bear  in  mind  the  circumstance  alluded  to  in  reference  to 
Philippi,  that  the  Jews  were  under  the  ban  of  the  Koman  au- 
thorities about  this  time  for  having  raised  a  tumult  in  the 
metropolis  at  the  instigation  (as  was  alleged)  of  one  Chrestus  or 
Christus,  and  that  they  must  have  been  glad  in  the  provincial 
cities  to  be  able  to  show  their  loyalty  and  gratify  their  malice  by 
throwing  the  odium  ofl*  themselves  upon  a  sect  whose  very  name 
might  be  interpreted  to  imply  a  rebellion  against  the  emperor. 

Such  were  the  circumstances  under  which  Jason  and  his  com- 
panions were  brought  before  the  politarchs.  We  use  the  Greek 
term  advisedly,  for  it  illustrates  the  political  constitution  of 
Thessalonica  and  its  contrast  with  that  of  Philippi,  which  has 
lately  been  noticed.  Thessalonica  was  not  a  colony,  like  Philippi, 
Troas,  or  the  Pisidian  Antioch,  but  a  free  city  (urbs  libera)^  like 
the  Syrian  Antioch  or  like  Tarsus  and  Athens.  The  privilege  of 
w^hat  was  technically  called  "freedom"  was  given  to  certain  cities 
of  the  empire  for  good  service  in  the  civil  wars,  or  as  a  tribute  of 
respect  to  the  old  celebrity  of  the  place,  or  for  other  reasons  of 
convenient  policy.  There  were  few  such  cities  in  the  Western 
provinces,  as  there  were  no  municipia  in  the  Eastern.  The  free 
towns  were  most  numerous  in  those  parts  of  the  empire  where  the 
Greek  language  had  long  prevailed,  and  we  are  generally  able  to 
trace  the  reasons  why  this  privilege  was  bestowed  upon  them.  At 
Athens  it  was  the  fame  of  its  ancient  eminence  and  the  evident 
policy  of  paying  a  compliment  to  the  Greeks.  At  Thessalonica  it 
was  the  part  which  its  inhabitants  had  prudently  taken  in  the 
great  struggle  of  Augustus  and  Antony  against  Brutus  and  Cassius. 


PRIVILEGES  OF  ROMAN  CITIES. 


277 


When  the  decisive  battle  had  been  fought,  Philippi  was  made  a 
military  colony  and  Thessalonica  became  free. 

The  privilege  of  such  a  city  consisted  in  this — that  it  was 
entirely  self-governed  in  all  its  internal  affairs  within  the  territory 
that  might  be  assigned  to  it.  The  governor  of  the  province  had 
no  right,  under  ordinary  circumstances,  to  interfere  with  these 
affairs.  The  local  magistrates  had  the  power  of  life  and  death 
over  the  citizens  of  the  place.  No  stationary  garrison  of  Roman 
soldiers  was  quartered  within  its  territory,  no  insignia  of  Roman 
office  w^ere  displayed  in  its  streets.  An  instance  of  the  care  with 
w^hich  this  rule  was  observed  is  recorded  by  Tacitus,  who  tells  us 
that  Germanicus,  whose  progress  was  usually  distinguished  by  the 
presence  of  twelve  lictors,  declined  to  enter  Athens  attended  with 
more  than  one.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  magistracies  of  such 
cities  would  be  very  careful  to  show  their  loyalty  to  the  emperor 
on  all  suitable  occasions,  and  to  avoid  every  disorder  which  might 
compromise  their  valued  dignity  and  cause  it  to  be  withdrawn. 
And,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Roman  state  did  wisely  to  rely  on 
the  Greek  love  of  empty  distinction,  and  it  secured  its  dominion 
as  effectually  in  the  East  by  means  of  these  privileged  towns  as 
by  the  stricter  political  annexation  of  the  municipia  in  the  West. 
The  form  of  government  in  the  free  cities  was  very  various.  In 
some  cases  the  old  magistracies  and  customs  were  continued 
without  any  material  modification.  In  others  a  senate  or  an 
assembly  was  allowed  to  exist  where  none  had  existed  before. 
Here,  at  Thessalonica,  we  find  an  assembly  of  the  people  [rknius, 
Acts  xvii.  5)  and  supreme  magistrates  who  are  called  poUtarchs 
(Acts  xvii.  8).  It  becomes  an  interesting  inquiry  whether  the 
existence  of  this  title  of  the  Thessalonian  magistracy  can  be 
traced  in  any  other  source  of  information.  This  question  is  im- 
mediately answered  in  the  affirmative  by  one  of  those  passages 
of  monumental  history  which  we  have  made  it  our  business  to 
cite  as  often  as  possible  in  the  course  of  this  biography.  An  in- 
scription which  is  still  legible  on  an  archway  in  Thessalonica 
gives  this  title  to  the  magistrates  of  the  place,  informs  us  of  their 
number,  and  mentions  the  very  names  of  some  who  bore  the  office 
not  long  before  the  day  of  Paul. 

A  long  street  intersects  the  city  from  east  to  west.  This  is  doubt- 
less the  very  direction  which  the  ancient  road  took  in  its  course 
from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Hellespont,  for,  though  the  house.«  of 


278.        LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

ancient  cities  are  destroyed  and  renewed,  the  lines  of  the  great 
thoroughfares  are  usually  unchanged.  If  there  were  any  doubt 
of  the  fact  at  Thessalonica,  the  question  is  set  at  rest  by  two 
triumphal  arches  which  still,  though  disfigured  by  time  and  in- 
jury and  partly  concealed  by  Turkish  houses,  span  the  breadth 
of  this  street,  and  define  a  space  which  must  have  been  one  of  the 
public  parts  of  the  city  in  the  apostolic  age.  One  of  these  arches 
is  at  the  western  extremity,  near  the  entrance  from  Rome,  and  is 
thought  to  have  been  built  by  the  grateful  Thessalonians  to  com- 
memorate the  victory  of  Augustus  and  Antony.  The  other  is 
farther  to  the  east,  and  records  the  triumph  of  some  later  emperor 
(most  probably  Constantine)  over  enemies  subdued  near  the  Dan- 
ube or  beyond.  The  second  of  these  arches,  with  its  sculptured 
camels,  has  altogether  an  Asiatic  aspect,  and  belongs  to  a  period 
of  the  empire  much  later  than  that  of  Paul.  The  first  has  the 
representation  of  consuls  with  the  toga,  and  corresponds  in  ap- 
pearance with  that  condition  of  the  arts  which  marks  the  passing 
of  the  republic  into  the  empire.  If  erected  at  that  epoch,  it  was 
undoubtedly  existing  when  the  apostle  was  in  Macedonia.  The 
following  inscription  in  Greek  letters  informs  us  of  the  magistracy 
which  the  Romans  recognized  and  allowed  to  subsist  in  the  "  free 
city''  of  Thessalonica : 

IIOAEITAPXOYNTfiN  SnSIHATPOY  TOY  KAEO 
nATPA2  KAI   AOYKIOY  HONTIOY  2EKOYNAOY 
nOYBAIOY  ^AAOYIOY  2ABEIN0Y  AHMHTPIOY 
TOY  ^AYSTOY  AHMHTPIOY  TOY  NIKOnOAEnS 
ZniAOY  TOY  HAPMENinNOS  TOY  KAI  MENI2K0Y 
TAIOY  APIAAHIOY  IIOTEITOY.     .     .  . 

These  words,  engraved  on  the  marble  arch,  inform  us  that  the 
magistrates  of  Thessalonica  were  called  polifarchs,  and  that  they 
w^ere  seven  in  number;  and  it  is  perhaps  worth  observing  (though 
it  is  only  a  curious  coincidence)  that  three  of  the  names  are  iden- 
tical with  those  of  Paul's  friends  in  this  region — Sopater  of  Bercea, 
Gains  the  Macedonian,  and  Secundus  of  Thessalonica. 

It  is  at  least  well  worth  our  while  to  notice,  as  a  mere  matter  of 
Christian  evidence,  how  accurately  Luke  writes  concerning  the 
political  characteristics  of  the  cities  and  provinces  which  he  men- 
tions. He  takes  notice  in  the  most  artless  and  incidental  manner 
of  minute  details  which  a  fraudulent  composer  would  judiciously 


DECISION  OF  THE  MAGISTRATES. 


279 


avoid,  and  which  in  the  mythical  result  of  mere  oral  tradition 
would  surely  be  loose  and  inexact.  Cyprus  is  a  "proconsular" 
province.  Philippi  is  a ''colony.''  The  magistrates  of  Thessalo- 
nica  have  an  unusual  title,  unmentioned  in  ancient  literature,  but 
it  appears  from  a  monument  of  a  different  kind  that  the  title  is 
perfectly  correct.  And  the  whole  aspect  of  what  happened  at 
Thessalonica,  as  compared  with  the  events  at  Philippi,  is  in  per- 
fect harmony  with  the  ascertained  difterence  in  the  political  con- 
dition of  the  two  places.  There  is  no  mention  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  of  Roman  citizenship^  but  we  are  presented  with  the 
spectacle  of  a  mixed  mob  of  Greeks  and  Jews  who  are  anxious  to 
show  themselves  to  be  "  Ccesar^s  friends.^^  No  lictors  with  rods 
and  fasces  appear  upon  the  scene,  but  w^e  hear  something  distinctly 
of  a  demus  or  free  assembly  of  the  people.  Nothing  is  said  of 
religious  ceremonies  which  the  citizens,  "  being  Romans,"  may  not 
lawfully  adopt;  all  the  anxiety  both  of  people  and  magistrates 
is  turned  to  the  one  point  of  showing  their  loyalty  to  the  emperor. 
And  those  magistrates  by  whom  the  question  at  issue  is  ultimately 
decided  are  not  Roman  prmtors^  but  Greek  polifarchs. 

It  is  evident  that  the  magistrates  were  excited  and  unsettled,  as 
well  as  the  multitude.  No  doubt  they  were  anxious  to  stand  well 
with  the  Roman  government,  and  not  to  compromise  themselves 
or  the  privileges  of  their  city  by  a  wrong  decision  in  this  dispute 
between  the  Christians  and  the  Jews.  The  course  they  adopted 
was  to  ''take  security"  from  Jason  and  his  companions.  By  this 
expression  it  is  most  probably  meant  that  a  sum  of  money  was 
deposited  with  the  magistrates,  and  that  the  Christian  community 
of  the  place  made  themselves  responsible  that  no  attempt  should 
be  made  against  the  supremacy  of  Rome  and  that  peace  should  be 
maintained  in  Thessalonica  itself.  By  these  means  the  disturbance 
was  allayed. 

But  though  the  magistrates  had  secured  quiet  in  the  city  for  the 
present,  the  position  of  Paul  and  Silas  was  very  precarious.  The 
lower  classes  were  still  excited ;  the  Jews  were  in  a  state  of  fanat- 
ical displeasure.  It  is  evident  that  the  apostles  could  not  appear 
in  public  as  before  without  endangering  their  own  safety  and  com- 
promising their  fellow-Christians,  who  were  security  for  their  good 
behavior.  The  alternatives  before  them  were  either  silence  in 
Thessalonica  or  vleparture  to  some  other  place.  The  first  was  im- 
possible to  those  who  bore  the  divine  commission  to  preach  the 


280  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

gospel  everywhere.  They  could  not  hesitate  to  adopt  the  second 
course,  and  under  the  watchful  care  of  "the  brethren"  they  de- 
parted the  same  evening  from  Thessalonica,  their  steps  being 
turned  in  the  direction  of  those  mountains  which  are  the  western 
boundary  of  Macedonia.  We  observe  that  nothing  is  said  of  the 
departure  of  Timotheus.  If  he  was  at  Thessalonica  at  all,  he  stays 
there  now,  as  Luke  had  stayed  at  Philippi.  We  can  trace  in  all 
these  arrangements  a  deliberate  care  and  policy  for  the  well-being 
of  the  new  churches,  even  in  the  midst  of  the  sudden  movements 
caused  by  the  outbreak  of  persecution.  It  is  the  same  prudent 
and  varied  forethought  which  appears  afterward  in  the  Pastoral 
Epistles,  where  injunctions  are  given  according  to  circumstances — 
to  "abide"  w^hile  the  apostle  goes  to  some  other  region,  "hoping 
that  he  may  come  shortly"  again, — to  "set  in  order  the  things 
that  are  wanting,  and  ordain  elders," — or  "to  use  all  dilligence"  to 
follow  and  co-operate  again  in  the  same  work  at  some  new  place. 

Passing  under  the  arch  of  Augustus  and  out  of  the  western  gate, 
the  Via  Egnatia  crosses  the'plain  and  ascends  the  mountains  which 
have  just  been  mentioned,  forming  a  communication  over  a  very 
rugged  country  between  the  Adriatic  and  the  Hellespont.  Just 
where  the  road  strikes  the  mountains,  at  the  head  of  a  bay  of  level 
ground,  the  city  of  Edessa  is  situated,  described  as  commanding  a 
glorious  view  of  all  the  country  that  stretches  in  an  almost  un- 
broken surface  to  Thessalonica  and  the  sea.  This,  however,  was 
not  the  point  to  which  Paul  turned  his  steps.  He  travelled  by  a 
less  important  road  to  the  town  of  Beroea,  which  was  farther  to 
the  south.  The  first  part  of  the  journey  was  undertaken  at  night, 
but  day  must  have  dawned  on  the  travellers  long  before  they 
reached  their  place  of  destination.  If  the  journey  was  at  all  like 
what  it  is  now,  it  may  be  simply  described  as  follows:  After  leav- 
ing the  gardens  which  are  in  the  immediate  neighborhood  of  Thes- 
salonica, the  travellers  crossed  a  wide  track  of  cornfields  and 
came  to  the  shifting  bed  of  the  "  wide-flowing  Axius."  About 
this  part  of  the  journey,  if  not  before,  the  day  must  have  broken 
upon  them.  Betw^een  the  Axius  and  the  Haliacmon  there  inter 
venes  another  wide  extent  of  the  same  continuous  plain.  The 
banks  of  this  second  river  are  confined  by  artificial  dikes  to  check 
its  destructive  inundations.  All  the  country  round  is  covered. with 
a  vast  forest,  with  intervals  of  cultivated  land  and  villages  con- 
cealed among  the  trees.   The  road  extends  for  many  miles  through 


BERCEA. 


281 


these  woods,  aud  at  length  reaches  the  base  of  the  western  moun- 
tains, where  a  short  ascent  leads  up  to  the  gate  of  Beroea. 

Beroea,  like  Edessa,  is  on  the  eastern  slope  of  the  Olympian 
range,  and  commands  an  extensive  view  of  the  plain  which  is 
watered  by  the  Haliacmon  and  Axius.  It  has  many  natural  ad- 
vantages, and  is  now  considered  one  of  the  most  agreeable  towns 
in  Eumili.  Plane  trees  spread  a  grateful  shade  over  its  gardens, 
streams  of  water  are  in  every  street.  Its  ancient  name  is  said  to 
have  been  derived  from  the  abundance  of  its  waters,  and  the  name 
still  survives  in  the  modern  Yerria  or  Kara-Verria.  It  is  situated 
on  the  left  of  the  Haliacmon,  about  five  miles  from  the  point  where 
that  river  breaks  through  an  immense  rocky  ravine  from  the  moun- 
tains to  the  plain.  A  few  insignificant  ruins  of  the  Greek  and 
Roman  periods  may  yet  be  noticed.  The  foundations  of  an  ancient 
bridge  are  passed  on  the  ascent  to  the  city-gate,  and  parts  of  the 
Greek  fortifications  may  be  seen  above  the  rocky  bed  of  a  moun- 
tain-stream. The  traces  of  repairs  in  the  walls,  of  Roman  and 
Byzantine  date,  are  links  between  the  early  fortunes  of  Beroea  and 
its  present  condition.  It  still  boasts  of  eighteen  or  twenty  thou- 
sand inhabitants,  and  is  placed  in  the  second  rank  of  the  cities  of 
European  Turkey. 

In  the  apostolic  age  Beroea  was  sufficiently  populous  to  contain 
a  colony  of  Jews  (Acts  xvii.  10).  When  Paul  arrived  he  went, 
according  to  his  custom  immediately  to  the  synagogue.  The  Jews 
here  were  of  a  "nobler"  spirit  than  those  of  Thessalonica.  Their 
minds  were  less  narrowed  by  prejudice,  and  they  were  more  will- 
ing to  receive  the  truth  in  the  love  of  it."  There  was  a  contrast 
between  the  two  neighboring  communities,  apparently  open  to  the 
same  religious  influences,  like  that  between  the  "village  of  the 
Samaritans"  which  refused  to  receive  Jesus  Christ  (Luke  ix.)  and 
that  other  "  city"  in  the  same  country  where  "  many  believed" 
because  of  the  word  of  one  who  witnessed  of  him,  and  "  many  more 
because  of  his  own  word"  (John  iv.).  In  a  spirit  very  different 
from  the  ignoble  violence  of  the  Thessalonian  Jews,  the  Berceans 
not  only  listened  to  the  apostle's  arguments,  but  they  examined 
the  Scriptures  themselves  to  see  if  those  arguments  were  justified 
by  prophecy.  And,  feeling  the  importance  of  the  subject  presented 
to  them,  they  made  this  scrutiny  of  their  holy  books  their  "daily" 
occupation.  This  was  the  surest  way  to  come  to  a  strong  convic- 
tion of  the  gospel's  divine  origin.   Truth  sought  in  this  spirit  can- 


282 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


not  long  remain  undiscovered.  The  promise  that  "they  who  seek 
shall  find''  was  fulfilled  at  Beroea,  and  the  apostle's  visit  resulted 
in  the  conversion  of  "many."  Nor  was  the  blessing  confined  to 
the  Hebrew  community.  The  same  Lord  who  is  "rich  unto  all 
that  call  upon  him"  called  many,  "not  of  the  Jews  only,  but  also 
of  the  Gentiles."  Both  men  and  women,  and  those  of  the  highest 
respectability,  among  the  Greeks,  were  added  to  the  Church  founded 
by  Paul  in  that  provincial  city  of  Macedonia  which  was  his  tem- 
porary shelter  from  the  storm  of  persecution. 

The  length  of  Paul's  stay  in  the  city  is  quite  uncertain.  From 
the  fact  that  the  Beroeans  were  occupied  "  daily  "  in  searching  the 
Scriptures  for  arguments  to  establish  or  confute  the  apostle's  doc- 
trine, we  conclude  that  he  remained  there  several  days  at  least. 
From  his  own  assertion  in  his  first  letter  to  the  Thessalonians,  that 
at  the  time  when  he  had  been  recently  taken  away  from  them  he 
was  very  anxious,  and  used  every  effort  to  revisit  them,  we  cannot 
doubt  that  he  lingered  as  long  as  possible  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Thessalonica.  This  desire  would  account  for  a  residence  of  some 
weeks;  and  there  are  other  passages  in  the  same  Epistle  which 
might  induce  us  to  suppose  the  time  extended  even  to  months. 
But  when  we  find,  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  cause  which  led 
him  to  leave  Beroea  was  the  hostility  of  the  Jews  of  Thessalonica, 
and  when  we  remember  that  the  two  cities  were  only  separated 
by  a  distance  of  sixty  miles, — that  the  events  which  happened  in 
the  synagogue  of  one  city  would  soon  be  made  known  in  the  syn- 
agogue of  the  other, — and  that  Jewish  bigotry  was  never  long  in 
taking  active  measures  to  crush  its  opponents, — we  are  led  to  the 
conclusion  that  the  apostle  was  forced  to  retreat  from  Beroea  after 
no  long  interval  of  time.  The  Jews  came  like  hunters  upon  their 
prey,  as  they  had  done  before  from  Iconium  to  Lystra.  They 
could  not  arrest  the  progress  of  the  gospel,  but  they  "stirred  up 
the  people"  there,  as  at  Thessalonica  before.  They  made  his 
friends  feel  that  his  continuance  in  the  city  was  no  longer  safe. 
He  was  withdrawn  from  Beroea  and  sent  to  Athens,  as  in  the  begin- 
ning of  his  ministry  he  had  been  withdrawn  from  Jerusalem  and 
sent  to  Tarsus.  And  on  this  occasion,  as  on  that,  the  dearest 
wishes  of  his  heart  were  thwarted.  The  providence  of  God  per- 
mitted "  Satan  "  to  hinder  him  from  seeing  his  dear  Tliessalonian 
converts,  whom  "once  and  again  "  he  had  desired  to  revisit.  The 
^ivine  counsels  were  accomplished  by  means  of  the  antagonism 


DEPARTURE  FOR  ATHENS. 


283 


of  wicked  men,  and  the  path  of  the  apostle  was  urged  on,  in  the 
midst  of  trial  and  sorrow,  in  the  direction  pointed  out  in  the  vision 
at  Jerusalem — "/ar  hence  unio  the  Gentiles.''^ 

An  immediate  departure  was  urged  upon  the  apostle,  and  the 
Church  of  Beroea  suddenly  lost  its  teacher.  But  Silas  and  Timo- 
theus  remained  behind  to  build  it  up  in  its  holy  faith,  to  be  a  com- 
fort and  support  in  its  trials  and  persecutions,  and  to  give  it  such 
organization  as  might  be  necessary.  Meamvhile,  some  of  the  new 
converts  accompanied  Paul  in  his  flight,  thus  adding  a  new  in- 
stance to  those  we  have  already  seen  of  the  love  which  grows  up 
between  those  who  have  taught  and  those  who  have  learnt  the 
way  of  the  soul's  salvation. 

Without  attempting  to  divine  all  the  circumstances  which  may 
have  concurred  in  determining  the  direction  of  the  flight,  we  can 
mention  some  obvious  reasons  why  it  wa&  the  most  natural  course. 
To  have  returned  in  the  direction  of  Thessalonica  was  manifestly 
impossible.  To  have  pushed  over  the  mountains  by  the  Via  Egna- 
tia,  towards  lUyricum  and  the  western  parts  of  Macedonia,  would 
have  taken  the  apostle  from  those  shores  of  the  Archipelago  to 
which  his  energies  were  primarily  to  be  devoted.  Mere  conceal- 
ment and  inactivity  were  not  to  be  thought  of.  Thus  the  Chris- 
tian fugitives  turned  their  steps  towards  the  sea,  and  from  some 
point  on  the  coast  where  a  vessel  was  found  they  embarked  foi 
Athens.  In  the  ancient  tables  two  roads  are  marked  which  cross 
the  Haliacmon  and  intersect  the  plain  from  Beroea — one  passing 
by  Pydna,  and  the  other  leaving  it  to  the  left,  and  both  coming  to 
the  coast  at  Dium  near  the  base  of  Mount  Olympus.  The  Pierian 
Level  (as  this  portion  of  the  plain  was  called)  extends  about  ten 
miles  in  breadth  from  the  woody  falls  of  the  mountain  to  the  sea- 
shore, forming  a  narrow  passage  from  Macedonia  into  Greece. 
Thus,  Dium  was  the  great  bulwark  of  Macedonia  on  the  south  ;  ^' 
and  it  w^as  a  Roman  colony,  like  that  other  city  which  we  have 
described  on  the  eastern  frontier.  No  city  is  more  likely  than 
Dium  to  have  been  the  last,  as  Philippi  was  '^the  first,"  through 
which  Paul  passed  in  his  journey  through  the  province. 

Here,  then,  where  Olympus,  dark  with  woods,  rises  from  the 
plain  by  the  shore  to  the  broad  summit,  glittering  with  snow, 
which  was  the  throne  of  the  Homeric  gods,  at  the  natural  termina- 
tion of  Macedonia,  and  where  the  first  scene  of  classical  and  poetic 
Greece  opens  on  our  view,  we  take  our  leave,  for  the  present,  of 


284 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  The  shepherds  from  the  heights  above 
the  Vale  of  Tempe  may  have  watched  the  sails  of  his  ship  that 
day  as  it  moved  like  a  white  speck  over  the  outer  waters  of  the 
Thermaic  Gulf.  The  sailors,  looking  back  from  the  deck,  saw  the 
great  Olympus  rising  close  above  them  in  snowy  majesty.  The 
more  distant  mountains  beyond  Thessalonica  are  already  growing 
faint  and  indistinct.  As  the  vessel  approaches  the  Thessalian 
Archipelago,  Mount  Athos  begins  to  detach  itself  from  the  isthmus 
that  binds  it  to  the  main,  and,  with  a  few  other  heights  of  Northern 
Macedonia,  appears  like  an  island  floating  in  the  horizon. 


CHAPTER  X. 


ARRIVAL  ON  THE  COAST  OF  ATTICA. — SCENERY  ROUND  ATHENS. — 
THE  PIR^US  AND  THE  "  LONG  WALLS." — THE  AGORA. — THE 
ACROPOLIS. — THE  "  PAINTED  PORCH  "  AND  THE  "  GARDEN." — 
THE  APOSTLE  ALONE  IN  ATHENS.— GREEK  RELIGION. — THE 
UNKNOWN  GOD.  —  GREEK  PHILOSOPHY.  —  THE  STOICS  AND 
EPICUREANS. — LATER  PERIOD  OF  THE  SCHOOLS. — PAUL  IN 
THE  AGORA. — THE  AREOPAGUS. — SPEECH  OF  PAUL. — DEPART- 
URE FROM  ATHENS. 

We  left  Paul  on  that  voyage  which  his  friends  induced  him  to 
undertake  on  the  flight  from  Beroea.  The  vessel  was  last  seen 
among  the  Thessalian  islands.  About  that  point  the  highest  land 
in  Northern  Macedonia  began  to  be  lost  to  view.  Gradually  the 
nearer  heights  of  the  snowy  Olympus  itself  receded  into  the  dis- 
tance as  the  vessel  in  her  progress  approached  more  and  more  near 
to  the  centre  of  all  the  interest  of  classical  Greece.  All  the  land 
and  water  in  ^ight  becomes  more  eloquent  as  we  advance;  the 
lights  and  shadows  both  of  poetry  and  history  are  on  every  side; 
every  rock  is  a  monument ;  every  current  is  animated  with  some 
memory  of  the  past.  For  a  distance  of  ninety  miles,  from  the 
confines  of  Thessaly  to  the  middle  part  of  the  coast  of  Attica,  the 
shore  is  protected,  as  it  were,  by  the  long  island  of  Euboea.  Deep 
in  the  innermost  gulf,  where  the  waters  of  the  ^gean  retreat  far 
within  the  land  over  against  the  northern  parts  of  this  island,  is 
the  Pass  of  Thermopylae,  where  a  handful  of  Greek  warriors  had 
defied  all  the  hosts  of  Asia.  In  the  crescent-like  bay  on  the  sliore 
of  Attica,  near  the  southern  extremity  of  the  same  island,  is  the 
maritime  sanctuary  of  Marathon,  where  the  battle  was  fought 
which  decided  that  Greece  Avas  never  to  be  a  Persian  satrapy. 
When  the  island  of  Euboea  is  left  behind  we  soon  reach  the 
southern  extremity  of  Attica,  Cape  Colonna,  Sunium's  high  prom- 
ontory, still  crowned  with  the  white  columns  of  that  temple  of 

285 


286 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Minerva  which  was  the  landmark  to  Greek  sailors,  and  which 
asserted  the  presence  of  Athens  at  the  very  vestibule  of  her 
country. 

After  passing  this  headland  our  course  turns  to  the  westward 
across  the  waters  of  the  Saronic  Gulf,  with  the  mountains  of  the 
Morea  on  our  left  and  the  islands  of  ^gina  and  Salamis  in  front. 
To  one  who  trav.els  in  classical  lands  no  moment  is  more  full  of 
interest  and  excitement  than  when  he  has  left  the  cape  of  Sunium 
behind  and  eagerly  looks  for  the  first  glimpse  of  that  city  "  built 
nobly  on  the  ^gean  shore which  was  "  the  eye  of  Greece, 
mother  of  arts  and  eloquence."  To  the  traveller  in  classical  times 
its  position  was  often  revealed  by  the  flashing  of  the  light  on  the 
armor  of  Minerva's  colossal  statue,  which  stood  with  shield  and 
spear  on  the  summit  of  the  citadel.  At  the  very  first  sight  of 
Athens,  and  even  from  the  deck  of  the  vessel,  we  obtain  a  vivid 
notion  of  the  characteristics  of  its  position.  And  the  place  where 
it  stands  is  so  remarkable,  its  ancient  inhabitants  were  so  proud 
of  its  climate  and  its  scenery,  that  we  may  pause  on  our  approach 
to  say  a  few  words  on  Attica  and  Athens  and  their  relation  to  the 
rest  of  Greece. 

Attica  is  a  triangular  tract  of  country,  the  southern  and  eastern 
sides  of  which  meet  in  the  point  of  Sunium ;  its  third  side  is 
defined  by  the  high  mountain-ranges  of  Githseron  and  Parnes, 
which  separate  it  by  a  strong  barrier  from  Boeotia  and  Northern 
Greece.  Hills  of  inferior  elevation  connect  these  ranges  with  the 
mountainous  surface  of  the  south-east,  which  begins  from  Sunium 
itself,  and  rises  on  the  south  coast  to  the  round  summits  of  Hymet- 
tus  and  the  higher  peak  of  Pentelicus  near  Marathon  on  the  east. 
The  rest  of  Attica  is  a  plain,  one  reach  of  which  comes  down  to 
the  sea  on  the  south,  at  the  very  base  of  Hymettus.  Here,  about 
five  miles  from  the  shore,  an  abrupt  rock  rises  from  the  level,  like 
the  rock  of  Stirling  Castle,  bordered  on  the  south  by  some  lower 
eminences  and  commanded  by  a  high  craggy  peak  on  the  north. 
This  rock  is  the  Acropolis  of  Athens.  These  lower  eminences  are 
the  Areopagus,  the  Pnyx,  and  the  Museum,  which  determined  the 
rising  and  falling  of  the  ground  in  the  ancient  city.  That  craggy 
peak  is  the  Hill  of  Lycabettus,  from  the  summit  of  which  ihe 
spectator  sees  all  Athens  at  his  feet  and  looks  freely  over  the 
intermediate  plain  to  the  Piraeus  and  the  sea. 

Athens  and  the  Piraeus  must  never  be  considered  separately 


THE  COAST  OF  ATTICA. 


287 


One  was  the  city,  the  other  was  its  harbor.  Once  they  were  con- 
nected together  by  a  continuous  fortification.  Those  who  looked 
down  from  Lycabettus  in  the  time  of  Pericles  could  follow  with 
the  eye  all  the  long  line  of  wall  from  the  temples  on  the  Acropolis 
to  the  shipping  in  the  port.  Thus  we  are  brought  back  to  the 
point  from  which  we  digressed.  We  w^ere  approaching  the  Piraeus ; 
and,  since  we  must  land  in  maritime  Athens  before  we  can  enter 
Athens  itself,  let  us  return  once  more  to  the  vesseFs  deck  and  look 
round  on  the  land  and  the  water.  The  island  on  our  left,  with 
steep  cliffs  at  the  water^s  edge,  is  ^gina.  The  distant  heights 
beyond  it  are  the  mountains  of  the  Morea.  Before  us  is  another 
island,  the  illustrious  Salamis,  though  in  the  view  it  is  hardly 
disentangled  from  the  coast  of  Attica,  for  the  strait  where  the 
battle  was  fought  is  narrow  and  winding.  The  high  ranges  behind 
stretch  beyond  Eleusis  and  Megara — to  the  left  towards  Corinth, 
and  to  the  right  along  the  frontier  of  Bceotia.  This  last  ridge  is 
the  mountain-line  of  Parnes,  of  which  we  have  spoken  above. 
Clouds  are  often  seen  to  rest  on  it  at  all  seasons  of  the  year,  and 
in  winter  it  is  usually  white  with  snow.  The  dark  heavy  moun- 
tain rising  close  to  us  on  the  right  immediately  from  the  sea  is 
Hymettus.  Between  Parnes  and  Hymettus  is  the  plain,  and  rising 
from  the  plain  is  the  Acropolis,  distinctly  visible,  with  Lycabettus 
behind,  and  seeming  in  the  clear  atmosphere  to  be  nearer  than 
it  is. 

The  outward  aspect  of  this  scene  is  now  what  it  ever  was.  The 
lights  and  shadows  on  the  rocks  of  ^gina  and  Salamis,  the 
gleams  on  the  distant  mountains,  the  clouds  or  the  snow  on  Parnes, 
the  gloom  in  the  deep  dells  of  Hymettus,  the  temple-crowned  rock 
and  the  plain  beneath  it,  are  natural  features,  which  only  vary 
with  the  alternations  of  morning  and  evening  and  summer  and 
winter.  Some  changes  indeed  have  taken  place,  but  they  are 
connected  with  the  history  of  man.  The  vegetation  is  less 
abundant,  the  population  more  scanty.  In  Greek  and  Eoman 
times  bright  villages  enlivened  the  promontories  of  Sunium  and 
iEgina  and  all  the  inner  reaches  of  the  bay.  Some  readers  will 
indeed  remember  a  dreary  picture  which  Sulpicius  gave  his  friend 
Atticus  of  the  desolation  of  these  coasts  when  Greece  had  ceased  to 
be  free,  but  we  must  make  some  allowances  for  the  exaggerations 
of  a  poetical  regret,  and  must  recollect  that  the  writer  had  been 
accustomed  to  the  gay  and  busy  life  of  the  Campanian  shore. 


288  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


After  the  reDOvation  of  Corinth,  and  in  the  reign  of  Claudius, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  all  the  signs  of  a  far  more  numerous  popula- 
tion than  at  present  were  evident  around  the  Saronic  Gulf,  and 
that  more  white  sails  were  to  be  seen  in  fine  weather  plying  across 
its  waters  to  the  harbors  of  Cenchrese  or  Piraeus. 

Now  there  is  indeed  a  certain  desolation  over  this  beautiful  bay: 
Corinth  is  fallen  and  Cenchrese  is  an  insignificant  village.  The 
Piraeus  is  probably  more  like  what  it  was  than  any  other  spot  upon 
the  coast.  It  remains  what  by  Nature  it  has  ever  been — a  safe 
basin  of  deep  water  concealed  by  the  surrounding  rock — and  now, 
as  in  PauPs  time,  the  proximity  of  Athens  causes  it  to  be  the 
resort  of  various  shipping.  We  know  that  w^e  are  approaching  it 
at  the  present  day  if  we  see  rising  above  the  rocks  the  tall  masts 
of  an  P^nglish  line-of-battle  ship  side  by  side  with  the  light  spars 
of  a  Russian  corvette  or  the  black  funnel  of  a  French  steamer. 
The  details  were  different  when  the  Mediterranean  was  a  Roman 
lake.  The  heavy  top-gear  of  corn-ships  from  Alexandria  or  the 
Euxine  might  then  be  a  conspicuous  mark  among  the  small  coast- 
ing-vessels and  fishing-boats ;  and  one  bright  spectacle  was  then 
pre-eminent  which  the  lapse  of  centuries  has  made  cold  and  dim 
r— the  perfect  buildings  on  the  summit  of  the  Acropolis,  with  the 
shield  and  spear  of  Minerva  Promachus  glittering  in  the  sun. 
But  those  who  have  coasted  along  beneath  Hymettus,  and  past  the 
indentations  in  the  shore  which  were  suflicient  harbors  for  Athens 
in  the  days  of  her  early  navigation,  and  round  by  the  ancient 
tomb  which  tradition  has  assigned  to  Themistocles  into  the  better 
and  safer  harbor  of  the  Piraeus,  require  no  great  effort  of  the 
imagination  to  picture  the  apostle's  arrival.  For  a  moment,  as  we 
near  the  entrance,  the  land  rises  and  conceals  all  the  plain. 
Idlers  come  down  upon  the  rocks  to  watch  the  coming  vessel. 
The  sailors  are  all  on  the  alert.  Suddenly  an  opening  is  revealed, 
and  a  sharp  turn  of  the  helm  brings  the  ship  in  between  two 
moles  on  which  towers  are  erected.  We  are  in  smooth  water,  and 
anchor  is  cast  in  seven  fathoms  in  the  basin  of  the  Piraeus. 

The  Piraeus,  with  its  suburbs  (for  so,  though  it  is  not  strictly 
accurate,  we  may  designate  the  maritime  city),  was  given  to 
Athens  as  a  natural  advantage  to  which  much  of  her  greatness 
must  be  traced.  It  consists  of  a  projecting  portion  of  rocky 
ground  which  is  elevated  above  the  neighboring  shore,  and  prob- 
ably was  originally  entirely  insulated  in  the  sea.    The  two  rivers 


THE  PIR^US  AND  THE  "  LONG  WALLS."  289 

of  Athens,  the  Cephisiis  and  Ilissus,  seem  to  have  formed  in  the 
course  of  ages  the  low  marshy  ground  which  now  connects  Athens 
with  its  port.  The  port  itself  possesses  all  the  advantages  of 
shelter  and  good  anchorage,  deep  w^ater  and  sufficient  space. 
Themistocles,  seeing  that  the  pre-eminence  of  his  country  could 
only  be  maintained  by  her  maritime  power,  fortified  the  Piraeus 
as  the  outpost  of  Athens,  and  enclosed  the  basin  of  the  harbor 
as  a  dock  within  the  walls.  In  the  long  period  through  which 
Athens  had  been  losing  its  political  power  these  defences  had  been 
neglected  and  suffered  to  fall  into  decay,  or  had  been  used  as 
materials  for  other  buildings  ;  but  there  was  still  a  fortress  on  the 
highest  point,  the  harbor  was  still  a  place  of  some  resort,  and  a 
considerable  number  of  seafaring  people  dwelt  in  the  streets  about 
the  sea-shore.  When  the  republic  of  Athens  was  flourishing  the 
sailors  were  a  turbulent  and  worthless  part  of  its  population ;  and 
the  Piraeus  under  the  Eomans  was  not  without  some  remains  of 
the  same  disorderly  class,  as  it  doubtless  retained  many  of  the 
outward  features  of  its  earlier  appearance — the  landing-places 
and  covered  porticoes,  the  warehouses  where  the  corn  from  the 
Black  Sea  used  to  be  laid  up,  the  stores  of  fish  brought  in  daily 
from  the  Saronic  Gulf  and  the  j3Egean,  the  gardens  in  the  watery 
ground  at  the  edge  of  the  plain,  the  theatres  into  which  the  sailors 
used  to  flock  to  hear  the  comedies  of  Menander,  and  the  temples 
where  they  were  spectators  of  a  worship  which  had  no  beneficial 
eflect  on  their  characters. 

Had  Paul  come  to  this  spot  four  hundred  years  before,  he  would 
have  been  in  Athens  from  the  moment  of  his  landing  at  the 
Piraeus.  At  that  time  the  two  cities  were  united  together  by  the 
double  line  of  fortification  which  is  famous  under  the  name  of 
the  Long  WallsJ^  The  space  included  between  these  tw^o  arms 
of  stone  might  be  considered  (as,  indeed,  it  was  sometimes  called) 
a  third  city,  for  the  street  of  five  miles  in  length  thus  formed 
across  the  plain  was  crowded  with  people,  whose  habitations  were 
shut  out  from  all  view  of  the  country  by  the  vast  wall  on  either 
side.  Some  of  the  most  pathetic  passages  of  Athenian  history  are 
associated  with  this  longomural  enclosure,  as  when,  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  Peloponnesian  war,  the  plague  broke  out  in  the 
autumn  weather  among  the  miserable  inhabitants,  who  were 
crowded  here  to  suflbcation ;  or  at  the  end  of  the  same  war,  w^hen 
the  news  came  of  the  defeat  on  the  Asiatic  shore,  and  one  long 
10 


290          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

wail  went  up  from  the  Piraeus,  "  and  no  one  slept  in  Athens  that 
night."  The  result  of  that  victory  was,  that  these  long  walls 
were  rendered  useless  by  being  partially  destroyed,  and  though 
another  Athenian  admiral  and  statesman  restored  what  Pericles 
bad  first  completed,  this  intermediate  fortification  remained  effect- 
ive only  for  a  time.  In  the  incessant  changes  which  fell  on  Athens 
in  the  Macedonian  period  they  were  injured  and  became  unim- 
portant. In  the  Eoman  siege  under  Sulla  the  stones  were  used  as 
materials  for  other  military  works.  So  that  when  Augustus  was 
on  the  throne,  and  Athens  had  reached  its  ultimate  position  as  a 
free  city  of  the  province  of  Achaia,  Strabo  in  his  description  of 
the  place  speaks  of  the  Long  Walls  as  matters  of  past  history ; 
and  Pausanias  a  century  later  says  simply  that  "  you  see  the  ruins 
of  the  walls  as  you  go  up  from  the  Piraeus."  Thus  we  can  easily 
imagine  the  aspect  of  these  defences  in  the  time  of  Paul,  which  is 
intermediate  to  these  two  writers.  On  each  side  of  the  road  were 
the  broken  fragments  of  the  rectangular  masonry  put  together  in 
the  proudest  days  of  Athens — more  conspicuous  than  they  are  at 
present  (for  now  only  the  foundations  can  be  traced  here  and 
there  across  the  plain),  but  still  very  different  from  what  they 
were  when  two  walls  of  sixty  feet  height,  with  a  long  succession  of 
towers,  stood  to  bid  defiance  to  every  invader  of  Attica. 

The  consideration  of  the  Long  Walls  lead  us  to  that  of  the  city 
walls  themselves.  Here  many  questions  might  be  raised  concern- 
ing the  extent  of  the  enclosure  and  the  positions  of  the  gates  when 
Athens  was  under  the  Eoman  dominion.  But  all  such  inquiries 
must  be  entirely  dismissed.  We  will  assume  that  Paul  entered  the 
city  by  the  gate  which  led  from  the  Piraeus,  that  this  gate  was 
identical  with  that  by  which  Pausanias  entered,  and  that  its  posi- 
tion was  in  the  hollow  between  the  outer  slopes  of  the  Pnyx  and 
Museum.  It  is  no  ordinary  advantage  that  we  possess  a  description 
of  Athens  under  the  Eomans  by  the  traveller  and  antiquarian 
whose  name  has  just  been  mentioned.  The  work  of  Pausanias 
will  be  our  best  guide  to  the  discovery  of  what  Paul  saw.  By  fol- 
lowing his  route  through  the  city  we  shall  be  treading  in  the  steps 
of  the  apostle  himself,  and  shall  behold  those  very  objects  which 
excited  his  indignation  and  compassion. 

Taking,  then,  the  position  of  the  Peiraic  gate  as  determined,  or 
at  least  resigning  the  task  of  topographical  inquiries,  we  enter  the 
city,  and  with  Pausanias  as  our  guide  look  round  on  the  objects 


THE  AGORA. 


291 


which  were  seen  by  the  apostle.  At  the  very  gatew^ay  w^e  are  met 
with  proofs  of  the  peculiar  tendency  of  the  Athenians  to  multiply 
their  objects  both  of  art  and  devotion.  Close  by  the  building  where 
the  vestments  were  laid  up  which  were  used  in  the  annual  pro- 
cession of  their  tutelary  divinity  Minerva  is  an  image  of  her  rival 
Neptune,  seated  on  horseback  and  hurling  his  trident.  We  pass 
by  a  temple  of  Ceres,  on  the  w^alls  of  which  an  archaic  inscription 
informs  us  that  the  statues  it  contains  were  the  work  of  Praxiteles. 
We  go  through  the  gate,  and  immediately  the  eye  is  attracted  by 
the  sculptured  forms  of  Minerva,  Jupiter,  and  Apollo,  of  Mercury 
and  the  Muses,  standing  near  a  sanctuary  of  Bacchus.  We  are 
already  in  the  midst  of  an  animated  scene,  where  temples,  statues, 
and  altars  are  on  every  side,  and  where  the  Athenians,  fond  of  pub- 
licity and  the  open  air,  fond  of  hearing  and  telling  what  is  curious 
and  strange,  are  enjoying  their  climate  and  inquiring  for  news.  A 
long  street  is  before  us,  with  a  colonnade  or  cloister  on  either  hand, 
like  the  covered  arcades  of  Bologna  or  Turin.  At  the  end  of  the 
street,  by  turning  to  the  left,  we  might  go  through  the  whole  Ce- 
ramicus,  which  leads  by  the  tombs  of  eminent  Athenians  to  the 
open  inland  country  and  the  groves  of  the  Academy.  But  we  turn 
to  the  right,  into  the  Agora,  which  was  the  centre  of  a  glorious 
public  life  when  the  orators  and  statesmen,  the  poets  and  the  artists, 
of  Greece  found  there  all  the  incentives  of  their  noblest  enthusiasm, 
and  still  continued  to  be  the  meeting-place  of  philosophy,  of  idle- 
ness, of  conversation,  and  of  business  when  Athens  could  only  be 
proud  of  her  recollections  of  the  past.  On  the  south  side  is  the 
Pnyx,  a  sloping  hill  partially  levelled  into  an  open  area  for  political 
assemblies ;  on  the  north  side  is  the  more  craggy  eminence  of  the 
Areopagus ;  before  us,  towards  the  east,  is  the  Acropolis,  towering 
high  above  the  scene  of  which  it  is  the  glory  and  the  crown.  In 
the  valley  enclosed  by  these  heights  is  the  Agora,  which  must  not 
be  conceived  of  as  a  great  market"  (Acts  xvii.  17),  like  the  bare 
spaces  in  many  modern  towns,  where  little  attention  has  been  paid 
to  artistic  decoration,  but  is  rather  to  be  compared  to  the  beautiful 
squares  of  such  Italian  cities  as  Verona  and  Florence,  where  his- 
torical buildings  have  closed  in  the  space  within  narrow  limits  and 
sculpture  has  peopled  it  with  impressive  figures.  Among  the  build- 
ings of  greatest  interest  are  the  porticoes  or  cloisters,  which  were  dec- 
orated wdth  paintings  and  statuary,  like  the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa 
We  think  we  may  be  excused  for  multiplying  these  comparisons, 


292         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


for,  though  they  are  avowedly  imperfect,  they  are  really  more 
useful  than  any  attempt  at  description  could  be  in  enabling  us  to 
realize  the  aspect  of  ancient  Athens.  Two  of  the  most  important 
of  these  were  the  Portico  of  the  King  and  the  Portico  of  the  Jupiter 
of  Freedom.  On  the  roof  of  the  former  were  statues  of  Theseus 
and  the  Day ;  in  the  front  of  the  latter  was  the  divinity  to  whom 
it  was  dedicated,  and  within  were  allegorical  paintings  illustrating 
the  rise  of  the  Athenian  democracy.  One  characteristic  of  the 
Agora  was  that  it  was  full  of  memorials  of  actual  history.  Among 
the  plane  trees  planted  by  the  hand  of  Cimon  were  the  statues  of 
the  great  men  of  Athens,  such  as  Solon  the  lawgiver,  Conon  the 
admiral,  Demosthenes  the  orator.  But  among  her  historical  men 
were  her  deified  heroes,  the  representatives  of  her  mythology — 
Hercules  and  Theseus,  and  all  the  series  of  the  Eponymi,  on  their 
elevated  platform,  from  whom  the  tribes  were  named,  and  whom 
an  ancient  custom  connected  with  the  passing  of  every  successive 
law.  And  among  the  deified  heroes  were  memorials  of  the  older 
divinities — Mercuries,  which  gave  their  name  to  the  street  in  which 
they  were  placed ;  statues  dedicated  to  Apollo,  as  patron  of  the  city 
and  her  deliverer  from  plague ;  and  in  the  centre  of  all  the  altar 
of  the  Twelve  Gods,  which  was  to  Athens  what  the  Golden  Mile- 
stone was  to  Rome.  If  we  look  up  to  the  Areopagus,  we  see  the 
temple  of  that  deity  from  whom  the  eminence  had  received  the 
name  of  "  Mars'  Hill,"  and  we  are  aware  that  the  sanctuary  of  the 
Furies  is  only  hidden  by  the  projecting  ridge  beyond  the  stone 
steps  and  the  seats  of  the  judges.  If  we  look  forward  to  the  Acrop- 
olis, we  behold  there,  closing  the  long  perspective,  a  series  of  little 
sanctuaries  on  the  very  ledges  of  the  rock — shrines  of  Bacchus  and 
JEsculapius,  Venus,  Earth,  and  Ceres,  ending  with  the  lovely  form 
of  that  temple  of  Unwinged  Victory  which  glittered  by  the  en- 
trance of  the  Propylsea  above  the  statues  of  Harmodius  and  Aristo- 
geiton.  Thus  every  god  in  Olympus  found  a  place  in  the  Agora. 
But  the  religiousness  of  the  Athenians  went  even  farther.  F  ir 
every  public  place  and  building  was  likewise  a  sanctuary.  The 
Record  House  was  a  temple  of  the  Mother  of  the  Gods.  The 
Council-House  held  statues  of  Apollo  and  Jupiter,  with  an  altar 
of  Vesta.  The  theatre  at  the  base  of  the  Acropolis,  into  which 
the  Athenians  crowded  to  hear  the  words  of  their  great  tragedians, 
was  consecrated  to  Bacchus.  The  Pynx,  near  which  we  entered, 
on  whose  elevated  platform  they  listened  in  breathless  attention 


OF  THE  ' 


THE  ACROPOLIS. 


293 


to  their  orators,  was  dedicated  to  Jupiter  on  high,  with  whose  name 
those  of  the  Nymphs  of  the  Demus  were  gracefully  associated. 
And,  as  if  the  imagination  of  the  Attic  mind  knew  no  bounds  in 
this  direction,  abstractions  were  deified  and  publicly  honored. 
Altars  were  erected  to  Fame,  to  Modesty,  to  Energy,  to  Persuasion, 
and  to  Pity.  This  last  altar  is  mentioned  by  Pausanias  among 
"those  objects  in  the  Agora  which  are  not  understood  by  all  men ; 
for,"  he  adds,  "  the  Athenians  alone  of  all  the  Greeks  give  divine 
honor  to  Pity."  It  is  needless  to  show  how  the  enumeration  which 
we  have  made  (and  which  is  no  more  than  a  selection  from  what 
is  described  by  Pausanias)  throws  light  on  the  words  of  Luke  and 
Paul,  and  especially  how  the  groping  after  the  abstract  and  invisi- 
ble implied  in  the  altars  alluded  to  last  illustrates  the  inscription 
"  To  the  Unknown  God  "  which  was  used  by  apostolic  wisdom  to 
point  the  way  to  the  highest  truth. 

What  is  true  of  the  Agora  is  still  more  emphatically  true  of  the 
AcropoliSj  for  the  spirit  which  rested  over  Athens  was  concentrated 
here.  The  feeling  of  the  Athenians  with  regard  to  the  Acropolis 
was  well  though  fancifully  expressed  by  the  rhetorician,  who  said 
that  it  was  the  middle  space  of  five  concentric  circles  of  a  shield, 
whereof  the  outer  four  were  Athens,  Attica,  Greece,  and  the  world. 
The  platform  of  the  Acropolis  was  a  museum  of  art,  of  history,  and 
of  religion.  The  whole  was  "  one  vast  composition  of  architecture 
and  sculpture  dedicated  to  the  national  glory  and  to  the  worship 
of  the  gods."  By  one  approach  only — through  the  Propylsea  built 
by  Pericles — could  this  sanctuary  be  entered.  If  Paul  went  up  that 
steep  ascent  on  the  western  front  of  the  rock,  past  the  temple  of 
Victory,  and  through  that  magnificent  portal,  we  know  nearly  all 
the  features  of  the  idolatrous  spectacle  he  saw  before  him.  At  the 
entrance,  in  conformity  with  his  attributes,  was  the  statue  of  Mer- 
curius  Propylseus.  Farther  on,  within  the  vestibule  of  the  beau- 
ful  enclosure,  were  statues  of  Venus  and  the  Graces.  The  recov- 
ery of  one  of  those  who  had  labored  among  the  edifices  of  the 
Acropolis  was  commemorated  by  a  dedication  to  Minerva  as  the 
goddess  of  health.  There  was  a  shrine  of  Diana,  whose  image  had 
been  wrought  by  Praxiteles.  Intermixed  with  what  had  reference 
to  divinities  were  the  memorials  of  eminent  men  and  of  great  vic- 
tories. The  statue  of  Pericles,  to  whom  the  glory  of  the  Acropolis 
was  due,  remained  there  for  centuries.  Among  the  sculptures  on 
the  south  wall  was  one  which  recorded  a  victory  we  have  alluded 


294  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

to — that  of  Attains  over  the  Galatians.  Nor  was  the  Roman  power 
without  its  representatives  on  this  proud  pedestal  of  Athenian 
glory.  Before  the  entrance  were  statues  of  Agrippa  and  Augustus, 
and  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  the  esplanade  a  temple  was  erected 
in  honor  of  Rome  and  the  emperor.  But  the  main  characteristics 
of  the  place  were  mythological  and  religious,  and  truly  Athenian. 
On  the  wide  levelled  area  were  such  groups  as  the  following :  The- 
seus contending  with  the  Minotaur ;  Hercules  strangling  the  ser- 
pents ;  the  Earth  imploring  showers  from  Jupiter ;  Minerva  caus- 
ing the  olive  to  sprout  while  Neptune  raises  the  waves.  The 
mention  of  this  last  group  raises  our  thoughts  to  the  Parthenon 
— the  Virgin's  House — the  glorious  temple  which  rose  in  the 
proudest  period  of  Athenian  history  to  the  honor  of  Minerva, 
and  which  ages  of  war  and  decay  have  only  partially  defaced. 
The  sculptures  on  one  of  its  pediments  represented  the  birth  of 
the  goddess;  those  on  the  other  depicted  her  contest  with  Neptune. 
Under  the  outer  cornice  were  groups  representing  the  victories 
achieved  by  her  champions.  Round  the  inner  frieze  was  the  long 
series  of  the  Panathenaic  procession.  Within  w^as  the  colossal 
statue  of  ivory  and  gold,  the  work  of  Phidias,  unrivalled  in  the 
world  save  only  by  the  Jupiter  Olympus  of  the  same  famous  artist. 
This  was  not  the  only  statue  of  the  virgin  goddess  within  the  sacred 
precincts;  the  Acropolis  boasted  of  three  Minervas.  The  oldest 
and  most  venerated  was  in  the  small  irregular  temple  called  the 
Erectheium,  which  contained  the  mystic  olive  tree  of  Minerva 
and  the  mark  of  Neptune's  trident.  This  statue,  like  that  of 
Diana  at  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.  35),  was  believed  to  have  fallen  from 
heaven.  The  third,  though  less  sacred  than  the  Minerva  Polias, 
was  the  most  conspicuous  of  all.  Formed  from  the  brazen  spoils 
of  the  battle  of  Marathon,  it  rose  in  gigantic  proportions  above 
all  the  buildings  of  the  Acropolis,  and  stood  with  spear  and  shield 
as  the  tutelary  divinity  of  Athens  and  Attica.  It  was  the  statue 
which  may  have  caught  the  eye  of  Paul  himself  from  the  deck  of 
the  vessel  in  which  he  sailed  round  Sunium  to  the  Pirseus.  Now, 
he  had  landed  in  Attica,  and  beheld  all  the  wonders  of  that  city 
which  divides  with  one  other  city  all  the  glory  of  heathen  an- 
tiquity. Here,  by  the  statue  of  Minerva  Fromachus,  he  could 
reflect  on  the  meaning  of  the  objects  he  had  seen  in  his  progress. 
His  path  had  been  among  the  forms  of  great  men  and  deified 
heroes,  among  the  temples,  the  statues,  the  altars  of  the  gods  of 


THE  "painted  porch"  AND  THE  "GARDEN."  295 

Greece.  He  had  seen  the  creations  of  mythology  represented  to 
the  eye  in  every  form  of  beauty  and  grandeur  by  the  sculptor  and 
the  architect.  And  the  one  overpowering  result  was  this:  "His 
spirit  was  stirred  within  him  when  he  saw  the  city  wholly  given 
to  idolatry." 

But  we  must  associate  Paul  not  merely  with  the  religion,  but 
with  the  philosophy,  of  Greece.  And  this,  perhaps,  is  our  best 
opportunity  for  doing  so,  if  we  wish  to  connect  together,  in  this 
respect  also,  the  appearance  and  the  spirit  of  Athens.  If  the 
apostle  looked  out  from  the  pedestal  of  the  Acropolis  over  the 
city  and  the  open  country,  he  would  see  the  places  w^hich  are 
inseparably  connected  with  the  names  of  those  who  have  always 
been  recognized  as  the  great  teachers  of  the  pagan  world.  In 
opposite  directions  he  w^ould  see  the  two  memorable  suburbs  where 
Aristotle  and  Plato,  the  two  pupils  of  Socrates,  held  their  illustri- 
ous schools.  Their  positions  are  defined  by  the  courses  of  the  two 
rivers  to  which  we  have  already  alluded.  The  streamless  bed  of 
the  Ilissus  passes  between  the  Acropolis  and  Hymettus  in  a  south- 
westerly direction  till  it  vanishes  in  the  low  ground  which  sepa- 
rates the  city  from  the  Piraeus.  Looking  towards  the  upper  part 
of  this  channel,  we  see  (or  we  should  have  seen  in  the  first  cen- 
tury) gardens  with  plane  trees  and  thickets  of  agnus-castus,  with 
"  others  of  the  torrent-loving  shrubs  of  Greece."  At  one  spot, 
near  the  base  of  Lycabettus,  Avas  a  sacred  enclosure.  Here  was  a 
statue  of  Apollo  Lycius,  represented  in  an  attitude  of  repose, 
leaning  against  a  column,  with  a  bow  in  the  left  hand  and  the 
right  hand  resting  on  his  head.  The  god  gave  the  name  to  the 
Lyceum.  Here  among  the  groves  the  philosopher  of  Stagirus,  the 
instructor  of  Alexander,  used  to  walk.  Here  he  founded  the 
school  of  the  Peripatetics.  To  this  point  an  ancient  dialogue 
represents  Socrates  as  coming,  outside  the  northern  city-wall,  from 
the  grove  of  the  Academy.  Following,  therefore,  this  line  in  an 
opposite  direction,  we  come  to  the  scene  of  Plato's  school.  Those 
dark  olive-groves  have  revived  after  all  the  disasters  which  have 
swept  across  the  plain.  The  Cephisus  has  been  more  highly 
favored  than  the  Ilissus.  Its  waters  still  irrigate  the  suburban 
gardens  of  the  Athenians.  Its  nightingales  are  still  vocal  among 
the  twinkling  olive-branches.  The  gnarled  trunks  of  the  ancient 
trees  of  our  own  day  could  not  be  distinguished  from  those  which 
were  famUiar  witli  the  presence  of  Plato,  and  are  more  venerable 


296         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

than  those  which  had  grown  up  after  Sulla^s  destruction  of  the 
woods,  before  Cicero  visited  the  Academy  in  the  spirit  of  a 
pilgrim.  But  the  Academicians  and  Peripatetics  are  not  the 
schools  to  which  our  attention  is  called  in  considering  the  biog- 
raphy of  Paul.  We  must  turn  our  eye  from  the  open  country 
to  the  city  itself  if  we  wish  to  see  the  places  which  witnessed  the 
rise  of  the  Stoics  and  Epicureans.  Lucian,  in  a  playful  passage, 
speaks  of  Philosophy  as  coming  up  from  the  Academy,  by  the 
Ceramicus,  to  the  Agora;  "and  there,"  he  says,  "we  shall  meet 
her  by  the  Stoa  Poecile."  Let  us  follow  this  line  in  imagination, 
and,  having  followed  it,  let  us  look  down  from  the  Acropolis  into 
the  Agora.  There  we  distinguish  a  cloister  or  colonnade  which 
was  not  mentioned  before,  because  it  is  more  justly  described  in 
connection  with  the  Stoics.  The  Stoa  Pcecile,  or  the  Painted 
Cloister,  gave  its  name  to  one  of  those  sects  who  encountered  the 
apostle  in  the  Agora.  It  was  decorated  with  pictures  of  the 
legendary  wars  of  the  Athenians,  of  their  victories  over  their 
fellow-Greeks,  and  of  the  more  glorious  struggle  at  Marathon. 
Originally  the  meeting-place  of  the  poets,  it  became  the  school 
where  Zeno  met  his  pupils  and  founded  the  system  of  stern 
philosophy  which  found  adherents  both  among  Greeks  and  Eo- 
mans  for  many  generations.  The  system  of  Epicurus  was  matured 
nearly  at  the  same  time  and  in  the  same  neighborhood.  The  site 
of  the  philosopher's  garden  is  now  unknown,  but  it  was  well 
known  in  the  time  of  Cicero,  and  in  the  time  of  Paul  it  could  not 
have  been  forgotten,  for  a  peculiarly  affectionate  feeling  subsisted 
among  the  Epicureans  towards  their  founder.  He  left  this  garden 
as  a  legacy  to  the  school,  on  condition  that  philosophy  should 
always  be  taught  there,  and  that  he  himself  should  be  annually 
commemorated.  The  sect  was  dwindled  into  smaller  numbers 
than  their  rivals  in  the  middle  of  the  first  century.  But  it  is 
highly  probable  that  even  then  those  who  looked  down  from  the 
Acropolis  over  the  roofs  of  the  city  could  distinguish  the  quiet 
garden  where  Epicurus  lived  a  life  of  philosophic  contentment, 
and  taught  his  disciples  that  the  enjoyment  of  tranquil  pleasure 
was  the  highest  end  of  human  existence. 

The  spirit  in  which  Pausanias  traversed  these  memorable  places 
and  scrutinized  everything  he  saw  was  that  of  a  curious  and  rather 
superstitious  antiquarian.  The  expressions  used  by  Cicero  when 
describing  the  same  objects  show  that  his  taste  was  gratified,  and 


THE  APOSTLE  ALONE  IN  ATHENS. 


297 


that  he  looked  with  satisfaction  on  the  haunts  of  those  whom  he 
regarded  as  his  teachers.  The  thoughts  and  feelings  in  the  mind 
of  the  Christian  apostle,  who  came  to  Athens  about  the  middle  of 
that  interval  of  time  which  separates  the  visit  of  Pausanias  from 
that  of  Cicero  were  very  different  from  those  of  criticism  or  ad- 
miration. He  burned  with  zeal  for  that  God  whom,  "as  he  went 
through  the  city,''  he  saw  dishonored  on  every  side.  He  was 
melted  with  pity  for  those  who,  notwithstanding  their  intellectual 
greatness,  were  "  wholly  given  to  idolatry.'*  His  eye  was  not 
blinded  to  the  reality  of  things  by  the  appearance  either  of  art  or 
philosophy.  Forms  of  earthly  beauty  and  words  of  human  wisdom 
were  valueless  in  his  judgment — and  far  worse  than  valueless — if 
they  deified  vice  and  made  falsehood  attractive.  He  saw  and  heard 
with  an  earnestness  of  conviction  which  no  Epicurean  could  have 
understood,  as  his  tenderness  of  affection  was  morally  far  above  the 
highest  point  of  the  Stoic's  impassive  dignity. 

It  is  this  tenderness  of  affection  which  first  strikes  us  when  we 
turn  from  the  manifold  wonders  of  Athens  to  look  upon  the  apostle 
himself.  The  existence  of  this  feeling  is  revealed  to  us  in  a  few 
words  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians.  He  was  filled  with 
anxious  thoughts  concerning  those  whom  he  had  left  in  Macedonia, 
and  the  sense  of  solitude  weighed  upon  his  spirit.  Silas  and 
Timotheus  were  not  arrived,  and  it  was  a  burden  and  a  grief  to 
him  to  be  "  left  in  Athens  aloneP  Modern  travellers  have  often 
felt,  when  wandering  alone  through  the  streets  of  a  foreign  city, 
what  it  is  to  be  out  of  sympathy  with  the  place  and  the  people. 
The  heart  is  with  friends  who  are  far  off,  and  nothing  that  is  merely 
beautiful  or  curious  can  effectually  disperse  the  cloud  of  sadness. 
If  in  addition  to  this  instinctive  melancholy  the  thought  of  an 
irreligious  world,  of  evil  abounding  in  all  parts  of  society,  and  of 
misery  following  everywhere  in  its  train, — if  this  thought  also 
presses  heavily  on  the  spirit,  a  state  of  mind  is  realized  which  may 
be  some  feeble  approximation  to  what  was  experienced  by  the 
apostle  Paul  in  his  hour  of  dejection.  But  with  us  such  feelings 
are  often  morbid  and  nearly  allied  to  discontent.  We  travel  for 
pleasure,  for  curiosity,  for  excitement.  It  is  well  if  we  can  take 
such  depressions  thankfully  as  the  discipline  of  a  worldly  spirit. 
Paul  travelled  that  he  might  give  to  others  the  knowledge  of  sal- 
vation. His  sorrow  was  only  the  cloud  that  kindled  up  into  the 
bright  pillar  of  the  divine  presence.   He  ever  forgot  himself  in  his 


298 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Master's  cause.  He  gloried  that  God's  strength  was  made  perfect 
in  his  weakness.  It  is  useful,  however,  to  us  to  be  aware  of  the 
human  weakness  of  that  heart  which  God  made  strong.  Paul  was 
indeed  one  of  us.  He  loved  his  friends  and  knew  the  trials  both 
of  anxiety  and  loneliness.  As  we  advance  with  the  subject,  this 
and  similar  traits  of  the  man  advance  more  into  view,  and  with 
them,  and  personified  as  it  were  in  him,  touching  traits  of  the 
religion  which  he  preached  come  before  us,  and  we  see,  as  we 
contemplate  the  apostle,  that  the  gospel  has  not  only  deliverance 
from  the  coarseness  of  vice  and  comfort  for  ruder  sorrows,  but 
sympathy  and  strength  for  the  most  sensitive  and  delicate  minds. 

No  mere  pensive  melancholy,  no  vain  regrets  and  desires,  hold 
sway  over  Paul,  so  as  to  hinder  him  in  proceeding  with  the  work 
appointed  to  him.  He  was  "in  Athens  alone,"  but  he  was  there 
as  the  apostle  of  God.  No  time  was  lost,  and,  according  to  his 
custom,  he  sought  out  his  brethren  of  the  scattered  race  of  Israel. 
Though  moved  with  grief  and  indignation  when  he  saw  the  idol- 
atry all  around  him,  he  deemed  that  his  first  thought  should  be 
^iven  to  his  own  people.  They  had  a  synagogue  at  Athens  as  at 
rhessalonica,  and  in  this  synagogue  he  first  proclaimed  his  Master. 
Jewish  wpic3,  however,  are  not  brought  before  us  prominently 
here.  They  are  cnsnally  alluded  to,  and  we  are  not  informed 
whether  the  apostle  wa*  welcomed  or  repulsed  in  the  Athenian 
synagogue.  The  sileno^  oi-  Scripture  is  expressive,  and  we  are 
taught  that  the  subjects  to  which  our  attention  is  to  be  turned  are 
connected  not  with  Judaism,  but  with  paganism.  Before  we  can 
be  prepared  to  consider  the  great  speech  which  was  the  crisis  and 
consummation  of  this  meeting  of  Christianity  and  paganism,  our 
thoughts  must  be  given  for  a  few  moments  to  the  characteristics 
of  Athenian  religion  and  Athenian  philosophy. 

The  mere  enumeration  of  the  visible  objects  with  which  the  city 
of  the  Athenians  was  crowded  bears  witness  (to  use  Paul's  own 
words)  to  their  '^carefulness  in  religion."  The  judgment  of  the 
Christian  apostle  agreed  with  that  of  his  Jewish  contemporary 
Josephus,  with  the  proud  boast  of  the  Athenians  themselves, 
exemplified  in  Isocrates  and  Plato,  and  with  the  verdict  of  a  mul- 
titude of  foreigners,  from  Livy  to  Julian, — all  of  whom  unite  in 
declaring  that  Athens  was  peculiarly  devoted  to  religion.  Keplete 
as  the  whole  of  Greece  was  with  objects  of  devotion,  the  anti- 
quarian traveller  informs  us  that  there  were  more  gods  in  Athens 


THE  GREEK  RELIGION. 


299 


than  in  all  the  rest  of  the  country;  and  the  Koman  satirist  hardly 
exaggerates  when  he  says  that  it  is  easier  to  find  a  god  there  than 
a  man.  But  the  same  enumeration  which  proves  the  existence 
of  the  religious  sentiment  in  this  people  shows  also  the  valueless 
character  of  the  religion  which  they  cherished.  It  was  a  religion 
which  ministered  to  art  and  amusement,  and  was  entirely  destitute 
of  moral  power.  Taste  was  gratified  by  the  bright  spectacle  to 
w^hich  the  Athenian  awoke  every  morning  of  his  life.  Excite- 
ment was  agreeably  kept  up  by  festal  seasons,  gay  processions, 
and  varied  ceremonies.  But  all  this  religious  dissipation  had  no 
tendency  to  make  him  holy.  It  gave  him  no  victory  over  himself,  it 
brought  him  no  nearer  to  God.  A  religion  w4iich  addresses  itself 
only  to  the  taste  is  as  weak  as  one  that  appeals  only  to  the  intel- 
lect. The  Greek  religion  was  a  mere  deification  of  human  attri- 
butes and  the  powers  of  Nature.  It  was  doubtless  better  than 
other  forms  of  idolatry  which  have  deified  the  brutes,  but  it  had 
no  real  power  to  raise  him  to  a  higher  position  than  that  which  he 
occupied  by  nature.  It  could  not  even  keep  him  from  falling 
continually  to  a  lower  degradation.  To  the  Greek  this  world  was 
everything;  he  hardly  even  sought  to  rise  above  it.  And  thus  ali- 
bis life  long,  in  the  midst  of  everything  to  gratify  his  taste  and 
exercise  his  intellect,  he  remained  in  ignorance  of  God.  This 
fact  was  tacitly  recognized  by  the  monuments  in  his  own  religious 
city.  The  want  of  something  deeper  and  truer  was  expressed  on 
the  very  stones.  As  we  are  told  by  a  Latin  writer  that  the  ancient 
Romans,  when  alarmed  by  an  earthquake,  were  accustomed  to 
pray,  not  to  some  one  of  the  gods  individually,  but  to  God  in  gen- 
eral, as  to  the  Unknown,  so  the  Athenians  acknowledged  their 
ignorance  of  the  true  Deity  by  the  altars  with  this  inscription, 
TO  THE  Unknov^^n  God,''  which  are  mentioned  by  heathen  wri- 
ters as  well  as  by  the  inspired  historian.  Whatever  the  origin  of 
these  altars  may  have  been,  the  true  significance  of  the  inscrip- 
tion is  that  which  is  pointed  out  by  the  apostle  himself.  The 
Athenians  were  ignorant  of  the  right  object  of  worship.  But  if 
we  are  to  give  a  true  account  of  Athenian  religion,  we  must  go 
beyond  the  darkness  of  mere  ignorance  into  the  deeper  darkness 
of  corruption  and  sin.  The  most  shameless  profligacy  was  encour- 
aged by  the  public  works  of  art,  by  the  popular  belief  concerning 
the  character  of  the  gods,  and  by  the  ceremonies  of  the  established 
worship.    Authorities  might  be  crowded  in  proof  of  this  state- 


300  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

meut,  both  from  heathen  and  Christian  writings.  It  is  enough 
to  say  with  Seneca,  that  no  other  effect  could  possibly  be  pro- 
duced but  that  all  shame  on  account  of  sin  must  be  taken  away 
from  men  if  they  believe  in  such  gods and  with  Augustine, 
that  "  Plato  himself,  who  saw  well  the  depravity  of  the  Grecian 
gods,  and  has  seriously  censured  them,  better  deserves  to  be  called 
a  god  than  those  ministers  of  sin."  It  would  be  the  worst  delu- 
sion to  infer  any  good  of  the  Grecian  religion  from  the  virtue 
and  wisdom  of  a  few  great  Athenians  whose  memory  we  revere. 
The  true  type  of  the  character  formed  by  the  influences  which 
surround  the  Athenian  was  such  a  man  as  Alcibiades — with  a 
beauty  of  bodily  form  equal  to  that  of  one  of  the  consecrated 
statues,  with  an  intelligence  quick  as  that  of  Apollo  or  Mercury, 
enthusiastic  and  fickle,  versatile  and  profligate,  able  to  admire 
the  good,  but  hopelessly  following  the  bad.  And  if  we  turn  to 
the  one  great  exception  in  Athenian  history — if  we  turn  from 
Alcibiades  to  the  friend  who  nobly  and  affectionately  warned 
him,  who,  conscious  of  his  own  ignorance,  was  yet  aware  that 
God  was  best  known  by  listening  to  the  voice  within — yet  even 
of  Socrates  we  cannot  say  more  than  has  been  said  in  the  follow- 
ing words :  "  His  soul  w^as  certainly  in  some  alliance  with  the  Holy 
God ;  he  certainly  felt,  in  his  daemon  or  guardian  spirit,  the  inex- 
plicable nearness  of  his  Father  in  heaven,  but  he  was  destitute 
of  a  view  of  the  divine  nature  in  the  humble  form  of  a  servant, 
the  Eedeemer  with  the  crown  of  thorns ;  he  had  no  ideal  concep- 
tion of  that  true  holiness  which  manifests  itself  in  the  most  hum- 
ble love  and  the  most  affectionate  humility.  Hence,  also,  he  was 
unable  to  become  fully  acquainted  with  his  own  heart,  though  he 
so  greatly  desired  it.  Hence,  too,  he  was  destitute  of  any  deep 
humiliation  and  grief  on  account  of  his  sinful  wretchedness — of 
that  true  humility  which  no  longer  allows  itself  a  biting,  sarcastic 
tone  of  instruction;  and  destitute  likewise  of  any  filial,  devoted 
love.  These  perfections  can  be  shared  only  by  the  Christian,  who 
beholds  the  Eedeemer  as  a  wanderer  upon  earth  in  the  form  of  a 
servant,  and  who  receives  in  his  own  soul  the  sanctifying  power 
of  that  Redeemer  by  intercourse  with  him." 

When  we  turn  from  the  religion  of  Athens  to  take  a  view  of  its 
philosophy,  the  first  name  on  which  our  eye  rests  is  again  that  of 
Socrates.  This  is  necessarily  the  case,  not  only  because  of  his  own 
singular  and  unapproached  greatness,  but  because  he  was,  as  it 


GREEK  PHILOSOPHY. 


301 


were,  the  point  to  which  all  the  earlier  schools  converged  and  from 
which  the  later  rays  of  Greek  philosophy  diverged  again.  The 
earlier  philosophical  systems,  such  as  that  of  Thales  in  Asia  Minor 
and  Pythagoras  in  Italy,  were  limited  to  physical  inquiries :  Soc- 
rates was  the  first  to  call  man  to  the  contemplation  of  himself,  and 
became  the  founder  of  ethical  science.  A  new  direction  was  thus 
given  to  all  the  philosophical  schools  which  succeeded,  and  Soc- 
rates may  be  said  to  have  prepared  the  way  for  the  gospel  by  leading 
the  Greek  mind  to  the  investigation  of  moral  truth.  He  gave  the 
impulse  to  the  two  schools  which  were  founded  in  the  Lyceum 
and  by  the  banks  of  Cephisus,  and  which  have  produced  such  vast 
results  on  human  thought  in  every  generation.  We  are  not  called 
here  to  discuss  the  doctrines  of  the  Peripatetics  and  Academicians. 
Not  that  they  are  unconnected  with  the  history  of  Christianity : 
Plato  and  Aristotle  have  had  a  great  work  appointed  to  them,  not 
only  as  the  heathen  pioneers  of  the  truth  before  it  was  revealed, 
but  as  the  educators  of  Christian  minds  in  every  age.  The  former 
enriched  human  thought  with  appropriate  ideas  for  the  reception 
of  the  highest  truth  in  the  highest  form  ;  the  latter  mapped  out  all 
the  provinces  of  human  knowledge,  that  Christianity  might  visit 
them  and  bless  them.  And  the  historian  of  the  Church  would 
have  to  speak  of  direct  influence  exerted  on  the  gospel  by  the 
Platonic  and  Aristotelian  systems  in  recounting  the  conflicts  of 
the  parties  of  Alexandria  and  tracing  the  formation  of  the  theology 
of  the  Schoolmen.  But  the  biographer  of  Paul  has  only  to  speak 
of  the  Stoics  and  Epicureans,  They  only,  among  the  various  phil- 
osophers of  the  day,  are  mentioned  as  having  argued  with  the 
apostle ;  and  their  systems  had  really  more  influence  in  the  period 
in  which  the  gospel  was  established,  though  in  the  patristic  and 
mediaeval  periods  the  older  systems,  in  modified  forms,  regained 
their  sway.  The  Stoic  and  Epicurean,  moreover,  were  more  ex- 
clusively limited  than  other  philosophers  to  moral  investigations — 
a  fact  which  is  tacitly  implied  by  the  proverbial  application  of  the 
two  words  to  moral  principles  and  tendencies  which  we  recognize 
as  hostile  to  true  Christianity. 

Zeno,  the  founder  of  the  Stoic  school,  was  a  native  of  the  same 
part  of  the  Levant  with  Paul  himself.  He  came  from  Cyprus  to 
Athens  at  a  time  when  patriotism  was  decayed  and  political  liberty 
lost,  and  when  a  system  which  promised  the  power  of  brave  and 
self-sustaining  endurance  amid  the  general  degradation  found  a 


302  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


willing  acceptance  among  the  nobler  minds.  Thus,  in  the  Painted 
Porch,  which  had  once  been  the  meeting-place  of  the  poets,  those 
who  instead  of  yielding  to  the  prevailing  evil  of  the  times  thought 
they  were  able  to  resist  it  formed  themselves  into  a  school  of  phil- 
osophers. In  the  high  tone  of  this  school  and  in  some  part  of  its 
ethical  language  Stoicism  was  an  apparent  approximation  to  Chris- 
tianity ;  but,  on  the  whole,  it  was  a  hostile  system  in  its  physics, 
its  morals,  and  its  theology.  The  Stoics  condemned  the  worship 
of  images  and  the  use  of  temples,  regarding  them  as  nothing  better 
than  the  ornaments  of  art.  But  tJiey  justified  the  popular  poly- 
theism, and  in  fact  considered  the  gods  of  mythology  as  minor 
developments  of  the  great  world-God  which  summed  up  their 
belief  concerning  the  origin  and  existence  of  the  world.  The 
Stoics  were  pantheists,  and  much  of  their  language  is  a  curious 
anticipation  of  the  phraseology  of  modern  pantheism.  In  their 
view,  God  was  merely  the  Spirit  or  Eeason  of  the  universe.  The 
world  was  itself  a  rational  soul,  producing  all  things  out  of  itself 
and  resuming  them  all  to  itself  again.  Matter  was  inseparable 
from  the  Deity.  He  did  not  create:  he  only  organized.  He 
merely  impressed  law  and  order  on  the  substance,  which  was,  in 
fact,  himself  The  manifestation  of  the  universe  was  only  a  period 
in  the  development  of  God.  In  conformity  with  these  notions  of 
the  world,  which  substitute  a  sublime  destiny  for  the  belief  in  a 
personal  Creator  and  Preserver,  were  the  notions  which  were  held 
concerning  the  soul  and  its  relation  to  the  body.  The  soul  was, 
in  fact,  corporeal.  The  Stoics  said  that  at  death  it  would  be  burnt 
or  returned  to  be  absorbed  in  God.  Thus,  a  resurrection  from  the 
dead,  in  the  sense  in  which  the  gospel  has  revealed  it,  must  have 
appeared  to  the  Stoics  irrational.  Nor  was  their  moral  system  less 
hostile  to  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus."  The  proud  ideal  which 
was  set  before  the  disciple  of  Zeno  was  a  magnanimous  self-denial, 
an  austere  apathy,  untouched  by  human  passion,  unmoved  by 
change  of  circumstance.  To  the  wise  man  all  outward  things  were 
alike.  Pleasure  was  no  good,  pain  was  no  evil.  All  actions  con- 
formable to  reason  were  equally  good,  all  actions  contrary  to 
reason  were  equally  evil.  The  wise  man  lives  according  to  reason, 
and  living  thus,  he  is  perfect  and  self-sufficing.  He  reigns  supreme 
as  a  king;  he  is  justified  in  boasting  as  a  god.  Nothing  can  well 
be  imagined  more  contrary  to  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  Nothing 
could  be  more  repugnant  to  the  Stoic  than  the  news  of  a  "Saviour'* 


THE  EPICUREANS. 


303 


who  has  atoned  for  our  sin  and  is  ready  to  aid  our  weakness. 
Christianity  is  the  school  of  humility ;  Stoicism  was  the  education 
of  pride.  Christianity  is  a  discipline  of  life ;  Stoicism  was  nothing 
better  than  an  apprenticeship  for  death.  And  fearfully  were  the 
fruits  of  its  principle  illustrated  both  in  its  earlier  and  later  disci- 
ples. Its  first  two  leaders  died  by  their  own  hands,  like  the  two 
Romans  whose  names  first  rise  to  the  memory  when  the  school  of 
the  Stoics  is  mentioned.  But  Christianity  turns  the  desperate 
resolution  that  seeks  to  escape  disgrace  by  death  into  the  anxious 
question,  "What  must  I  do  to  be  saved It  softens  the  pride 
of  stern  indifference  into  the  consolation  of  mutual  sympathy. 
How  great  is  the  contrast  between  the  Stoic  ideal  and  the  charac- 
ter of  Jesus  Christ !  How  different  is  the  acquiescence  in  an  iron 
destiny  from  the  trust  in  a  merciful  and  watchful  Providence ! 
How  infinitely  inferior  is  that  sublime  egotism  which  looks  down 
with  contempt  on  human  weakness  to  the  religion  which  tells 
us  that  "  they  who  mourn  are  blessed,"  and  which  commands  us  to 
"  rejoice  with  them  that  rejoice  and  to  weep  with  them  that  weep  " ! 

If  Stoicism,  in  its  full  development,  was  utterly  opposed  to 
Christianity,  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  very  primary  principles 
of  the  Epicurean  school.  If  the  Stoics  were  pantheists,  the 
Epicureans  were  virtually  atheists.  Their  philosophy  was  a 
system  of  materialism  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word ;  in  their 
view,  the  world  was  formed  by  an  accidental  concourse  of  atoms, 
and  was  not  in  any  sense  created,  or  even  modified,  by  the 
Divinity.  They  did  indeed  profess  a  certain  belief  in  what  were 
called  gods,  but  these  equivocal  divinities  were  merely  phantoms — 
impressions  on  the  popular  mind — dreams  which  had  no  objective 
reality,  or  at  least  exercised  no  active  influence  on  the  physical 
world  or  the  business  of  life.  The  Epicurean  deity,  if  self-existent 
at  all,  dwelt  apart,  in  serene  indifference  to  all  the  affairs  of  the 
universe.  The  universe  was  a  great  accident,  and  sufficiently 
explained  itself  without  any  reference  to  a  higher  y)Ower.  The 
popular  mythology  was  derided,  but  the  Epicureans  had  no  posi- 
tive faith  in  anything  better.  As  there  was  no  creator,  so  there  Avag 
no  moral  governor:  all  notions  of  retribution  and  of  a  judgment 
to  come  were  of  course  forbidden  by  such  a  creed.  The  principles 
of  the  atomic  theory,  when  applied  to  the  constitution  of  man, 
must  have  caused  the  resurrection  to  appear  an  absurdity.  The 
soul  was  nothing  without  the  body ;  or,  rather,  the  soul  was  itself 


304         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

a  body  composed  of  finer  atoms,  or  at  best  an  unmeaning  com- 
promise between  the  material  and  immaterial.  Both  body  and 
soul  were  dissolved  together  and  dissipated  into  the  elements ; 
and  when  this  occurred  all  the  life  of  man  was  ended.  The  moral 
result  of  such  a  creed  was  necessarily  that  which  the  apostle 
Paul  described :  "  If  the  dead  rise  not,  let  us  eat  and  drink :  for 
to-morrow  we  die."  The  essential  principle  of  the  Epicurean 
philosopher  was  that  there  was  nothing  to  alarm  him,  nothing  to 
disturb  him.  His  farthest  reach  was  to  do  deliberately  what  the 
animals  do  instinctively ;  his  highest  aim  was  to  gratify  himself. 
With  the  coarser  and  more  energetic  minds  this  principle 
inevitably  led  to  the  grossest  sensuality  and  crime;  in  the  case 
of  others,  whose  temperament  was  more  commonplace  or  whose 
taste  w^as  more  pure,  the  system  took  the  form  of  a  selfishness 
more  refined.  As  the  Stoic  sought  to  resist  the  evil  which  sur- 
rounded him,  the  Epicurean  endeavored  to  console  himself  by  a 
tranquil  and  indifferent  life.  He  avoided  the  more  violent 
excitements  of  political  and  social  engagements  to  enjoy  the 
seclusion  of  a  calm  contentment.  But  pleasure  was  still  the  end 
at  which  he  aimed ;  and  if  we  remove  this  end  to  its  remotest 
distance,  and  understand  it  to  mean  an  enjoyment  which  involves 
the  most  manifold  self-denial, — if  we  give  Epicurus  credit  for 
taking  the  largest  view  of  consequences,  and  if  we  believe  that 
the  life  of  his  first  disciples  was  purer  than  there  is  reason  to 
suppose, — the  end  remains  the  same.  Pleasure,  not  duty,  is  the 
motive  of  moral  exertion  ;  expediency  is  the  test  to  which  actions 
are  referred ;  and  the  self-denial  itself  which  an  enlarged  view  of 
expediency  requires  will  probably  be  found  impracticable  without 
the  grace  of  God.  Thus,  the  gospel  met  in  the  Garden  an 
opposition  not  less  determined  and  more  insidious  than  the 
antagonism  of  the  Porch.  The  two  enemies  it  has  ever  had  to 
contend  with  are  the  two  ruling  principles  of  the  Epicureans  and 
Stoics — -pleasure  and  pride. 

Such,  in  their  original  and  essential  character,  were  the  two 
schools  of  philosophy  with  which  Paul  was  brought  directly  in 
contact.  We  ought,  however,  to  consider  how  far  these  schools 
had  been  modified  by  the  lapse  of  time,  by  the  changes  which 
succeeded  Alexander  and  accompanied  the  formation  of  the 
Roman  empire,  and  by  the  natural  tendencies  of  the  Roman 
character.    When  Stoicism  and  Epicureanism  were  brought  to 


LATER  PERIOD  OF  THE  SCHOOLS. 


305 


Rome  they  were  such  as  we  have  described  them.  In  as  far  as 
they  were  speculative  systems  they  found  little  favor:  Greek 
philosophy  was  always  regarded  with  some  degree  of  distrust 
among  the  Romans.  Their  mind  was  alien  from  science  and  pure 
speculation.  Philosophy,  like  art  and  literature,  was  of  foreign 
introduction.  The  cultivation  of  such  pursuits  was  followed  by 
private  persons  of  wealth  and  taste,  but  was  little  extended  among 
the  community  at  large.  There  were  no  public  schools  of 
philosophy  at  Rome.  Where  it  was  studied  at  all,  it  was  studied 
not  for  its  own  sake,  but  for  the  service  of  the  state.  Thus, 
the  peculiarly  practical  character  of  the  Stoic  and  Epicurean  sys- 
tems recommended  them  to  the  notice  of  many.  What  was 
wanted  in  the  prevailing  misery  of  the  Roman  world  was  a 
philosophy  of  life.  There  were  some  who  weakly  yielded,  and 
some  who  offered  a  courageous  resistance,  to  the  evil  of  the  times. 
The  former,  under  the  name  of  Epicureans,  either  spent  their  time 
in  a  serene  tranquillity,  away  from  the  distractions  and  disorders 
of  political  life,  or  indulged  in  the  grossest  sensualism  and  justi- 
fied it  on  principle.  The  Roman  adherents  of  the  school  of 
Epicurus  were  never  numerous,  and  few  great  names  can  be 
mentioned  among  them,  though  one  monument  remains,  and  will 
ever  remain,  of  this  phase  of  philosophy  in  the  poem  of  Lucretius. 
The  Stoical  school  was  more  congenial  to  the  endurance  of  the 
Roman  character,  and  it  educated  the  minds  of  some  of  the 
noblest  men  of  the  time,  who  scorned  to  be  carried  away  by  the 
stream  of  vice.  Three  great  names  can  be  mentioned  which 
divided  the  period  between  the  preaching  of  Paul  and  the  final 
establishment  of  Christianity — Seneca,  Epictetus,  and  Antoninus 
Pius.  But  such  men  were  few  in  a  time  of  general  depravity  and 
unbelief.  And  such  was  really  the  character  of  the  time.  It  was 
a  period  in  the  history  of  the  world  when  conquest  and  discovery, 
facilities  of  travelling,  and  the  mixture  of  races  had  produced  a 
general  fusion  of  opinions,  resulting  in  an  indifference  to  moral 
distinctions  and  at  the  same  time  encouraging  the  most  abject 
credulity.  The  Romans  had  been  carrying  on  the  work  which 
Alexander  and  his  successors  had  begun.  A  certain  degree  of 
culture  was  very  generally  diffused.  The  opening  of  new  coun- 
tries excited  curiosity.  New  religions  were  eagerly  welcomed; 
immoral  rites  found  willing  votaries.  Vice  and  superstition  went 
hand  in  hand  through  all  parts  of  society,  and  as  the  natural 
20 


306  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


consequence  a  scornful  scepticism  held  possession  of  all  the  higher 
intellects. 

But  though  the  period  of  which  we  are  speaking  was  one  of 
general  scepticism,  for  the  space  of  three  centuries  the  old  dogmatic 
schools  still  lingered  on,  more  especially  in  Greece.  Athens  was 
indeed  no  longer  what  she  had  once  been,  the  centre  from  which 
scientific  and  poetic  light  radiated  to  the  neighboring  shores  of 
Asia  and  Europe.  Philosophy  had  found  new  homes  in  other 
cities,  more  especially  in  Tarsus  and  Alexandria.  But  Alexandria, 
though  she  was  commercially  great  and  possessed  the  trade  of  three 
continents,  had  not  yet  seen  the  rise  of  her  greatest  schools,  and 
Tarsus  could  never  be  what  Athens  was,  even  in  her  decay,  to 
those  who  travelled  with  cultivated  tastes  and  for  the  purposes  of 
education.  Thus,  Philosophy  still  maintained  her  seat  in  the  city 
of  Socrates.  The  four  great  schools,  the  Lyceum  and  the  Academy, 
the  Garden  and  the  Porch,  were  never  destitute  of  exponents  of 
their  doctrines.  When  Cicero  came,  not  long  after  Sulla's  siege, 
he  found  the  philosophers  in  residence.  As  the  empire  grew, 
Athens  assumed  more  and  more  the  character  of  a  university 
town.  After  Christianity  was  first  preached  there  this  character 
was  confirmed  to  the  place  by  the  embellishments  and  the  bene- 
factions of  Hadrian.  And  before  the  schools  were  closed  by  the 
orders  of  Justinian  the  city  which  had  received  Cicero  and  Atticus 
as  students  together  became  the  scene  of  the  college  friendship  of 
Basil  and  Gregory,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  episodes  of  primitive 
Christianity. 

Thus,  Paul  found  philosophers  at  Athens  among  those  whom  he 
addressed  in  the  Agora.  This,  as  we  have  seen,  was  the  common 
meeting-place  of  a  population  always  eager  for  fresh  subjects  of 
intellectual  curiosity.  Demosthenes  had  rebuked  the  Athenians 
for  this  idle  tendency  four  centuries  before,  telling  them  that  they 
were  always  craving  after  news  and  excitement  at  the  very  moment 
when  destruction  was  impending  over  their  liberties.  And  they 
are  described  in  the  same  manner  on  the  occasion  of  Paul's  visit, 
as  giving  their  whole  leisure  to  telling  and  hearing  something 
newer  than  the  latest  new^s.  Among  those  who  sauntered  among 
the  plane  trees  of  the  Agora  and  gathered  in  knots  under  the 
porticoes,  eagerly  discussing  the  questions  of  the  day,  were  phil- 
osoi)hers  in  the  garb  of  their  several  sects,  ready  for  any  new 
question  on  which  they  might  exercise  their  subtlety  or  display 


PAUL  IN  THE  AGORA. 


807 


their  rhetoric.  Among  the  other  philosophers,  the  Stoics  and 
Epicureans  would  more  especially  be  encountered ;  for  the  Painted 
Porch  "  of  Zeno  was  in  the  Agora  itself,  and  the  "  Garden  "  of  the 
rival  sect  was  not  far  distant.  To  both  these  classes  of  hearers 
and  talkers — both  the  mere  idlers  and  the  professors  of  philosophy 
— any  question  connected  with  a  new  religion  was  peculiarly  wel- 
come; for  Athens  gave  a  ready  acceptance  to  all  superstitions  and 
ceremonies,  and  was  glad  to  find  food  for  credulity  or  scepticism, 
ridicule  or  debate.  To  this  motley  group  of  the  Agora,  Paul  made 
known  the  two  great  subjects  he  had  proclaimed  from  city  to  city. 
He  spoke  aloud  of  "  Jesus  and  the  resurrection" — of  that  Name 
which  is  above  every  name,  that  consummation  which  awaits  all 
the  generations  of  men  who  have  successively  passed  into  the  sleep 
of  death.  He  was  in  the  habit  of  conversing  daily''  on  these 
subjects  with  those  whom  he  met.  His  varied  experience  of  men 
and  his  familiarity  with  many  modes  of  thought  enabled  him  to 
present  these  subjects  in  such  a  way  as  to  arrest  attention.  As 
regards  the  philosophers,  he  was  providentially  prepared  for  his 
collision  with  them.  It  was  not  the  first  time  he  had  encountered 
them.  His  own  native  city  was  a  city  of  philosophers,  and  was 
especially  famous  (as  we  have  remarked  before)  for  a  long  line  of 
eminent  Stoics,  and  he  was  doubtless  familiar  with  their  language 
and  opinions. 

Two  different  impressions  were  produced  by  Paul's  words,  accord- 
ing to  the  disposition  of  those  who  heard  him.  Some  said  that  he 
was  a  mere  "  babbler,"  and  received  him  with  contemptuous  de- 
rision. Others  took  a  more  serious  view,  and,  supposing  that  he 
was  endeavoring  to  introduce  new  objects  of  worship,  had  their 
curiosity  excited,  and  were  desirous  to  hear  more.  If  we  sup- 
pose a  distinct  allusion  in  these  two  classes  to  the  two  philosophi- 
cal sects  which  have  just  been  mentioned,  we  have  no  difficulty  in 
seeing  that  the  Epicureans  were  those  who,  according  to  their 
habit,  received  the  new  doctrine  with  ridicule,  while  the  Stoics, 
ever  tolerant  of  the  popular  mythology,  were  naturally  willing  to 
hear  of  the  new  "  daemons "  which  this  foreign  teacher  was  pro- 
posing to  introduce  among  the  multitude  of  Athenian  gods  and 
heroes.  Or  we  may  imagine  that  the  two  classes  denote  the  phil- 
osophers, on  the  one  hand,  who  heard  with  scorn  the  teaching  of  a 
Jewish  stranger  untrained  in  the  language  of  the  schools,  and  the 
vulgar  crowd  on  the  other,  who  would  easily  entertain  suspicion 


308          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

(as  in  the  case  of  Socrates)  against  any  one  seeking  to  cast  dis- 
honor on  the  national  divinities,  or  would  at  least  be  curious  to 
hear  more  of  this  foreign  and  new  religion.  It  is  not,  however 
necessary  to  make  any  such  definite  distinction  between  those  wha 
derided  and  those  who  listened.  Two  such  classes  are  usually 
found  among  those  to  whom  the  truth  is  presented.  When  Paul 
came  among  the  Athenians  he  came  "  not  with  enticing  words  of 
man's  wisdom,^'  and  to  some  of  the  "  Greeks  "  who  heard  him  the 
gospel  was  "  foolishness while  in  others  there  was  at  least  that 
curiosity  which  is  sometimes  made  the  path  whereby  the  highest 
truth  enters  the  mind,  and  they 'sought  to  have  a  fuller  and  more 
deliberate  exposition  of  the  mysterious  subjects  which  now  for  the 
first  time  had  been  brought  before  their  attention. 

The  place  to  which  they  took  him  was  the  summit  of  the  hill  of 
Areopagus,  where  the  most  awful  court  of  judicature  had  sat  from 
time  immemorial  to  pass  sentence  on  the  greatest  criminals  and  to 
decide  the  most  solemn  questions  connected  with  religion.  The 
judges  sat  in  the  open  air,  upon  seats  hewn  out  in  the  rock,  on  a 
platform  which  was  ascended  by  a  flight  of  stone  steps  immedi- 
diately  from  the  Agora.  On  this  spot  a  long  series  of  awful  causes 
connected  with  crime  and  religion  had  been  determined,  beginning 
with  the  legendary  trial  of  Mars  which  gave  to  the  place  its  name 
of  "  Mars'  Hill."  A  temple  of  the  god,  as  we  have  seen,  was  on 
the  brow  of  the  eminence,  and  an  additional  solemnity  was  given 
to  the  place  by  the  sanctuary  of  the  Furies  in  a  broken  cleft  of  the 
rock,  immediately  below  the  judges'  seat.  Even  in  the  political 
decay  of  Athens  this  spot  and  this  court  were  regarded  by  the 
people  with  superstitious  reverence.  It  was  a  scene  with  which 
the  dread  recollections  of  centuries  were  associated.  It  was  a 
place  of  silent  awe  in  the  midst  of  the  gay  and  frivolous  city. 
Those  who  withdrew  to  the  Areopagus  from  the  Agora  came,  as  it 
were,  into  the  presence  of  a  higher  power.  No  place  in  Athens 
w^as  so  suitable  for  a  discourse  upon  the  mysteries  of  religion.  We 
are  not,  however,  to  regard  Paul's  discourse  on  the  Areopagus  as  a 
formal  defence  in  a  trial  before  the  court.  The  whole  aspect  of 
the  narrative  in  the  Acts,  and  the  whole  tenor  of  the  discourse 
itself,  militate  against  this  supposition.  The  words,  half  derisive, 
half  courteous,  addressed  to  the  apostle  before  he  spoke  to  his 
audience,  May  we  know  what  this  new  doctrine  is?"  are  not 
like  the  words  which  would  have  been  addressed  to  a  prisoner  at 


SPEECH  IN  THE  AREOPAGUS. 


309 


the  bar;  and  still  more  unlike  a  judge's  sentence  are  the  words 
with  which  he  was  dismissed  at  the  conclusion,  "We  will  hear 
thee  again  of  this  matter."  Nor  is  there  anything  in  the  speech 
itself  of  a  really  apologetic  character,  as  any  one  may  perceive  on 
comparing  it  with  the  defence  of  Socrates.  Moreover,  the  verse 
which  speaks  so  strongly  of  the  Athenian  love  of  novelty  and  ex- 
citement is  so  introduced  as  to  imply  that  curiosity  was  the  motive 
of  the  whole  proceeding.  We  may,  indeed,  admit  that  there  was 
something  of  a  mock  solemnity  in  this  adjournment  from  the 
Agora  to  the  Areopagus.  The  Athenians  took  the  apostle  from 
the  tumult  of  public  discussion  to  the  place  which  was  at  once 
most  convenient  and  most  appropriate.  There  was  everything  in 
the  place  to  incline  the  auditors,  so  far  as  they  were  seriously  dis- 
posed at  all,  to  a  reverent  and  thoughtful  attention.  It  is  prob- 
able that  Dionysius,  wdth  other  Areopagites,  was  on  the  judicial 
seat.  And  a  vague  recollection  of  the  dread  thoughts  associated 
by  poetry  and  tradition  with  the  Hill  of  Mars  may  have  solemnized 
the  minds  of  some  of  those  who  crowded  up  the  stone  steps  with 
the  apostle,  and  clustered  round  the  summit  of  the  hill  to  hear  his 
announcement  of  the  new  divinities. 

There  is  no  point  in  the  annals  of  the  first  planting  of  Chris- 
tianity wliich  seizes  so  powerfully  on  the  imagination  of  those  who 
are  familiar  w^ith  the  history  of  the  ancient  world.  Whether  we 
contrast  the  intense  earnestness  of  the  man  who  spoke  with  the 
frivolous  character  of  those  who  surrounded  him,  or  compare  the 
certain  truth  and  awful  meaning  of  the  gospel  he  revealed  with  the 
worthless  polytheism  which  had  made  Athens  a  proverb  in  the 
earth,  or  even  think  of  the  mere  words  uttered  that  day  in  the 
clear  atmosphere  on  the  summit  of  Mars'  Hill,  in  connection  with 
the  objects  of  art,  temples,  statues,  and  altars,  which  stood  round 
on  every  side,  we  feel  that  the  moment  was,  and  was  intended  to 
be,  full  of  the  most  impressive  teaching  for  every  age  of  the  world. 
Close  to  the  spot  where  he  stood  was  the  temple  of  Mars.  The 
sanctuary  "of  the  Eumenides  was  immediately  below  him,  the 
Parthenon  of  Minerva  facing  him  above.  Their  presence  seemed  to 
challenge  the  assertion  in  which  he  declared  here  that  in  temples 
made  with  hands  the  Deity  does  not  dwell.  In  front  of  him,  tower- 
ing from  its  pedestal  on  the  rock  of  the  Acropolis — as  the  Bor- 
romean  Colossus  which  at  this  day,  with  outstretched  hand,  gives 
its  benediction  to  the  low  village  of  Arona,  or  as  the  brazen  statue 


310          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

of  the  armed  angel  which  from  the  summit  of  the  Castel  S.  An- 
gelo  spreads  its  wings  over  the  city  of  Eome — was  the  bronze 
colossus  of  Minerva,  armed  with  spear,  shield,  and  helmet  as  the 
champion  of  Athens.  Standing  almost  beneath  its  shade,  he 
pronounced  that  the  Deity  was  not  to  be  likened  either  to  that,  the 
work  of  Phidias,  or  to  other  forms  in  gold,  silver,  or  stone,  graven 
by  art  and  man^s  device,  which  peopled  the  scene  before  him.'' 
Wherever  his  eye  was  turned  it  saw  a  succession  of  such  statues 
and  buildings  in  every  variety  of  form  and  situation.  On  the 
rocky  ledges  on  the  south  side  of  the  Acropolis  and  in  the  midst 
of  the  hum  of  the  Agora  were  the  '^objects  of  devotion"  already 
described.  And  in  the  northern  parts  of  the  city,  which  are 
equally  visible  from  the  Areopagus,  on  the  level  spaces  and  on 
every  eminence,  were  similar  objects  to  which  we  have  made  no 
allusion,  and  especially  that  temple  of  Theseus,  the  national  hero, 
which  remains  in  unimpaired  beauty  to  enable  us  to  imagine  what 
Athens  was  when  this  temple  was  only  one  among  the  many  orna- 
ments of  that  city  which  was  "  luholly  given  to  idolatry ^ 

In  this  scene  Paul  spoke,  probably  in  his  wonted  attitude, 
"  stretching  out  his  hand,''  his  bodily  aspect  still  showing  what 
he  had  suffered  from  weakness,  toil,  and  pain,  and  the  traces  of 
sadness  and  anxiety  mingled  on  his  countenance  with  the  expres- 
sion of  unshaken  faith.  Whatever  his  personal  appearance  may 
have  been,  we  know  the  words  which  he  spoke.  And  we  are 
struck  with  the  more  admiration  the  more  narrowly  we  scrutinize 
the  characteristics  of  his  address.  To  defer  for  the  present  all  con- 
sideration of  its  manifold  adaptations  to  the  various  characters  of 
his  auditors,  we  may  notice  how  truly  it  was  the  outpouring  of  the 
emotions  which  at  the  time  had  possession  of  his  soul.  The  mouth 
spoke  out  of  the  fulness  of  the  heart.  With  an  ardent  and  en- 
thusiastic eloquence  he  gave  vent  to  the  feelings  which  had  been 
excited  by  all  that  he  had  seen  around  him  in  Athens.  We  ob- 
serve also  how  the  whole  course  of  the  oration  was  regulated  by 
his  own  peculiar  prudence.  He  was  brought  into  a  position  where 
he  might  easily  have  been  ensnared  into  the  use  of  words  which 
would  have  brought  down  upon  him  the  indignation  of  all  the 
city.  Had  he  begun  by  attacking  the  national  gods  in  the  midst 
of  their  sanctuaries,  and  with  the  Areopagites  on  the  seats  near 
him,  he  would  have  been  in  almost  as  great  danger  as  Socrates 
before  him.    Yet  he  not  only  avoids  the  snare,  but  uses  the  very 


ALTAR  TO  THE  UNKNOWN  GOD. 


811 


difficulty  of  his  position  to  make  a  road  to  the  convictions  of  those 
who  heard  him.  He  becomes  a  heathen  to  the  heathen.  He  does 
not  say  that  he  is  introducing  new  divinities.  He  rather  implies 
the  contrary,  and  gently  draws  his  hearers  away  from  polytheism 
by  telling  them  that  he  is  making  known  the  God  whom  they 
themselves  are  ignorantly  endeavoring  to  worship.  And  if  the 
speech  is  characterized  by  PauVs  prudence,  it  is  marked  by  that 
wisdom  of  his  divine  Master  which  is  the  pattern  of  all  Christian 
teaching.  As  our  blessed  Lord  used  the  tribute-money  for  the 
instruction  of  his  disciples,  and  drew  living  lessons  from  the  water 
in  the  well  of  Samaria,  so  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  employed 
the  familiar  objects  of  Athenian  life  to  tell  them  of  what  was 
close  to  them,  and  yet  they  knew  not.  He  had  carefully  observed 
the  outward  appearance  of  the  city.  He  had  seen  an  altar  with 
an  expressive  though  humiliating  inscription,  and,  using  this  in- 
scription as  a  text,  he  spoke  to  them  as  follows  the  words  of  eternal 
wisdom : 

Ye  men  of  Athens,  all  thin<?s  which  I  behold  bear  wit-  '^^f^^  ^^^^rs  to 

'  o  unknown  gods 

ness  to  your  carefulness  in  relicrion.    For  as  I  passed  p/ove  both 

.  °  ^      ,       their  desire  to 

throuofh  your  city,  and  beheld  the  objects  of  your  worship,  worship  and 

rr\Z^  their  ignor- 

I  found  amongst  them  an  altar  with  this  inscription,  TO  ance  in  wor- 

THE  UNKNOWN  GOD.    Whom,  therefore,  ye  worship,  "^"^'i^^^s- 
though  ye  know  him  not,  him  declare  I  unto  you. 

God,  who  made  the  world  and  all  thino^s  therein,  seeins:  9^^^  dwells  not 

'  ,  ^  \  °    \n  ilie  temjiles 

that  he  is  Lord  of  heaven  and  earthy  dwelleth  not  in  tern-  of  thn  Acropo- 

ples  made  with  hands.  Neither  is  he  served  by  the  hands  the  service  of 
of  men,  as  though  he  needed  anything ;  for  it  is  Jie  that  ^^^^ 

giveth  unto  all  life,  and  breath,  and  all  things.    And  he  made  of  one 

blood  all  the  nations  of  mankind,  to  dwell  upon  the  face  of  Man  was  cre- 

the  whole  earth ;  and  ordained  to  each  the  appointed  seasons  k^owfng^God! 

of  their  existence,  and  the  bounds  of  their  habitation.  That  to  ^havl^faiie^n 

they  should  seek  God,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after  him  '^otuy! 

and  find  him,  though  he  be  not  far  from  every  one  of  us :  ^'^^  Idolned 

for  in  him  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being;  as  cer-  ^^^^^ 
tain  also  of  your  own  poets  have  said — 

"  For  we  are  also  his  offspring." 

Forasmuch,  then,  as  we  are  the  offspring  of  God,  we  ought  not  to  think 
that  the  Godhead  is  like  unto  gold,  or  silver,  or  stone,  graven  by  the 
art  and  device  of  man. 


312 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Howbeit,  those  past  times  of  iernorance  God  liath  over-       }^^^^  ovei . 

'  °  looked  the 

looked ;  but  now  he  commandeth  all  men  everywhere  to  v^^^f  i^ut  now 

\  .  .      calls  the  world 

repent,  because  he  hath  appointed  a  day  wherein  he  will  to^prepare  ^for 
judge  the  world  in  righteousness,  by  that  Man  whom  he  ment.^ 
hath  ordained;  whereof  he  hath  given  assurance  unto  all/sion  is  proved 
in  that  he  hath  raised  him  from  the  dead.  rection. 


Paul  was  here  suddenly  interrupted,  as  was  no  doubt  frequently 
the  case  with  his  speeches  both  to  Jews  and  Gentiles.  Some  of 
those  who  listened  broke  out  into  laughter  and  derision.  The  doc- 
trine of  the  "  resurrection^'  was  to  them  ridiculous,  as  the  notion 
of  equal  religious  rights  with  the  "Gentiles''  was  offensive  and 
intolerable  to  the  Hebrew  audience  at  Jerusalem.  Others  of 
those  who  were  present  on  the  Areopagus  said,  with  courteous 
indifference,  that  they  would  "hear  him  again  on  the  subject." 
The  words  were  spoken  in  the  spirit  of  Felix,  who  had  no  due 
sense  of  the  importance  of  the  matter,  and  who  waited  for  "  a  con- 
venient season."  Thus,  amidst  the  derision  of  some  and  the 
indifference  of  others,  Paul  was  dismissed  and  the  assembly  dis- 
persed. 

But  though  the  apostle  "dejDarted"  thus  "from  among  them," 
and  though  most  of  his  hearers  apj^eared  to  be  unimpressed,  yet 
many  of  them  may  have  carried  away  in  their  hearts  the  seeds  of 
truth,  destined  to  grow  up  into  the  maturity  of  Christian  faith  and 
practice.  We  cannot  fail  to  notice  how  the  sentences  of  this  in- 
terrupted speech  are  constructed  to  meet  the  cases  in  succession 
of  every  class  of  which  the  audience  was  composed.  Each  w^ord 
ill  the  address  is  adapted  at  once  to  win  and  to  rebuke.  The 
Athenians  were  proud  of  everything  that  related  to  the  origin  of 
their  race  and  the  home  where  they  dwelt.  Paul  tells  them  that 
he  was  struck  by  the  aspect  of  their  city,  but  he  shows  them  that 
the  place  and  the  time  appointed  for  each  nation's  existence  are 
parts  of  one  great  scheme  of  providence,  and  that  one  God  is  the 
common  Father  of  all  nations  of  the  earth.  For  the  general  and 
more  ignorant  population,  some  of  whom  were  doubtless  listening, 
a  word  of  approbation  is  bestowed  on  the  care  they  gave  to  the 
highest  of  all  concerns,  but  they  are  admonished  that  idolatry 
degrades  all  worship  and  leads  men  away  from  true  notions  of  the 
Deity.  That  more  educated  and  more  imaginative  class  of  hear- 
ers who  delighted  in  the  diversihed  mythology  that  j)ersonified 


EFFECT  OF  PAUL's  SPEECH. 


313 


tlie  operations  of  Nature  and  localized  the  divine  presence  in 
sanctuaries  adorned  by  poetry  and  art,  are  led  from  the  thought 
of  their  favorite  shrines  and  customary  sacrifices  to  views  of  that 
awful  Being  who  is  the  Lord  of  heaven  and  earth  and  the  one 
Author  of  universal  life.  "Up  to  a  certain  point  in  this  high 
view  of  the  Supreme  Being  the  philosopher  of  the  Garden,  as  well 
as  of  the  Porch,  might  listen  with  wonder  and  admiration.  It 
soared,  indeed,  high  above  the  vulgar  religion,  but  in  the  lofty 
and  serene  Deity  who  disdained  to  dwell  in  the  earthly  temple, 
and  needed  nothing  from  the  hand  of  man,  the  Epicurean  might 
almost  suppose  that  he  heard  the  language  of  his  own  teacher. 
But  the  next  sentence,  which  asserted  the  providence  of  God  as 
the  active,  creative  energy,  as  the  conservative,  the  ruling,  the 
ordaining  principle,  annihilated  at  once  the  atomic  theory  and  the 
government  of  blind  chance  to  which  Epicurus  ascribed  the  origin 
and  preservation  of  the  universe.''  And  when  the  Stoic  heard 
the.  apostle  say  that  we  ought  to  rise  to  the  contemplation  of  the 
Deity  without  the  intervention  of  earthly  objects,  and  that  we 
live  and  move  and  have  our  being  in  him,  it  might  have  seemed 
like  an  echo  of  his  ow^q  thought,  until  the  proud  philosopher 
learnt  that  it  was  no  pantheistic  diffusion  of  power  and  order 
of  which  the  apostle  spoke,  but  a  living  centre  of  government 
and  love ;  that  the  world  was  ruled  not  by  the  iron  necessity  of 
Fate,  but  by  the  providence  of  a  personal  God ;  and  that  from  the 
proudest  philosopher  repentance  and  meek  submission  were  sternly 
exacted.  Above  all,  we  are  called  upon  to  notice  how  the  atten- 
tion of  the  whole  audience  is  concentred  at  the  last  upon  Jesus 
Christ,  though  his  name  is  not  mentioned  in  the  whole  speech. 
Before  Paul  was  taken  to  the  Areopagus  he  had  been  preaching 
"  Jesus  and  the  resurrection,"  and,  though  his  discourse  was  in- 
terrupted, this  was  the  last  impression  he  left  on  the  minds  of 
those  who  heard  him.  And  the  impression  was  such  as  not  merely 
to  excite  or  gratify  an  intellectual  curiosity,  but  to  startle  and 
search  the  conscience.  Not  only  had  a  revival  from  the  dead  been 
granted  to  that  Man  w^hom  God  had  ordained,  but  a  day  had 
been  appointed  on  which  by  him  the  world  must  be  judged  in 
righteousness. 

Of  the  immediate  results  of  this  speech  we  have  no  further 
knowledge  than  that  Dionysius,  a  member  of  the  court  of  the 
Areopagus,  and  a  woman  whose  name  was  Damaris,  with  some 


314 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


others,  were  induced  to  join  themselves  to  the  apostle  and  became 
converts  to  Christianity.  How  long  Paul  stayed  in  Athens,  and 
with  what  success,  cannot  possibly  be  determined.  He  does  not 
appear  to  have  been  driven  by  any  tumult  or  persecution.  We  are 
distinctly  told  that  he  waited  for  some  time  at  Athens  till  Silas  and 
Timotheus  should  join  him  ;  and  there  is  some  reason  for  believing 
that  the  latter  of  these  companions  did  rejoin  him  in  Athens,  and 
was  despatched  again  forthwith  to  Macedonia.  The  apostle  him- 
self remained  in  the  province  of  Achaia,  and  took  up  his  abode  at 
its  capital  on  the  isthmus.  He  inferred  or  it  was  revealed  to  him 
that  the  gospel  would  meet  with  a  more  cordial  reception  there  than 
at  Athens.  And  it  is  a  serious  and  instructive  fact  that  the  mercan- 
tile population  of  Thessalonica  and  Corinth  received  the  message 
of  God  with  greater  readiness  than  the  highly-educated  and 
polished  Athenians.  Two  letters  to  the  Thessalonians  and  two  to 
the  Corinthians  remain  to  attest  the  flourishing  state  of  those 
churches.  But  we  possess  no  letter  written  by  Paul  to  the  Athe- 
nians, and  we  do  not  read  that  he  was  ever  in  Athens  again. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  immediate  results  of  PauFs  sojourn 
at  Athens,  its  real  fruits  are  those  which  remain  to  us  still.  That 
speech  on  the  Areopagus  is  an  imperishable  monument  of  the  first 
victory  of  Christianity  over  paganism.  To  make  a  sacred  appli- 
cation of  the  words  used  by  the  Athenian  historian,  it  v/as  "  no 
mere  effort  for  the  moment,'^  but  it  is  a  "  perpetual  possession," 
wherein  the  Church  finds  ever-fresh  supplies  of  wisdom  and 
guidance.  It  is  in  Athens  we  learn  what  is  the  highest  point  to 
which  unassisted  human  nature  can  attain,  and  here  we  learn  also 
the  language  which  the  gospel  addresses  to  man  on  his  proudest 
eminence  of  unaided  strength.  God,  in  his  providence,  has  pre- 
served to  us  in  fullest  profusion  the  literature  which  unfolds  to  us 
all  the  life  of  the  Athenian  people  in  its  glory  and  its  shame,  and 
he  has  ordained  that  one  conspicuous  passage  in  the  Holy  Volume 
should  be  the  speech  in  which  his  servant  addressed  that  people  aa 
ignorant  idolaters,  called  them  to  repentance,  and  warned  them  of 
judgment.  And  it  can  hardly  be  deemed  profane  if  we  trace  to 
the  same  Divine  Providence  the  preservation  of  the  very  imagery 
which  surrounded  the  speaker — not  only  the  sea,  and  the  moun- 
tains, and  the  sky,  which  change  not  with  the  decay  of  nations, 
but  even  the  very  temples,  which  remain,  after  wars  and  revolu- 
tions, on  their  ancient  pedestals  in  astonishing  perfection.  We 


DEPARTURE  FROM  ATHENS. 


315 


are  thus  provided  with  a  poetic  and  yet  a  truthful  commentary  on 
the  words  that  w^ere  spoken  once  for  all  at  Athens,  and  Art  and 
Nature  have  been  commissioned  from  above  to  enframe  the  portrait 
of  that  apostle  who  stands  for  ever  on  the  Areopagus  as  the  teacher 
of  the  Gentiles, 


CHAPTER  XI. 


LETTERS  TO  THESSALONICA  WRITTEN  FROM  CORINTH. — EXPUL- 
SION OF  THE  JEWS  FROM  ROME. — AQUILA  AND  PRISCILLA. 
— PAULAS  LABORS. — "  FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALONIANS." 
— PAUL  IS  OPPOSED  BY  THE  JEWS,  AND  TURNS  TO  THE  GEN- 
TILES.— HIS  VISION.— ''second  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALO- 
NIANS.'' — CONTINUED  RESIDENCE  IN  CORINTH. 

When  Paul  went  from  Athens  to  Corinth  he  entered  on  a  scene 
very  different  from  that  which  he  had  left.  It  is  not  merely  that 
his  residence  was  transferred  from  a  free  Greek  city  to  a  Eoman 
colony,  as  would  have  been  the  case  had  he  been  moving  from 
Thessalonica  to  Philippi.  His  present  journey  took  him  from  a 
quiet  provincial  town  to  the  busy  metropolis  of  a  province,  and 
from  the  seclusion  of  an  ancient  university  to  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment and  trade.  Once  there  had  been  a  time,  in  the  flourishing 
age  of  the  Greek  republics,  when  Athens  had  been  politically 
greater  than  Corinth,  but  now  that  the  little  territories  of  the 
Levantine  cities  were  fused  into  the  larger  provincial  divisions  of 
the  empire,  Athens  had  only  the  memory  of  its  pre-eminence, 
while  Corinth  held  the  keys  of  commerce  and  swarmed  with  a 
crowded  population.  Both  cities  had  recently  experienced  severe 
vicissitudes,  but  a  spell  was  on  the  fortunes  of  the  former,  and  its 
character  remained  more  entirely  Greek  than  that  of  any  other 
place;  while  the  latter  rose  from  its  ruins,  a  new  and  splendid  city, 
on  the  isthmus  between  its  two  seas,  where  a  multitude  of  Greeks 
and  Jews  gradually  united  themselves  with  the  military  colonists 
sent  by  Julius  Caesar  from  Italy,  and  were  kept  in  order  by  the 
presence  of  a  Roman  proconsul. 

The  connection  of  Corinth  with  the  life  of  Paul  and  the  early 
progress  of  Christianity  is  so  close  and  eventful  that  no  student  of 
Holy  Writ  ought  to  be  satisfied  without  obtaining  as  correct  and 
clear  an  idea  as  possible  of  its  social  condition  and  its  relation  to 
other  parts  of  the  empire.  This  subject  will  be  considered  in  a 
816 


Paul's  letters  to  thessalonica. 


317 


subsequent  chapter.  At  present  another  topic  demands  our  chief 
attention.  We  are  now  arrived  at  that  point  in  the  life  of  Paul 
when  his  first  Epistles  were  written.  This  fact  is  ascertained  not 
by  any  direct  statements  either  in  the  Acts  or  the  Epistles  them- 
selves, but  by  circumstantial  evidence  derived  from  a  comparison 
of  these  documents  with  one  another.  Such  a  comparison  enables 
us  tc  perceive  that  the  apostle's  mind  on  his  arrival  at  Corinth  was 
still  turning  with  aifection  and  anxiety  towards  his  converts  at 
Thessalonica.  In  the  midst  of  all  his  labors  at  the  isthmus  his 
thoughts  were  continually  with  those  whom  he  had  left  in  Mace- 
donia ;  and  though  the  narrative  tells  us  only  of  his  tentmaking 
and  preaching  in  the  metropolis  of  Achaia,  we  discover  on  a  closer 
inquiry  that  the  letters  to  the  Thessalonians  were  written  at  this 
particular  crisis.  It  would  be  interesting  in  the  case  of  any  man 
whose  biography  has  been  thought  worth  preserving  to  discover 
that  letters  full  of  love  and  wisdom  had  been  written  at  a  time 
when  no  traces  would  have  been  discoverable,  except  in  the  letters 
themselves,  of  the  thoughts  which  had  been  occupying  the  writer's 
mind.  Such  unexpected  association  of  the  actions  done  in  one 
place  with  affection  retained  towards  another  always  seems  to  add 
to  our  personal  knowledge  of  the  man  whose  history  we  may  be 
studying,  and  to  our  interest  in  the  pursuits  which  were  the  occu- 
pation of  his  life.  This  is  peculiarly  true  in  the  case  of  the  first 
Christian  correspondence  which  has  been  preserved  to  the  Church. 
Such  has  ever  been  the  influence  of  letter-writing — its  power  in 
bringing  those  who  are  distant  near  to  one  another  and  reconciling 
those  who  are  in  danger  of  being  estranged, — such  especially  has 
been  the  influence  of  Christian  letters  in  developing  the  growth  of 
faith  and  love  and  binding  together  the  dislocated  members  of  the 
body  of  our  Lord,  and  in  making  each  generation  in  succession  the 
teacher  of  the  next,  that  we  have  good  reason  to  take  these  Epis- 
tles to  the  Thessalonians  as  the  one  chief  subject  of  the  present 
chapter.  The  earliest  occurrences  which  took  place  at  Corinth 
must  first  be  mentioned,  but  for  this  a  few  pages  will  suflSce. 

The  reasons  which  determined  Paul  to  come  to  Corinth  (over 
and  above  the  discouragement  he  seems  to  have  met  with  in 
Athens)  were  probably  twofold.  In  the  first  place,  it  was  a  large 
nercantile  city,  in  immediate  connection  with  Eome  and  the  west 
of  the  Mediterranean,  with  Thessalonica  and  Ephesus  in  the 
iEgean,  and  with  Antioch  and  Alexandria  in  the  East.  The 


318  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

gospel  once  established  in  Corinth  would  rapidly  spread  every- 
where. And,  again,  from  the  very  nature  of  the  city,  the  Jews 
established  there  w^ere  numerous.  Communities  of  scattered 
Israelites  were  found  in  various  parts  of  the  province  of  Achaia — • 
in  Athens,  as  we  have  recently  seen,  in  Argos,  as  we  learn  from 
Philo — in  Boeotia  and  Euboea.  But  their  chief  settlement  must 
necessarily  have  been  in  that  city  which  not  only  gave  opportu- 
nities of  trade  by  land  along  the  isthmus  between  the  Morea  and 
the  continent,  but  received  in  its  two  harbors  the  ships  of  the 
Eastern  and  Western  seas.  A  religion  which  was  first  to  be 
planted  in  the  synagogue,  and  was  thence  intended  to  scatter  its 
seeds  over  all  parts  of  the  earth,  could  nowhere  find  a  more  favor- 
able soil  than  among  the  Hebrew  families  at  Corinth. 

At  this  particular  time  there  were  a  greater  number  of  Jews  in 
the  city  than  usual,  for  they  had  lately  been  banished  from  Rome 
by  command  of  the  emperor  Claudius.  The  history  of  this  edict 
is  involved  in  some  obscurity.  But  there  are  abundant  passages 
in  the  contemporary  heathen  writers  which  show  the  suspicion 
and  dislike  with  which  the  Jews  were  regarded.  Notwithstanding 
the  general  toleration,  they  were  violently  persecuted  by  three  suc- 
cessive emperors;  and  there  is  good  reason  for  identifying  the 
edict  mentioned  by  Luke  with  that  alluded  to  by  Suetonius,  who 
says  that  Claudius  drove  the  Jews  from  Rome  because  they  were 
incessantly  raising  tumults  at  the  instigation  of  a  certain  Chrestus, 
Much  has  been  written  concerning  this  sentence  of  the  biographer 
of  the  Caesars.  Some  have  held  that  there  was  really  a  Jew  called 
Chrestus  who  had  excited  political  disturbances  ;  others,  that  the 
name  is  used  by  mistake  for  Christus,  and  that  the  disturbances 
had  arisen  from  the  Jewish  expectations  concerning  the  Messiah 
or  Christ.  It  seems  to  us  that  the  last  opinion  is  partially  true, 
but  that  we  must  trace  this  movement  not  merely  to  the  vague 
Messianic  idea  entertained  by  the  Jews,  but  to  the  events  which 
followed  the  actual  appearance  of  the  Christ  We  have  seen  how 
the  first  progress  of  Christianity  had  been  the  occasion  of  tumult 
among  the  Jewish  communities  in  the  provinces,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  the  same  might  not  have  happened  in  the  capital 
itself.  Nor  need  we  be  surprised  at  the  inaccurate  form  in  which 
the  name  occurs  when  we  remember  how  loosely  more  careful 
writers  than  Suetonius  write  concerning  the  affairs  of  the  Jews. 
Chrestus  was  a  common  name,  Christus  was  not;  and  we  have  a 


AQUILA  AND  PRISCILLa. 


319 


distinct  statement  by  Tertiillian  and  Lactantius  that  in  their  day 
the  former  was  often  used  for  the  latter. 

Among  the  Jews  who  had  been  banished  from  Kome  by  Clau- 
dius and  had  settled  for  a  time  at  Corinth  were  two  natives  of 
Pontus  w4iose  names  were  Aquila  and  Priscilla.  We  have  seen 
before  (Chap.  VIII.)  that  Pontus  denoted  a  province  of  Asia  Minor 
on  the  shores  of  the  Euxine,  and  we  have  noticed  some  political 
facts  w^hich  tended  to  bring  this  province  into  relations  with  Judaea; 
though,  indeed,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  allude  to  this,  for  there 
were  Jewish  colonies  over  every  part  of  Asia  Minor,  and  we  are 
expressly  told  that  Jews  from  Pontus  heard  Peter's  first  sermon 
and  read  his  First  Epistle.  Aquila  and  Priscilla  were  perhaps 
of  that  number.  Their  names  have  a  Roman  form,  and  we  may 
conjecture  that  they  were  brought  into  some  connection  w^ith  a 
Roman  family,  similar  to  that  which  w^e  have  supposed  to  have 
existed  in  the  case  of  Paul  himself  We  find  they  w^ere  on  the 
present  occasion  forced  to  leave  Rome,  and  we  notice  that  they  are 
afterward  addressed  as  residing  there  again ;  so  that  it  is  reason- 
able to  suppose  that  the  metropolis  was  their  stated  residence. 
Yet  we  observe  that  they  frequently  travelled,  and  we  trace  them 
on  the  Asiatic  coast  on  two  distinct  occasions  separated  by  a  wide 
interval  of  time.  First,  before  their  return  to  Italy  (Acts  xviii.  18, 
26 ;  1  Cor.  xvi.  19),  and  again,  shortly  before  the  martyrdom  of 
Paul  (2  Tim.  iv.  19),  we  find  them  at  Ephesus.  From  the  manner 
in  which  they  are  referred  to  as  having  Christian  meetings  in  their 
houses  both  at  Ephesus  and  Rome,  we  should  be  inclined  to  con- 
clude that  they  were  possessed  of  some  considerable  wealth.  The 
trade  at  which  they  labored,  or  which  at  least  they  superintended, 
was  the  manufacture  of  tents,  the  demand  for  which  must  have 
been  continual  in  that  age  of  travelling,  while  the  cillcium  or  hair- 
cloth of  which  they  were  made  could  easily  be  procured  at  every 
large  town  in  the  Levant. 

A  question  has  been  raised  as  to  whether  Aquila  and  Priscilla 
were  already  Christians  when  they  met  with  Paul.  Though  it  is 
certainly  possible  that  they  may  have  been  converted  at  Rome,  ve 
think,  on  the  whole,  that  this  was  probably  not  the  case.  They 
are  simply  classed  w^ith  the  other  Jews  who  were  expelled  by  Clau- 
dius, and  we  are  told  that  the  reason  why  Paul  came  and  attached 
himself  to  them"  was  not  because  they  had  a  common  religion, 
but  because  they  had  a  common  trade.    There  is  no  doubt,  how- 


320  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


ever,  that  the  connection  soon  resulted  in  their  conversion  to 
Christianity.  The  trade  which  Paul's  father  had  taught  him  in 
his  youth  was  thus  made  the  means  of  procuring  him  invaluable 
associates  in  the  noblest  work  in  which  mau  was  ever  engaged. 
No  higher  example  can  be  found  of  the  possibility  of  combining 
diligent  labor  in  the  common  things  of  life  with  the  utmost  spiritu- 
ality of  mind.  Those  who  might  have  visited  Aquila  at  Corinth 
in  the  working-hours  would  have  found  Paul  quietly  occupied  with 
the  same  task  as  his  fellow-laborers.  Though  he  knew  the  gospel 
to  be  a  matter  of  life  and  death  to  the  soul,  he  gave  himself  to  an 
ordinary  trade  with  as  much  zeal  as  though  he  had  no  other  occu- 
pation. It  is  the  duty  of  every  man  to  maintain  an  honorable 
independence ;  and  this,  he  felt,  was  peculiarly  incumbent  on  him 
for  the  sake  of  the  gospel  he  came  to  proclaim.  He  knew  the 
obloquy  to  which  he  was  likely  to  be  exposed,  and  he  prudently 
prepared  for  it.  The  highest  motives  instigated  his  diligence  in 
the  commonest  manual  toil.  And  this  toil  was  no  hinderance  to 
that  communion  with  God  which  was  his  greatest  joy  and  the 
source  of  all  his  peace.  While  he  "  labored,  working  with  his  own 
hands,"  among  the  Corinthians,  as  he  afterward  reminded  them, 
in  his  heart  he  w^as  praying  continually,  with  thanksgiving,  on 
behalf  of  the  Thessalonians,  as  he  says  to  them  himself  in  the 
letters  which  he  dictated  in  the  intervals  of  his  labor. 

This  was  the  first  scene  of  Paul's  life  at  Corinth.  For  the  second 
scene  we  must  turn  to  the  synagogue.  The  sabbath  was  a  day  of 
rest.  On  that  day  the  Jews  laid  aside  their  tentmaking  and  their 
other  trades,  and  amid  the  derision  of  their  Gentile  neighbors 
assembled  in  the  house  of  prayer  to  worship  the  God  of  their  fore- 
fathers. There  Paul  spoke  to  them  of  the  "  mercy  promised  to 
their  forefathers,"  and  of  the  oath  sworn  to  Abraham "  being 
performed."  There  his  countrymen  listened  with  incredulity  or 
conviction,  and  the  tentmaker  of  Tarsus  "  reasoned  "  with  them, 
and  "endeavored  to  persuade"  both  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles 
who  were  present  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ  as  the  promised  Mes- 
siah and  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

While  these  two  employments  were  proceeding — the  daily  labor 
in  the  workshop  and  the  weekly  discussions  in  the  synagogues — • 
Timotheus  and  Silas  returned  from  Macedonia.  The  effect  pro- 
duced by  their  arrival  seems  to  have  been  an  instantaneous  increase 
of  the  zeal  and  energy  with  which  he  resisted  the  opposition  which 


TIMOTHY  AND  SILAS  RETURN  TO  PAUL. 


S21 


was  even  novr  beginning  to  hem  in  tlie  progress  of  the  truth.  The 
remarkable  word  which  is  used  to  describe  the  pressure^*  which 
Paul  experienced  at  this  moment  in  the  course  of  his  teaching  at 
Corinth  is  the  same  which  is  employed  of  our  Lord  himself  in  a 
solemn  passage  of  the  Gospels,  when  he  says,  "  I  have  a  baptism 
to  be  baptized  with  ;  and  how  am  I  straitened  till  it  be  accom- 
plished! "  He  who  felt  our  human  difficulties  has  given  us  human 
help  to  aid  us  in  what  he  requires  us  to  do.  When  Paul's  com- 
panions rejoined  him  he  was  reinforced  with  new  earnestness  and 
vigor  in  combating  the  difficulties  which  met  him.  He  acknow- 
ledges himself  that  he  was  at  Corinth  in  weakness  and  in  fear 
and  much  trembling,"  but  God,  who  comforteth  those  that  are 
cast  down,  comforted  him  by  the  coming  "  of  his  friends.  It  was 
only  one  among  many  instances  we  shall  be  called  to  notice  in 
which  at  a  time  of  weakness  "  he  sav>^  the  brethren  and  took 
courage." 

But  this  was  not  the  only  result  of  the  arrival  of  Paul's  com- 
panions. Timotheus  (as  we  have  seen)  had  been  sent,  while  Paul 
was  still  at  Athens,  to  revisit  and  establish  the  Church  of  Thessa- 
lonica.  The  news  he  brought  on  his  return  to  Paul  caused  the 
latter  to  write  to  these  beloved  converts,  and,  as  we  have  already 
observed,  the  letter  which  he  sent  them  is  the  first  of  his  Epistles 
which  has  been  preserved  to  us.  It  seems  to  have  been  occasioned 
partly  by  his  wish  to  express  his  earnest  affection  for  the  Thes- 
salonian  Christians,  and  to  encourage  them  under  their  persecutions, 
but  it  was  also  called  for  by  some  errors  into  which  they  had 
fallen.  Many  of  the  new  converts  were  uneasy  about  the  state  of 
their  relatives  or  friends  who  had  died  since  their  conversion. 
They  feared  that  these  departed  Christians  would  lose  the  happi- 
ness of  witnessing  their  Lord's  second  coming,  which  they  expected 
soon  to  behold.  In  this  expectation  others  had  given  themselves 
up  to  a  religious  excitement,  under  the  influence  of  which  they 
persuaded  themselves  that  they  need  not  continue  to  work  at  the 
business  of  their  callings,  but  might  claim  support  from  the  richer 
members  of  the  Church.  Others,  again,  had  yielded  to  the  same 
temptations  which  afterward  influenced  the  Corinthian  Church, 
and  despised  the  gift  of  prophesying  in  comparison  with  those 
other  gifts  which  afforded  more  opportunity  for  display.  These 
reasons,  and  others  which  will  appear  in  the  letter  itself,  led  Paul 
to  write  to  the  Thessalonians  as  follows; 
21 


322 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


for  their  con- 
version. 


FIKST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALONIANS. 
I. 

1  Paul,  and  Silvaniis,  and  Timotlieus,  to  the  Church  of  salutation, 
the  Thessalonians,  in  the  name  of  God  our  Father,  and 

our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  grace  be  to  you  and  peace. 

2  I  return  continual  thanks  to  God  for  you  all,  and  Thanksgi-ing 
make  mention  of  you  in  my  prayers  without  ceasing ; 

3  remembering  always,  in  the  presence  of  our  God  and 
Father,  the  working  of  your  faith  and  the  labors  of  your  love,  and 
the  patient  endurance  of  your  hope,  which  was  fixed  on  our  Lord 

4  Jesus  Christ.  Brethren,  beloved  by  God,  I  know  how  God  has 
chosen  you ;  for  tlie  glad  tidings  wliich  I  brought  you  worked  upon 
you,  not  only  in  word,  but  also  in  power  ;  with  the  might  of  the  Holy 

5  Spirit,  and  with  the  full  assurance  of  belief.  And  you,  likewise, 
know  the  manner  in  which  I  behaved  myself  among  you,  for  your 

6  sakes.  Moreover,  you  followed  in  my  steps,  and  in  the  steps  of  our 
Lord  and  Master;  and  you  received  his  teaching  in  the  midst  of 
great  tribulation,  with  a  joy  wliich  came  from  the  Holy  Spirit. 

7  And  thus  you  have  become  patterns  to  all  the  believers  in  ^lacedo- 

8  nia  and  in  Achaia.  For  from  you  the  word  of  our  Lord  has  been 
sounded  forth,  and  not  only  has  its  sound  been  heard  in  Macedonia 
and  in  Achaia,  but  also  in  every  place  the  tidings  of  your  faith  to- 
wards God  have  been  spread  abroad,  so  that  I  have  no  need  to  speak 

9  of  it.  For  others  are  telling  of  their  own  accord,  concerning  me, 
how  gladly  you  received  me,  and  how  you  forsook  your  idols,  and 

10  turned  to  the  service  of  God,  the  living  and  the  true;  and  that  now 
you  wait  with  eager  longing  for  the  return  of  his  Son  from  the  heav- 
ens, even  Jesus,  whom  he  raised  from  the  dead,  our  deliverer  from 
the  coming  vengeance. 

11. 

1  Yea,  you  know  yourselves,  brethren,  that  my  coming  reminds 

2  amongst  you  was  not  fruitless ;  but  after  I  had  borne  ovvi?exampie * 
suffering  and  outrage  (as  you  know)  at  Philippi,  I  trust- 
ed in  my  God,  and  boldly  declared  to  you  God's  glad  tidings,  although 

3  its  adversaries  contended  mightily  against  me.  For  my  exhorta- 
tions are  not  prompted  by  imposture,  nor  by  lasciviousness,  nor  do  I 

4  deal  deceitfully.  But,  seeing  that  God  has  tried  my  fitness  for  his 
work,  and  charged  me  to  declare  the  glad  tidings,  so  I  speak  as  one 
who  strives  to  please  not  men  but  God,  whose  search  tries  my  heart. 

5  For  never  did  1  use  flattering  words,  as  you  know ;  nor  hide  covet- 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALONIANS.  323 


6  ousness  under  fair  pretences  (God  is  my  witness) ;  nor  did  1  seek  hon- 
or from  men,  either  from  voii  or  others ;  although  I  might  have  been 

7  burdensome  to  you,  as  being  Christ's  apostle.  But  I  behaved  my- 
self among  you  with  mildness  and  forbearance ;  and  as  a  nurse  cher- 

8  ishes  her  own  children,  so  in  my  fond  affection  it  was  my  joy  to  give 
you  not  only  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ,  but  even  my  own  life  also, 

9  because  you  were  so  dear  to  me.  For  you  remember,  brethren,  my 
toilsome  labors ;  how  I  worked  both  night  and  day,  that  I  might  not 
be  burdensome  to  any  of  you,  while  I  proclaimed  to  you  the  mes- 

10  sage  which  I  bore,  the  glad  tidings  of  God.  You  are  yourselves 
witnesses,  and  God  also  is  my  witness,  how  holy,  and  just,  and  un- 

11  blamable,  were  my  dealings  towards  you  who  believe.  You  know 
how  earnestly,  as  a  father  his  own  children,  I  exhorted  and  entreat- 

12  ed  and  adjured  each  one  among  you  to  walk  worthy  of  God,  by 
whom  you  are  called  into  his  own  kingdom  and  glory. 

13  Wherefore  I  also  give  continual  thanks  to  God,  because,  when 
you  heard  from  me  the  preaching  of  God's  word,  you  received  it 
not  as  the  word  of  man,  but,  as  it  is  in  truth,  the  word  of  God  ;  who 

14  himself  works  inwardly  in  you  that  believe.  For  you,  brethren,  fol- 
lowed in  the  steps  of  the  churches  of  God  in  Judoea,  which  are  in 
the  fellowship  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  suffered  the  like  persecution  from 

15  your  own  countrymen,  which  they  endured  from  the  Jews;  who 
killed  both  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  their  own  prophets,  and  who  have 
driven  me  from  city  to  city ;  a  people  displeasing  to  God,  and  ene- 

16  mies  to  all  mankind,  who  would  hinder  me  from  specking  to  the 
Gentiles,  for  their  salvation ;  thus  they  do,  as  they  have  ever  done,  to 
fill  up  the  measure  of  their  sins ;  but  now  the  wrath  of  God  has 
overtaken  them  to  destroy  them. 

17  But  I,  brethren,  having  been  torn  from  you  for  a  Expressps  his 
short  season  (m  body,  not  in  heart),  have  sought  earn-  J^j^^^jj^ 
estly,  with  long  desire,  to  behold  you  again  face  to  face. 

18  Wherefore  I,  Paul  (for  my  own  part),  would  have  returned  to  visit 
you,  and  strove  to  do  so  once  and  again  ;  but  Satan  hindered  me. 

19  For  what  is  my  hope  or  joy?  what  is  the  crown  wherein  I  glory? 
what  but  your  own  selves,  when  you  shall  stand  before  our  Lord 

20  Jesus  Christ  at  his  appearing.    Yea,  you  are  my  glory  and  my  joj^ 

III. 

1  Therefore,  being  no  longer  able  to  restrain  my  desire,  ^nd  his  ioy  in 

2  I  determined  to  be  left  at  Athens  alone;  and  I  sent  Tim-  [l.tf/ weildo^ 
otheus,  my  brother,  and  God's  servant  and  fellow-worker  otg^j^g 

in  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ,  that  he  might  strengthen 


324 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


3  your  constancy,  and  exhort  you  concerning  your  faith,  that  none  of 
you  should  suffer  himself  to  be  shaken  by  these  afflictions  which 
have  come  upon  yo»j  ;  for  you  yourselves  know  that  such  is  our  ap- 

4  pointed  lot,  and  when  I  was  with  you,  I  forewarned  you  that  perse- 

5  cutions  awaited  us,  as  you  remember  that  it  befell.  For  this  cause, 
I  also,  when  I  could  no  longer  forbear,  sent  to  learn  tidings  of  your 
faith ;  for  I  feared  less  perchance  the  tempter  had  tempted  you,  and 

6  so  my  labor  among  you  should  be  in  vain.  But  now  that  Timo- 
theus  has  returned  from  you  to  me,  and  has  brought  me  the  glad 
tidings  of  your  faith  and  love,  and  that  you  still  keep  an  affection- 

7  ate  remembrance  of  me,  longing  to  see  me,  as  I  to  see  you — I  have 
been  comforted,  brethren,  on  your  behalf,  and  all  my  own  tribula- 

8  tion  and  distress  has  been  lightened  by  your  faith.    For  now,  if  you 

9  be  steadfast  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  I  feel  myself  to  live.  What  thanks- 
giving can  I  render  to  God  for  you,  for  all  the  joy  which  you  cause 

10  me  in  the  presence  of  my  God  ?  Night  and  day,  I  pray  exceedingly 
earnestly  to  see  you  face  to  face,  that  I  may  complete  what  is  yet 

11  wanting  in  your  faith.    Now,  may  God  himself,  our  Father,  and  our 

12  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  direct  my  path  towards  you.  Meantime,  may 
our  Lord  cause  you  to  increase  and  abound  in  love  to  one  another 

13  and  to  all  men ;  even  such  love  as  I  have  for  you.  And  so  may  he 
keep  your  hearts  steadfast  and  Ainblamable  in  holiness,  and  present 
you  before  our  God  and  Father,  with  all  his  people,  at  his  appearing. 

IV. 

1  It  remains,  brethren,  that  I  beseech  and  exhort  vou  Against  seu- 
in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  that  as  I  taught  you 

what  life  you  must  live  to  please  God,  so  you  would  walk  thereafter 

2  more  abundantly.    For  you  know  the  commands  which  I  delivered 

3  to  you  by  the  authority  of  the  Lord  Jesus.    This,  therefore,  as  I 

4  then  told  you,  is  the  will  of  God ;  that  you  should  be  consecrated 
unto  him  in  holiness,  and  should  keep  yourselves  from  fornication, 
and  that  each  of  you  should  learn  to  get  the  mastery  over  his  hod- 

5  ily  desires  in  purity  and  honor ;  not  in  lustful  passions,  like  the 

6  heathen  who  know  not  God.  Neither  must  any  man  wrong  his 
brother  in  this  matter  by  his  transgression.    All  such  the  Lord  will 

7  punish,  as  I  have  forewarned  you  by  my  solemn  testimony.  For 
God  has  not  called  us  to  a  life  of  uncleanness,  but  his  calling  is  a 

8  holy  calling.  Wherefore,  he  that  despises  these  my  words,  despises 
not  man,  but  God,  who  also  has  given  unto  me  his  Holy  Si)irit. 

9  Concerning  brotherly  love  it  is  needless  that  I  should 

write  to  you;  tor  ye  yourselves  are  taught  ol  God  to  lovt.-,  peace. 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALONIANS. 


325 


10  love  one  another ;  as  you  show  by  your  deeds  towards 
all  the  brethren  throughout  the  whole  of  Macedonia. 

11  I  exhort  you  only,  brethren,  to  abound  still  more.  Seek  peaceful 
quietness,  and  give  yourselves  to  the  concerns  of  your  private  life ; 
let  this  be  your  ambition.    Work  with  your  own  liands  (as  I  com- 

12  manded  you),  for  your  own  support ;  that  the  seemly  order  of  your 
lives  may  be  manifest  to  those  without  the  Church,  and  that  you 
may  need  no  help  from  others. 

13  !Now,  I  desire,  brethren,  to  remove  your  ignorance  Happiness  of 
concerning  those  who  are  asleep,  that  you  may  not  sor-  ^ead.^^^^^'^^" 

14  row  like  other  men,  who  have  no  hope.    For  as  surely 

as  we  believe  that  Jesus  died  and  rose  again,  so  surely  will  God 

15  through  him,  bring  back  those  who  sleep  togetlier  with  Jesus.  This 
I  declare  to  you,  by  the  authority  of  the  Lord,  that  we  who  are  living, 
who  survive  to  behold  the  appearing  of  our  Lord,  shall  not  enter  into 

16  his  presence  sooner  than  the  dead.  For  tlie  Lord  himself  shall  de- 
scend from  heaven  with  the  shout  of  war,  the  archangel's  voice,  and 

17  the  trumpet  of  God;  and  first  the  dead  in  Christ  sliall  arise  to  life; 
then  we  the  living,  who  remain  unto  that  day,  shall  be  caught  up 
with  them  among  the  clouds  to  meet  the  Lord  Jesus  in  the  air ;  and 

18  so  both  we  and  they  shall  be  for  ever  with  the  Lord.  Wherefore 
comfort  one  another  with  these  words. 


1  But  of  the  times  and  seasons,  brethren,  when  these  The  sudden- 
things  shall  be,  you  need  no  warning.    For  yourselves  Joming^a^no- 

2  know  perfectly  that  the  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  lui^esl'^''^*'^' 

3  thief  in  tlie  night ;  and  while  men  say,  Peace  and  safe- 
ty, destruction  shall  come  upon  them  in  a  moment,  as  the  pangs  of 
travail  upon  a  woman  with  child ;  and  there  shall  be  no  escape. 

4  But  you,  brethren,  are  not  in  darkness,  that  that  day  should  come 
upon  you  as  the  robber  on  sleeping  men ;  for  you  are  all  the  cliil- 

5  drcn  of  the  light  and  of  the  day.    We  are  not  of  the  night,  nor  of 

6  darkness;  therefore  let  us  not  sleep  as  do  others,  but  let  us  watth 

7  and  be  sober ;  for  they  who  slumber,  slumber  in  the  night ;  and  they 

8  who  are  drunken,  are  drunken  in  the  night;  but  let  us,  who  are  cf 
the  day,  be  sober ;  arming  ourselves  with  faith  and  love  for  a  breast- 

9  plate;  and  wearing  for  our  helmet  the  hope  of  salvation.    For  to 
obtain  salvation,  not  to  abide  his  wrath,  hatli  God  ordained  us, 

10  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who  died  for  us,  that  whether  we 

11  wake  or  sleep  we  should  live  together  with  him.    Wherefore  ex- 
hort one  another,  and  build  one  another  up,  even  as  you  already  do. 


326  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


12  Moreover  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  to  acknowledge  those  The  presbyters 
who  are  laboring  among  you ;  who  preside  over  you  in  gardecu"^^ 

13  the  Lord's  name,  and  give  you  admonition.    I  beseech 

you  to  esteem  them  very  highly  in  love,  for  their  work's  sake.  And 
maintain  peace  among  yourselves. 

POSTSCRIPT  ADDRESSED  TO  THE  PRESBYTERS. 

1 4  But  you,  brethren,  I  exhort ;  admonish  the  disorder-  i>«ties  of  the 

'  /    ,  presbyters. 

ly,  encourage  the  timid,  support  the  weak,  be  patient 

15  with  all.    Take  heed  that  none  of  you  return  evil  for  evil,  but  strive 

16  to  do  good  always,  both  to  one  another  and  to  all  men.    In  every 

17  season  keep  a  joyful  mind ;  let  nothing  cause  your  prayers  to  cease; 

18  continue  to  give  thanks,  whatever  be  your  lot;  for  this  is  the  will  of 

1 9  God  in  Christ  Jesus  concerning  you.  Quench  not  the  manifestation 
20,21  of  the  Spirit ;  think  not  meanly  of  prophesyings ;  try  all  [which 

22  the  prophets  utter]  ;  reject  the  false,  but  keep  the  good  ;  hold  your- 
selves aloof  from  every  form  of  evil. 

23  Now  may  the  God  of  peace  himself  sanctify  you  concluding 
wholly ;  and  may  your  w^hole  nature,  your  spirit  and  fafuttiions?" 
soul  and  body,  be  preserved  blameless,  when  you  stand 

24  before  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at  his  appearing.    Faithful  is  He  who 
calls  you  ;  he  will  fulfil  my  prayer. 

25,26     Brethren,  pray  for  me.    Greet  all  the  brethren  with  the  kiss  of 

27  holiness."^    I  adjure  you,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus,  to  see  that 
this  letter  be  read  to  all  the  brethren. 

28  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you.  beSediftion!'^ 

The  strong  expressions  used  in  this  letter  concerning  the  malev- 
olence of  the  Jews  lead  us  to  suppose  that  the  apostle  was  think- 
ing not  only  of  their  past  opposition  at  Thessalonica,  but  of  the 

*  ^iXrjfjiaTL  ayiw.  TLis  alludes  to  the  same  custom  which  is  referred  to  ia 
Rom.  xvi.  16;  1  Cor.  xvi.  20;  2  Cor.  xiii.  12.  We  find  a  full  account  of  it, 
as  it  was  practised  in  the  early  Church,  in  the  Apostolical  Constitutions  (book 
ii.  ch.  57).  The  men  and  women  were  placed  in  separate  parts  of  the  build- 
ing  where  they  met  for  worship ;  and  then,  before  receiving  the  holy  com- 
munion, the  men  kissed  the  men,  and  the  women  the  women :  before  the 
the  ceremony,  a  proclamation  was  made  by  the  principal  deacon  :  "  Let  none 
bear  malice  against  any:  let  none  do  it  in  hypocrisy."  Mrj  Kard  nvo^  fxrj 
Tis  ev  VTTOKpicrei,  •  elra  koX  aana^eaOuycrav  dAXi^Aov?  ot  av8p€<;,  koL  a\\-q\a^  al  yttfai/ce?, 
Tb  eV  Kupto)  <l)L\r}tia.  It  should  be  remembered  by  English  readers  that  a  kiss 
was  in  ancient  times  (as,  indeed,  it  is  now  in  many  foreign  countries)  the 
ordinary  mode  of  salutation  between  friends  when  they  met. 


PAUL  TURNS  TO  THE  GENTILES. 


327 


difficulties  with  wliicli  they  were  beginning  to  surround  him  at 
Corinth.  At  the  very  time  of  his  writing  that  same  people  who 
had  "killed  the  Lord  Jesus  and  their  own  prophets,"  and  had 
already  driven  Paul  "  from  city  to  city,"  were  showing  themselves 
"a  people  displeasing  to  God  and  enemies  to  all  mankind"  by 
endeavoring  to  hinder  him  from  speaking  to  the  Gentiles  for  their 
salvation  (1  Thess.  ii.  15,  16).  Such  expressions  would  naturally 
be  used  in  a  letter  written  under  the  circumstances  described  in 
the  Acts  (xviii.  6),  when  the  Jews  were  assuming  the  attitude  of 
an  organized  and  systematic  resistance,  and  assailing  the  apostle 
in  the  language  of  blasphemy,  like  those  who  had  accused  our 
Saviour  of  casting  out  devils  by  Beelzebub. 

Now,  therefore,  the  apostle  left  the  Jews  and  turned  to  the  Gen- 
tiles. He  withdrew  from  his  own  people  with  one  of  those  sym- 
bolical actions  which  in  the  East  have  all  the  expressiveness  of 
language,  and  which,  having  received  the  sanction  of  our  Lord 
himself,  are  equivalent  to  the  denunciation  of  woe.  He  shook 
the  dust  ofi'  his  garments  and  proclaimed  himself  innocent  of  the 
blood  of  those  who  refused  to  listen  to  the  voice  which  offered 
them  salvation.  A  proselyte  whose  name  was  Justus  opened  his 
door  to  the  rejected  apostle,  and  that  house  became  thenceforward 
the  place  of  public  teaching.  While  he  continued  doubtless  to 
lodge  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla  (for  the  Lord  had  said  that  his 
apostle  should  abide  in  the  house  where  the  *'Son  of  Peace"  was) 
he  met  his  flock  in  the  house  of  Justus.  Some  place  convenient 
for  general  meeting  was  evidently  necessary  for  the  continuance 
of  Paul's  work  in  the  cities  where  he  resided.  So  long  as  possible 
it  was  the  synagogue.  When  he  was  exiled  from  the  Jewish  place 
of  worship,  or  unable  from  other  causes  to  attend  it,  it  was  such  a 
place  as  providential  circumstances  might  suggest.  At  Pome  it 
was  his  own  hired  lodging  (Acts  xxviii.  30),  at  Ephesus  it  was  the 
school  of  Tyrannus  (Acts  xix.  9).   Here  at  Corinth  it  was  a  house 

contiguous  to  the  synagogue,"  offered  on  the  emergency  for  the 
apostle's  use  by  one  who  had  listened  and  believed.  It  may  readily 
be  supposed  that  no  convenient  place  could  be  found  in  the  manu- 
factory of  Aquila  and  Priscilla.  There,  too,  in  the  society  of  Jews 
lately  exiled  from  Pome,  he  could  hardly  have  looked  for  a  con- 
gregation of  Gentiles,  whereas  Justus,  being  a  proselyte,  was  ex- 
actly in  a  position  to  receive  under  his  roof  indiscriminately  both 
Hebrews  and  Greeks. 


828         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Special  mention  is  made  of  the  fact  that  the  house  of  Justus 
was  "contiguous  to  the  synagogue."  We  are  not  necessarily  to 
infer  from  this  that  Paul  had  any  deliberate  motive  for  choosing 
that  locality,  though  it  might  be  that  he  would  show  the  Jews,  as 
in  a  visible  symbol,  that  "  by  their  sin  salvation  had  come  to  the 
Gentiles  to  provoke  them  to  jealousy,"  while  at  the  same  time  he 
remained  as  near  to  them  as  possible  to  assure  them  of  his  readi- 
ness to  return  at  the  moment  of  their  repentance.  Whatever  we 
may  surmise  concerning  the  motive  of  this  choice,  certain  conse^ 
quences  must  have  foUowed  from  the  contiguity  of  the  house  and 
the  synagogue,  and  some  incident  resulting  from  it  may  have 
suggested  the  mention  of  the  fact.  The  Jewish  and  Christian 
congregations  would  often  meet  face  to  face  in  the  street,  and  all 
the  success  of  the  gospel  would  become  more  palpable  and  con- 
spicuous. And  even  if  we  leave  out  of  view  such  considerations 
as  these,  there  is  a  certain  interest  attaching  to  any  phrase  which 
tends  to  localize  the  scene  of  apostolical  labors.  When  we  think 
of  events  that  we  have  witnessed,  we  always  reproduce  in  the 
mind,  however  dimly,  some  image  of  the  place  where  the  events 
have  occurred.  This  condition  of  human  thought  is  common  to 
us  and  to  the  apostles.  The  house  of  John's  mother  at  Jerusalem 
(Acts  xii.),  the  proseucha  by  the  water-side  at  Philippi  (Acts 
xvi.),  were  associated  with  many  recollections  in  the  minds  of  the 
earliest  Christians.  And  when  Paul  thought,  even  many  years 
afterward,  of  what  occurred  on  his  first  visit  to  Corinth,  the  images 
before  the  "  inward  eye"  would  be  not  merely  the  general  aspect 
of  the  houses  and  temples  of  Corinth,  with  the  great  citadel  over- 
towering  them,  but  the  synagogue  and  the  house  of  Justus,  the 
incidents  which  happened  in  their  neighborhood,  and  the  gestures 
and  faces  of  those  who  encountered  each  other  in  the  street. 

If  an  interest  is  attached  to  the  places,  a  still  deeper  interest  is 
attached  to  the  persons  referred  to  in  the  history  of  the  planting 
of  the  Church.  In  the  case  of  Corinth  the  names  both  of  individ- 
uals and  families  are  mentioned  in  abundance.  The  name  of 
Epaenetus  is  the  first  that  occurs  to  us,  for  he  seems  to  have  been 
the  earliest  Corinthian  convert.  Paul  himself  speaks  of  him  in 
the  Epistle  to  the  Romans  (xvi.  5)  as  "the  first-fruits  of  Achaia." 
The  same  expression  is  used  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians 
(xvi.  15)  of  the  household  of  Stephanas;  from  which  we  may 
perhaps  infer  that  Epienetus  was  a  member  of  that  household. 


BAPTISM  OF  CRISPUS. 


329 


Another  Christian  of  Corinth  well  worthy  of  the  recollection  of 
the  Church  in  after  ages  w^as  Caius  (1  Cor.  i.  14),  with  whom  Paul 
found  a  home  on  his  next  visit  (Eom.  xvi.  23),  as  he  found  one 
now  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla.  We  may  conjecture,  with  reason, 
that  his  present  host  and  hostess  had  now  given  their  formal  ad- 
herence to  Paul,  and  that  they  left  the  synagogue  with  him.  After 
the  open  schism  had  taken  place  we  find  the  Church  rapidly  in- 
creasing. "Many  of  the  Corintliians  began  to  believe  when  they 
heard,  and  came  to  receive  baptism'^  (Acts  xviii.  8).  We  derive 
some  information  from  PauPs  ow'n  writings  concerning  the  cha- 
racter of  those  who  became  believers.  Not  many  of  the  phil- 
osophers, not  many  of  the  noble  and  powerful  (1  Cor.  i.  26),  but 
many  of  those  who  had  been  profligate  and  degraded  (1  Cor.  vi. 
11),  were  called.  The  ignorant  of  this  world  were  chosen  to  con- 
found the  wise,  and  the  weak  to  confound  the  strong.  From 
Paul's  language  we  infer  that  the  Gentile  converts  were  more 
numerous  than  the  Jewish.  Yet  one  signal  victory  of  the  gospel 
over  Judaism  must  be  mentioned  here — the  conversion  of  Crispus 
(Acts  xviii.  8),  who,  from  his  position  as  ruler  of  the  synagogue,'' 
may  be  presumed  to  have  been  a  man  of  learning  and  high  cha- 
racter, and  who  now,  with  all  his  family,  joined  himself  to  the 
new  community.  His  convei*sion  was  felt  to  be  so  important  that 
the  apostle  deviated  from  his  usual  practice  (1  Cor.  i.  14-16),  and 
baptized  him,  as  well  as  Caius  and  the  household  of  Stephanas, 
with  his  own  hand. 

Such  an  event  as  the  baptism  of  Crispus  must  have  had  a  great 
efifect  in  exasperating  the  Jews  against  Paul.  Their  opposition 
grew  with  his  success.  As  we  approach  the  time  when  the  second 
letter  to  the  Thessalonians  was  w^'itten,  we  find  the  difficulties  of 
his  position  increasing.  In  the  First  Epistle  the  writer's  mind  is 
almost  entirely  occupied  with  the  thought  of  what  might  be  hap- 
j)ening  at  Thessalonica;  in  the  Second  the  remembrance  of  his 
own  pressing  trials  seems  to  mingle  more  conspicuously  with  the 
exhortations  and  warnings  addressed  to  those  who  are  absent. 
He  particularly  asks  for  the  prayers  of  the  Thessalonians,  that  he 
may  be  delivered  from  the  perverse  and  wicked  men  around  him 
who  were  destitute  of  faith.  It  is  evident  that  he  was  in  a  con- 
dition of  fear  and  anxiety.  This  is  further  manifest  from  the 
words  which  were  heard  by  him  in  a  vision  vouchsafed  at  this 
critical  period.    We  have  already  had  occasion  to  observe  that 


330  LIFE  AND  EPISTLJiS  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

such  timely  visitations  were  granted  to  the  apostle  when  he  waa 
most  in  need  of  supernatural  aid.  In  the  present  instance  the 
Lord,  who  spoke  to  him  in  the  night,  gave  him  an  assurance  of 
his  presence  and  a  promise  of  safety,  along  with  a  prophecy  of 
good  success  at  Corinth  and  a  command  to  speak  boldly  without 
fear,  and  not  to  keep  silence.  From  this  we  may  infer  that  his 
faith  in  Christ's  presence  was  failing,  that  fear  was  beginning  to 
produce  hesitation,  and  that  the  work  of  extending  the  gospel  was 
in  danger  of  being  arrested.  The  servant  of  God  received  con- 
scious strength  in  the  moment  of  trial  and  conflict,  and  the  divine 
words  were  fulfilled  in  the  formation  of  a  large  and  flourishing 
Church  at  Corinth,  and  a  safe  and  continued  residence  in  that  city 
through  the  space  of  a  year  and  six  months. 

Not  many  months  of  this  period  had  elapsed  when  Paul  found 
it  necessary  to  write  again  to  the  Thessalonians.  The  excitement 
which  he  had  endeavored  to  allay  by  his  First  Epistle  had  in- 
creased, and  the  fanatical  portion  of  the  Church  had  availed 
themselves  of  the  impression  produced  by  PauPs  personal  teach- 
ing to  increase  it.  It  will  be  remembered  that  a  subject  on  which 
he  had  especially  dwelt  while  he  was  at  Thessalonica,  and  to  which 
he  had  also  alluded  in  his  First  Epistle,  was  the  second  advent  of 
our  Lord.  We  know  that  our  Saviour  himself  had  warned  his  dis- 
ciples that  "  of  that  day  and  that  hour  knoweth  no  man,  no,  not 
the  angels  of  heaven,  but  the  Father  only and  we  find  these 
words  remarkably  fulfilled  by  the  fact  that  the  early  Church,  and 
even  the  apostles  themselves,  expected  their  Lord  to  come  again  in 
that  very  generation.  Paul  himself  shared  in  that  expectation, 
but,  being  under  the  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  he  did  not 
deduce  any  erroneous  conclusions  from  this  mistaken  premise. 
Some  of  his  disciples,  on  the  other  hand,  inferred  that  if  indeed 
the  present  world  were  so  soon  to  come  to  an  end,  it  was  useless  to 
pursue  their  common  earthly  employments  any  longer.  They  for- 
sook their  work  and  gave  themselves  up  to  dreamy  expectations  of 
the  future,  so  that  the  whole  framework  of  society  in  the  Thessa- 
Ionian  Church  was  in  danger  of  dissolution.  Those  who  encouraged 
this  delusion  supported  it  by  imaginary  revelations  of  the  Spirit, 
and  they  even  had  recourse  to  forgery  and  circulated  a  letter  pur- 
porting to  be  written  by  Paul  in  confirmation  of  their  views.  To 
check  this  evil,  Paul  wrote  his  Second  Epistle.  In  this  he  en- 
deavors to  remove  their  present  erroneous  expectations  of  Christ^s 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALONIANS.  331 


immediate  coming  by  reminding  them  of  certain  signs  which  must 
precede  the  second  advent.  He  had  already  told  them  of  these 
signs  when  he  was  with  them  ;  and  this  explains  the  extrer^^^  -ob- 
scurity of  his  description  of  them  in  the  present  Epistle,  for  he  was 
not  giving  new  information,  but  alluding  to  facts  which  he  had 
already  explained  to  them  at  an  earlier  period.  It  would  have 
been  well  if  this  had  been  remembered  by  all  those  who  have 
extracted  such  numerous  and  discordant  prophecies  and  anath- 
emas from  certain  passages  in  the  following  Epistle : 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALONIANS. 

I. 

1  Paul,  and  Silvanus,  and  Timotheus,  to  the  Church  of  salutation, 
the  Thessalonians,  in  the  name  of  God  our  Father, 

2  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Grace  be  to  you,  and  peace,  from  God 
our  Father  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

3  I  am  bound  to  srive  thanks  to  God  continually  on  Encourage- 

°  inent  under 

your  behalf,  brethren,  as  is  fittinar,  because  of  the  their  persecu- 

,  '  .  .        tions  from  the 

abundant  increase  of  your  faith,  and  the  overflowmg  hopeofchrist'a 

coming. 

love  wherewith  you  are  nlled,  every  one  or  you,  to- 

4  wards  each  other.  So  that  I  myself  boast  of  you  among  the 
churches  of  God,  for  your  steadfast  endurance  and  faith,  in  all  the 

5  persecutions  and  afflictions  which  you  now  are  bearing.  And  these 
things  are  a  token  that  the  righteous  judgment  of  God  will  grant 
you  a  share  in  his  heavenly  kingdom,  for  whose  cause  you  are  even 

6  now  suffering.  For  doubtless  God's  righteousness  cannot  but  render 
back  trouble  to  those  who  trouble  you,  and  give  to  you,  who  now  are 

7  troubled,  rest  with  me,  when  the  Lord  Jesus  shall  be  revealed  to  our 
sight,  and  shall  descend  from  heaven  with  the  angels  of  his  might, 

8  in  flames  of  fire,  to  take  vengeance  on  those  who  know  not  God,  and 

9  will  not  hearken  to  the  glad  tidings  of  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Then 
shall  there  go  forth  against  them  from  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  and 
from  the  brightness  of  his  glorious  majesty,  their  righteous  doom, 

10  even  an  everlasting  destruction.  In  that  day  of  his  coming  shall 
the  full  light  of  his  glory  be  manifested  in  his  people,  and  his  won- 
ders beheld  in  all  who  had  faith  in  him ;  and  you  are  of  that  num- 

11  ber,  for  with  faith  you  received  my  testimony.  To  this  end  I  pray 
continually  on  your  behalf,  that  our  God  may  count  you  worthy  of  the 
calling  wherewith  he  has  called  you,  and  may,  in  his  mighty  power, 

12  perfect  within  you  the  love  of  goodness  and  the  work  of  faith.  That 


332  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  may  be  glorified  in  you,  and  that  you 
may  be  glorified  in  him,  in  such  wise  as  may  fitly  answer  to  the 
mercy  of  our  God  and  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

II. 

1  But  concerning  the  appearing  of  our  Lord  Jesus  ^^^^^^.'"^^^ 
Christ,  and  our  ffatherinoj  tocrether  to  meet  him,  I  be-  mediate  ex- 

'  o  o     o  y  pectation  of 

2  seech  you,  brethren,  not  rashly  to  let  yourselves  be  Christ's  coin- 
shaken  from  your  soberness  of  mind,  nor  to  be  agitated 

either  by  any  pretended  revelation  of  the  Spirit,  or  by  any  rumor, 
or  by  any  letter  supposed  to  come  from  me,  saying  that  the  day  of 

3  Christ  is  close  at  hand.  Let  no  one  deceive  you,  by  any  means  ;  for 
before  that  day,  the  falling  away  must  first  have  come,  and  the  man 

4  of  sin  be  revealed,  the  son  of  perdition ;  who  opposes  himself  and 
exalts  himself  against  all  that  is  called  God,  and  against  all  wor- 
ship ;  even  to  seat  himself  in  the  temple  of  God,  and  take  on  himself 

5  openly  the  signs  of  Godhead.    Do  you  not  remember  that  when  I 

6  was  still  with  you,  I  often  told  you  this?  You  know,  therefore,  the 
hinderance  why  he  is  not  yet  revealed,  as  he  will  be  in  his  own  sea- 

7  son.    For  the  mystery  of  lawlessness  is  already  working,  only  he, 

8  who  now  hinders,  will  hinder  till  he  be  taken  out  of  the  way ;  and 
then  the  lawless  one  will  be  revealed,  whom  the  Lord  Jesus  shall 
consume  with  the  breath  of  his  mouth,  and  shall  destroy  with  the 

9  brightness  of  his  appearing.  But  the  appearing  of  that  lawless  one 
shall  be  in  the  strength  of  Satan's  working,  with  all  the  might  and 
signs  and  wonders  of  falsehood,  and  all  the  delusions  of  unrighteous- 

10  ness,  taking  possession  of  those  who  are  in  the  way  of  perdition ;  be- 
cause they  would  not  receive  the  love  of  the  truth,  whereby  they 

11  might  be  saved.    For  this  cause,  God  will  send  upon  them  an  in- 

12  ward  working  of  delusion,  making  them  give  tlieir  faith  to  lies,  that 
all  should  be  condemned  who  have  refuseil  tiieir  faith  to  the  truth, 
and  have  taken  pleasure  in  unrighteousness. 

13  But  for  you,  brethren  beloved  of  the  Lord,  I  am  Ex)»ortation  ti 
bound  to  thank  God  continually,  because  he  chose  you  an,i  ou-dience* 
from  the  first  unto  salvation,  through  sanctitication  of 

14  the  Spirit,  and  faith  in  the  truth.  And  to  this  he  called  you  through 
my  glad  tidings,  to  the  end  that  you  might  obtain  the  glory  of  our 

15  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Therefore,  brethren,  be  steadfast  and  hold  fast 
the  teaching  which  has  been  delivered  to  you,  whether  by  my  words 

16  or  by  my  letters.  And  may  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  himself,  and  our 
God  and  Father,  who  has  loved  us,  and  has  given  us  in  his  mercy  a 
consolation  which  is  eternal,  and  a  hope  which  cannot  fail,  comfort 


SECX5ND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  THESSALONIANS. 


333 


17  your  hearts,  and  establish  you  in  all  goodness  both  of  word  and 
deed. 

III. 

1  Finally,  brethren,  pray  for  me,  that  the  word  of  the       ^^ks  their 

•  '  7  X  7  prayers. 

Lord  Jesus  may  hold  its  onward  course,  and  that  its 

2  glory  may  be  shown  forth  towards  others  as  towards  you  ;  and  that  I 
may  be  delivered  from  the  perverse  and  wicked ;  for  not  all  men 

3  have  faitli.    But  our  Lord  is  faithful,  and  he  will  keep  you  stead- 

4  fast,  and  guard  you  from  evil.  And  I  rely  upon  you  in  the  Lord, 
and  feel  confident  that  you  are  following  and  will  follow  the  charges 

5  w^hich  I  give  you.  And  may  our  Lord  guide  your  hearts  to  the  love 
of  God,  and  to  the  patient  endurance  which  was  in  Christ. 

6  I  charge  you,  brethren,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Je-  Jj^^ '^'"J^^  v\nd 
sus  Christ,  to  withdraw  yourselves  from  every  brother  diligent 'u  f  e, 

.        .  .  appe;ilin»  to 

whose  life  is  disorderly,  and  not  guided  by  the  rules  his  own  exam- 

7  which  I  delivered.    For  you  know  yourselves  the  way  ^ 

to  follow  my  example ;  you  know  that  my  life  among  you  was  not 

8  disorderly;  nor  was  I  fed  by  any  man's  bounty,  but  earned  my 
bread  by  my  own  labor,  toiling  night  and  day,  that  I  might  not  be 

9  burdensome  to  any  of  you.  And  this  I  did,  not  because  I  am  with- 
out the  right  of  being  maintained  by  those  to  whom  I  minister,  but 

10  that  1  might  make  my  own  deeds  a  pattern  for  you  to  imitate.  For 
when  I  was  among  you  I  gave  you  this  rule :  "  If  any  man  will  not 

11  work,  neither  let  him  eat."  I  speak  thus,  because  I  hear  that  some 
among  you  are  leading  a  disorderly  life,  neglecting  their  own  work, 

12  and  meddling  with  that  of  others.  Such,  therefore,  I  charge  and 
exhort,  by  the  authority  of  my  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  live  in  quiet- 
ness and  industry,  and  earn  their  own  bread  by  their  own  labor. 

13  But  you,  brethren,  notwithstanding,  be  not  weary  of  Mode  of  deai- 

,  ^    1  .  1      -r^  ^  ,         ,  .         iug  With  those 

14  domg  good.  If  any  man  refusg  to  obey  the  directions  who  refused 
which  I  send  by  this  letter,  mark  that  man,  and  cease 

from  intercourse  with  him,  that  so  he  may  be  brought  to  shame. 

15  Yet  count  liim  not  as  an  enemy,  but  admonish  him  as  a  brother. 

16  Now  may  the  Lord  of  peace  himself  give  you  peace  in  all  ways 
and  at  all  seasons.    The  Lord  be  with  you  all. 

17  I,  Paul,  add  my  salutation  with  my  own  hand,  An  autograph 

'  '  J  7   postscript  the 

which  is  a  token  whereby  all  my  letters  may  be  known,  f'g"  t>f  genu- 

^  ^  ^      *'  ineness. 

18  These  are  the  characters  in  which  I  write.  The  grace  Concluding 
of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all.  benediction. 

Such  was  the  second  of  the  two  letters  which  Paul  wrote  to 
Thessalouica  during  his  residence  at  Corinth.  Such  was  the  Chris- 


334 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


tian  correspondence  now  established,  in  addition  to  the  political 
and  commercial  correspondence  existing  before,  between  the  two 
capitals  of  Achaia  and  Macedonia.  Along  with  the  official  docu- 
ments which  passed  between  the  governors  of  the  contiguous 
provinces,  and  the  communications  between  the  merchants  of  the 
Northern  and  Western  iEgean,  letters  were  now  sent  which  re- 
lated to  the  establishment  of  a  "kiiigdom  not  of  this  world''  and 
to  "riches''  beyond  the  discovery  of  human  enterprise. 

The  influence  of  great  cities  has  always  been  important  on  the 
wide  movements  of  human  life.  We  see  Paul  diligently  using 
this  influence  during  a  protracted  residence  at  Corinth  for  the 
spreading  and  strengthening  of  the  gospel  in  Achaia  and  beyond. 
As  regards  the  province  of  Achaia,  we  have  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  he  confined  his  activity  to  its  metropolis.  The  expression 
used  by  Luke  need  only  denote  that  it  was  his  head-quarters  or 
general  place  of  residence.  Communication  was  easy  and  frequent 
by  land  or  by  water  with  other  parts  of  the  province.  Two  short 
days'  journey  to  the  south  were  the  Jews  of  Argos,  who  might  be 
to  those  of  Corinth  what  the  Jews  of  Bercea  had  been  to  those  of 
Thessalonia.  About  the  same  distance  to  the  east  was  the  city  of 
Athens,  which  had  been  imperfectly  evangelized  and  could  be 
visited  without  danger.  Within  a  walk  of  a  few  hours,  along  a 
road  busy  with  traffic,  was  the  seaport  of  Cenchrese,  known  to  us 
as  the  residence  of  a  Christian  community.  These  were  the 
"churches  of  God"  (2  Thess.  i.  4)  among  whom  the  apostle 
boasted  of  the  patience  and  the  faith  of  the  Thessalonians — the 
homes  of  "the  saints  in  all  Achaia"  (2  Cor.  i.  1),  saluted  at  a 
later  period,  with  the  Church  of  Corinth,  in  a  letter  written  from 
Macedonia.  These  churches  had  alternately  the  blessings  of  the 
presence  and  the  letters — the  oral  and  the  written  teaching — of 
Paul.  The  former  of  these  blessings  is  now  no  longer  granted  to 
us,  but  those  long  and  wearisome  journeys,  which  withdrew  the 
teacher  so  often  from  his  anxious  converts,  have  resulted  in  our 
possession  of  inspired  Epistles  in  all  their  freshness  and  integrity 
and  with  all  their  lessons  of  wisdom  and  love. 


NOTE. 

There  are  some  difficulties  and  differences  of  opinion  with  re- 
gard to  the  movements  of  Silas  and  Timotheus  between  the  time 


MOVEMENTS  OF  SILAS  AND  TIMOTHEUS. 


335 


when  Paul  left  them  in  Macedonia  and  their  rejoining  him  in 
Achaia. 

The  facts  which  are  distinctly  stated  are  as  follows:  (1)  Silas  and 
Timotheus  were  left  at  Bercea  (Acts  xviii.  14)  when  Paul  went  to 
Athens.  We  are  not  told  w^hy  they  were  left  there  or  what  commis- 
sions they  received,  but  the  apostle  sent  a  message  from  Athens  (Acts 
xviii.  15)  that  they  should  follow  him  w^ith  all  speed,  and  (Acts 
xviii.  16)  he  waited  for  them  there.  (2)  The  apostle  was  rejoined 
by  them  when  at  Corinth  (Acts  xviii.  5).  We  are  not  informed 
how  they  had  been  employed  in  the  interval,  but  they  came  "  from 
Macedonia.''  It  is  not  distinctly  said  that  they  came  together,  but 
the  impression  at  first  sight  is  that  they  did.  (3)  Paul  himself  in- 
forms us  (1  Thess.  iii.  1)  that  he  was  "left  in  ^  'hens  alone,"  and 
that  this  solitude  Avas  in  consequence  of  TimrCv  having  been  sent 
to  Thessalonica  (1  Thess.  iii.  2).  Though  it  is  i^;,L  expressly  stated 
that  Timothy  was  sent  from  Athens,  the  first  impression  is  that  he 
w^as. 

Thus  there  is  a  seeming  discrepancy  between  the  Acts  and  Epis- 
tles, a  journey  of  Timotheus  to  Athens,  previous  to  his  arrival  with 
Silas  and  Timotheus  at  Corinth,  appearing  to  be  mentioned  by  Paul 
and  to  be  quite  unnoticed  by  Luke. 

Paley,  in  the  Horcz  Paulinw,  says  that  the  Epistle  "  virtually 
asserts  that  Timothy  came  to  the  apostle  at  Athens,"  and  assumes 
that  it  is  "necessary  "  to  suppose  this  in  order  to  reconcile  the  his- 
tory with  the  Epistle.  And  he  points  out  three  intimations  in  the 
history  which  make  the  arrival,  though  not  expressly  mentioned, 
extremely  probable :  first,  the  message  that  they  should  come  with 
all  speed ;  secondly,  the  fact  of  his  v/aiting  for  them  ;  thirdly,  the 
absence  of  any  appearance  of  haste  in  his  departure  from  Athens 
to  Corinth.  "  Paul  had  ordered  Timothy  to  follow  him  without 
delay :  he  waited  at  Athens  on  purpose  that  Timothy  might  come 
up  with  him,  and  he  stayed  there  as  long  as  his  own  choice  led  him 
to  continue." 

This  explanation  is  satisfactory.  But  two  others  might  be  sug- 
gested which  would  equally  remove  the  difficulty. 

It  is  not  expressly  said  that  Timotheus  was  sent  from  Afhais  to 
Thessalonica.  Paul  was  anxious,  as  we  have  seen,  to  revisit  the 
Thessalonians,  but  since  he  was  hindered  from  doing  so,  it  is  highly 
probable  (as  Hemsen  and  Wieseler  suppose)  that  he  may  have 
sent  Timotheus  to  them  from  Bercea,    Silas  might  be  sent  on  some 


S36  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

similar  commission,  and  this  would  explain  why  the  two  com- 
panions were  left  behind  in  Macedonia.  This  would  necessarily 
cause  Paul  to  be  "  left  alone  in  Athens/'  Such  solitude  was  doubt- 
less painful  to  him,  but  the  spiritual  good  of  the  new  converts  was 
at  stake.  The  two  companions,  after  finishing  the  work  entrusted 
to  them,  finally  rejoined  the  apostle  at  Corinth.  That  he  "waited 
for  them"  at  Athens  need  cause  us  no  difficulty,  for  in  those  days 
the  arrival  of  travellers  could  not  confidently  be  known  before- 
hand. When  he  left  Athens  and  proceeded  to  Corinth,  he  knew 
that  Silas  and  Timotheus  could  easily  ascertain  his  movements 
and  follow  his  steps  by  help  of  information  obtained  at  the  syn- 
agogue. 

But,  again,  we  may  reasonably  suppose  that  in  the  course  of 
Paul's  stay  at  Corinth  he  may  have  paid  a  second  visit  to  Athens, 
after  the  first  arrival  of  Timotheus  and  Silas  from  Macedonia,  and 
that  during  some  such  visit  he  may  have  sent  Timotheus  to  Thes- 
salonica.  This  view  may  be  taken  without  our  supposing,  with 
Bottger,  that  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians  was  written  at 
Athens.  Schrader  and  others  imagine  a  visit  to  that  city  at  a  later 
period  of  his  life,  but  this  view  cannot  be  admitted  without  derang- 
ing the  arguments  for  the  date  of  1  Thess.,  which  was  evidently 
written  soon  after  leaving  Macedonia. 

Two  further  remarks  may  be  added:  (1)  If  Timothy  did  rejoin 
Paul  at  Athens,  w^e  need  not  infer  that  Silas  was  not  with  him 
from  the  fact  that  the  name  of  Silas  is  not  mentioned.  It  is 
usually  taken  for  granted  that  the  second  arrival  of  Timothy  (1 
Thess.  iii.  6)  is  identical  with  the  coming  of  Silas  and  Timotheus 
to  Corinth  (Acts  xviii.  5) ;  but  here  we  see  that  only  Timothy  is 
mentioned,  doubtless  because  he  was  most  recently  and  familiarly 
known  at  Thessalonica,  and  perhaps  also  because  the  mission  of 
Silas  was  to  some  other  place.  (2)  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  not 
necessary  to  assume,  because  Silas  and  Timotheus  are  mentioned 
together  (Acts  xviii.  5),  that  they  came  together.  All  conditions 
are  satisfied  if  they  came  about  the  same  time.  If  they  were  sent 
on  missions  to  two  different  places,  the  times  of  their  return  would 
not  necessarily  coincide.  In  considering  all  these  journeys  it  is 
very  needful  to  take  into  account  that  they  would  be  modified  by 
the  settled  or  unsettled  state  of  the  country  with  regard  to  banditti, 
and  by  the  various  opportunities  of  travelling,  which  depend  on 
the  season  and  the  weather  and  the  sailing  of  vessels. 


CHAPTER  XII. 


THE  ISTHMUS. — EARLY  HISTOHY  OF  CORINTH. — ITS  TRADE  AND 
WEALTH. —  CORINTH  UNDER  THE  ROMANS. —  PROVINCE  OF 
ACHAIA. — GALLIC  THE  GOVERNOR.— TUMULT  AT  CORINTH. — 
CENCHRE^. — VOYAGE  BY  EPHESUS  TO  C^SAREA. — VISIT  TO 
JERUSALEM. — ANTIOCH. 

Now  that  we  have  entered  upon  the  first  part  of  the  long  series  of 
PauPs  letters,  we  seem  to  be  arrived  at  a  new  stage  of  the  apostle's 
biography.  The  materials  for  a  more  intimate  knowledge  are  before 
us.  More  life  is  given  to  the  picture.  We  have  advanced  from 
the  field  of  geographical  description  and  general  history  to  the 
higher  interest  of  personal  detail.  Even  such  details  as  relate  to 
the  writing  materials  employed  in  the  Epistles  and  the  mode  in 
which  they  were  transmitted  from  city  to  city — all  stages  in  the 
history  of  an  apostolic  letter,  from  the  hand  of  the  amanuensis 
who  wrote  from  the  author's  inspired  dictation  to  the  opening  and 
reading  of  the  document  in  the  public  assembly  of  the  Church  to 
which  it  was  addressed — have  a  sacred  claim  on  the  Christian's 
attention.  For  the  present  we  must  defer  the  examination  of  such 
particulars.  We  remain  with  the  apostle  himself,  instead  of  follow- 
ing the  journey  of  his  letters  to  Thessalonica  and  tracing  the  effects 
which  the  last  of  them  produced.  We  have  before  us  a  protracted 
residence  in  Corinth,  a  voyage  by  sea  to  Syria,  and  a  journey  by 
land  from  Antioch  to  Ephesus,  before  we  come  to  the  next  group 
of  the  apostle's  letters. 

We  must  linger  first  for  a  time  in  Corinth,  the  great  city,  where 
he  stayed  a  longer  time  than  at  any  other  point  on  his  previous 
journeys,  and  from  which,  or  to  which,  the  most  important  of  his 
Epistles  were  written.  And,  according  to  the  plan  we  have  hitherto 
observed,  we  proceed  to  elucidate  its  geographical  position  and  the 
principal  stages  of  its  history. 

The  isthmus  is  the  most  remarkable  feature  in  the  geography  of 
Greece,  and  the  peculiar  relation  which  it  established  between  the 
22  337 


338  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

land  and  the  water^  and  between  the  Morea  and  the  continent, 
had  the  utmost  effect  on  the  whole  course  of  the  history  of  Greece. 
When  we  were  considering  the  topography  and  aspect  of  Athens 
all  the  associations  which  surrounded  us  were  Athenian.  Here  at 
the  isthmus  we  are,  as  it  were,  at  the  centre  of  the  activity  of  the 
Greek  race  in  general.  It  has  the  closest  connection  with  all  their 
most  important  movements,  both  military  and  commercial. 

In  all  the  periods  of  Greek  history,  from  the  earliest  to  the  latest, 
we  see  the  military  importance  of  the  isthmus.  The  phrase  of 
Pindar  is  that  it  was  ^'  the  bridge  of  the  sea."  It  formed  the  only 
line  of  march  for  an  invading  or  retreating  army.  Xenophon 
speaks  of  it  as  "  the  gate  of  the  Peloponnesus,"  the  closing  of 
which  would  make  all  ingress  and  egress  impossible.  And  we  find 
that  it  was  closed  at  various  times  by  being  fortified  and  refortified 
by  a  wall,  some  traces  of  which  remain  to  the  present  day.  In  the 
Persian  war,  when  consternation  was  spread  amongst  the  Greeks 
by  the  death  of  Leonidas,  the  wall  was  first  built.  In  the  Pelopon- 
nesian  war,  when  the  Greeks  turned  fratricidal  arms  against  each 
other,  the  isthmus  was  often  the  point  of  the  conflict  between  the 
Athenians  and  their  enemies.  In  the  time  of  the  Theban  supre- 
macy the  wall  again  appears  as  a  fortified  line  from  sea  to  sea. 
When  Greece  became  Eoman  the  provincial  arrangements  neutral- 
ized, for  a  time,  the  military  importance  of  the  isthmus.  But  when 
the  barbarians  poured  in  from  the  North  like  the  Persians  of  old, 
its  wall  was  repaired  by  Valerian.  Again  it  was  rebuilt  by  Justi- 
nian, who  fortified  it  with  a  hundred  and  fifty  towers.  And  we 
trace  its  history  through  the  later  period  of  the  Venetian  power 
in  the  Levant,  from  the  vast  works  of  1463  to  the  peace  of  1699, 
when  it  was  made  the  boundary  of  the  territories  of  the  republic. 

Conspicuous,  both  in  connection  with  the  military  defences  of 
the  isthmus  and  in  the  prominent  features  of  its  scenery,  is  the 
AcrocorinthuSy  or  citadel  of  Corinth,  which  rises  in  form  and 
abruptness  like  the  rock  of  Dumbarton.  But  this  comparison  is 
quite  inadequate  to  express  the  magnitude  of  the  Corinthian  cita- 
del. It  is  elevated  two  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea ; 
it  throws  a  vast  shadow  across  the  plain  at  its  base ;  the  ascent  is 
a  journey  involving  some  fatigue;  and  the  space  of  ground  on  the 
summit  is  so  extensive  that  it  contained  a  whole  town,  which 
under  the  Turkish  dominion  had  several  mosques.  Yet,  notwith- 
standing its  colossal  dimensions,  its  sides  are  so  precipitous  that  a 


IMPORTANCE  OF  CORINTH. 


339 


few  soldiers  are  enough  to  guard  it.  The  possession  of  this  fortress 
has  been  the  object  of  repeated  struggles  in  the  latest  wars  between 
the  Turks  and  the  Greeks,  and  again  between  the  Turks  and  the 
Venetians.  It  was  said  to  Philip,  when  he  wished  to  acquire 
possession  of  the  Morea,  that  the  Acrocorinthus  was  one  of  the 
horns  he  must  seize  in  order  to  secure  the  heifer.  Thus,  Corinth 
might  well  be  called  "the  eye  of  Greece''  in  a  military  sense,  as 
Athens  has  often  been  so  called  in  another  sense.  If  the  rock  of 
Minerva  was  the  Acropolis  of  the  Athenian  people,  the  mountain 
of  the  isthmus  was  truly  named  "  the  Acropolis  of  the  Greeks.'' 

It  will  readily  be  imagined  that  the  view  from  the  summit  is 
magnificent  and  extensive.  A  sea  is  on  either  hand.  Across  that 
which  lies  on  the  east  a  clear  sight  is  obtained  of  the  Acropolis 
of  Athens,  at  a  distance  of  forty-five  miles.  The  mountains  of 
Attica  and  Boeotia  and  the  islands  of  the  Archipelago  close  the 
prospect  in  this  direction.  Beyond  the  w^estern  sea,  which  flows 
from  the  Adriatic,  are  the  large  masses  of  the  mountains  of 
North-eastern  Greece,  with  Parnassus  towering  above  Delphi. 
Immediately  beneath  us  is  the  narrow  plain  which  separates  the 
seas.  The  city  itself  is  on  a  small  table-land  of  no  great  elevation 
connected  with  the  northern  base  of  the  Acrocorinthus.  At  the 
edge  of  the  lower  level  are  the  harbors  which  made  Corinth  the 
emporium  of  the  richest  trade  of  the  East  and  the  West. 

We  are  thus  brought  to  that  which  is  really  the  characteristic 
both  of  Corinthian  geography  and  Corinthian  history — its  close 
relation  to  the  commerce  of  the  Mediterranean.  Plutarch  says 
that  there  was  a  want  of  good  harbors  in  Achaia,  and  Strabo 
speaks  of  the  circumnavigation  of  the  Morea  as  dangerous.  Cape 
Malea  was  proverbially  formidable,  and  held  the  same  relation  to 
the  voyages  of  ancient  days  which  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  does 
to  our  own.  Thus,  a  narrow  and  level  isthmus,  across  which 
smaller  vessels  could  be  dragged  from  gulf  to  gulf,  was  of  inesti- 
mable value  to  the  early  traders  of  the  Levant.  And  the  two 
harbors  which  received  the  ships  of  a  more  maturely-developed 
trade — Cenchrese  on  the  eastern  sea  and  Lechceum  on  the 
western — with  a  third  and  smaller  port,  called  Schoenus,  where 
the  isthmus  was  narrowest,  form  an  essential  part  of  our  idea  of 
Corinth.  Its  common  title  in  the  poets  is  the  cifv  of  the  two 
seas."  It  is  allegorically  represented  in  art  as  a  fema^  figure  on 
a  rock  between  two  other  figures,  each  of  whom  bears  rudder, 


340 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


the  symbol  of  navigation  and  trade.  It  is  the  same  image  which 
appears  under  another  form  in  the  words  of  the  rhetorician,  who 
said  that  it  was  "the  prow  and  the  stern  of  Greece." 

As  we  noticed  above  a  continuous  fortress  which  was  carried 
across  the  isthmus,  in  connection  with  its  military  history,  so  here 
we  have  to  mention  another  continuous  work  which  was  attempted 
in  connection  with  its  mercantile  history.  This  was  the  ship-canal, 
which,  after  being  often  projected,  was  about  to  be  begun  again 
about  the  very  time  of  Paul's  visit.  Parallels  often  suggest  them- 
selves between  the  relation  of  the  parts  of  the  Mediterranean  to 
each  other  and  those  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  for  the  basins  of 
the  "  Midland  Sea were  to  the  Greek  and  Eoman  trade  what  the 
oceanic  spaces  are  to  ours.  And  it  is  difficult,  in  speaking  of  a 
visit  to  the  isthmus  of  Corinth  in  the  year  52 — which  only  pre- 
ceded by  a  short  interval  the  work  of  Nero's  engineers — not  to  be 
reminded  of  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  during  the  active  progress 
of  an  undertaking  often  projected,  but  never  yet  carried  into  effect. 

There  is  this  difference,  however,  between  the  oceanic  and  the 
Mediterranean  isthmus,  that  one  of  the  great  cities  of  the  ancient 
world  always  existed  at  the  latter.  What  some  future  Darien  may 
be  destined  to  become  we  cannot  prophesy,  but  at  a  very  early  date 
we  find  Corinth  celebrated  by  the  poets  for  its  wealth.  This  wealth 
must  inevitably  have  grown  up  from  its  mercantile  relations,  even 
without  reference  to  its  two  seas,  if  we  attend  to  the  fact  on  which 
Thucydides  laid  stress,  that  it  was  the  place  through  which  all 
ingress  and  egress  took  place  between  Northern  and  Southern 
Greece  before  the  development  of  commerce  by  water.  But  it  was 
its  conspicuous  position  on  the  narrow  neck  of  land  between  the 
jEgean  and  Ionian  seas  which  was  the  main  cause  of  its  commer- 
cial greatness.  The  construction  of  the  ship  Argo  is  assigned  by 
mythology  to  Corinth.  The  Samians  obtained  their  shipbuilders 
from  her.  The  first  Greek  triremes,  the  first  Greek  sea-fights,  are 
connected  with  her  history.  Neptune  was  her  god.  Her  colonies 
were  spread  over  distant  coasts  in  the  East  and  West,  and  ships 
came  from  every  sea  to  her  harbors.  Thus  she  became  the  com- 
mon resort  and  the  universal  market  of  the  Greeks.  Her  popula- 
tion and  wealth  were  further  augmented  by  the  manufactures  in 
metallurgy,  dyeing,  and  porcelain  which  grew  up  in  connection 
with  the  import  and  export  of  goods.  And  at  periodical  intervals 
Che  crowding  of  her  streets  and  the  activity  of  her  trade  received 


CORINTH  UNDER  THE  ROMANS. 


341 


a  new  impulse  from  the  strangers  who  flocked  to  the  Isthmian 
games — a  subject  to  which  our  attention  will  be  often  called  here- 
after, but  which  must  be  passed  over  here  with  a  simple  allusion. 
If  we  add  all  these  particulars  together,  we  see  ample  reason  why 
the  wealth,  luxury,  and  profligacy  of  Corinth  were  proverbial  in 
the  ancient  world. 

In  passing  from  the  fortunes  of  the  earlier  or  Greek  Corinth  to 
its  history  under  the  Komans,  the  first  scene  that  meets  us  is  one 
of  disaster  and  ruin.  The  destruction  of  this  city  by  Mummius, 
about  the  same  time  that  Carthage  was  destroyed  by  Scipio,  was  so 
complete  that,  like  its  previous  wealth,  it  passed  into  a  proverb. 
Its  works  of  skill  and  luxury  were  destroyed  or  carried  away. 
Polybius  the  historian  saw  Eoman  soldiers  playing  at  draughts  on 
the  pictures  of  famous  artists,  and  the  exhibition  of  vases  and 
statues  that  decorated  the  triumph  of  the  Capitol  introduced  a  new 
era  in  the  habits  of  the  Eomans.  Meanwhile,  the  very  place  of 
the  city  from  which  these  works  were  taken  remained  desolate  for 
many  years.  The  honor  of  presiding  over  the  Isthmian  games  was 
given  to  Sicyon,  and  Corinth  ceased  even  to  be  a  resting-place  of 
travellers  between  the  East  and  the  West.  But  a  new  Corinth  rose 
from  the  ashes  of  the  old.  Julius  Caesar,  recognizing  the  import- 
ance of  the  isthmus  as  a  military  and  mercantile  position,  sent 
thither  a  colony  of  Italians,  who  were  chiefly  freedmen.  This  new 
establishment  rapidly  increased  by  the  mere  force  of  its  position. 
Within  a  few  years  it  grew,  as  Singapore  has  grown  in  our  days, 
from  nothing  to  an  enormous  city.  The  Greek  merchants  who  had 
fled  on  the  Eoman  conquest  to  Delos  and  the  neighboring  coasts 
returned  to  their  former  home.  The  Jews  settled  themselves  in  a 
place  most  convenient  both  for  the  business  of  commerce  and  for 
communication  with  Jerusalem.  Thus,  when  Paul  arrived  at 
Corinth  after  his  sojourn  at  Athens  he  found  himself  in  the  midst 
of  a  numerous  population  of  Greeks  and  Jews.  They  were  prob- 
ably far  more  numerous  than  the  Eomans,  though  the  city  had 
the  constitution  of  a  colony  and  was  the  metropolis  oi ?i  province. 

It  is  commonly  assumed  that  Greece  was  constituted  as  a  prov- 
ince under  the  name  of  Achaia  when  Corinth  was  destroyed  by 
Mummius.  But  this  appears  to  be  a  mistake  There  seems  to 
have  been  an  intermediate  period  during  which  the  country  had  a 
nominal  independence,  as  was  the  case  with  the  contiguous  prov- 
ince of  Macedonia.    The  description  which  has  been  given  of  the 


342  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

political  limits  of  Macedonia  (Chap.  IX.)  defines  equally  tlie  ex- 
tent of  Achaia.  It  was  bounded  on  all  other  sides  by  the  sea,  and 
was  nearly  coextensive  with  the  kingdom  of  modern  Greece.  The 
name  of  Achaia  was  given  to  it  in  consequence  of  the  part  played 
by  the  Achaean  League  in  the  last  independent  struggles  of  ancient 
Greece,  and  Corinth,  the  head  of  that  league,  became  the  metrop- 
olis. The  province  experienced  changes  of  government  such  as 
those  which  have  been  alluded  to  in  the  case  of  Cyprus.  At  first 
it  was  proconsular.  Afterward  it  was  placed  by  Tiberius  under  a 
procurator  of  his  own.  But  in  the  reign  of  Claudius  it  was  again 
reckoned  among  the  "  unarmed  provinces,"  and  governed  by  a 
proconsul. 

One  of  the  proconsuls  who  were  sent  out  to  govern  the  province 
of  Achaia  in  the  course  of  PauFs  second  missionary  journey  was 
Gallio.  His  original  name  was  Annseus  Novatus,  and  he  was  the 
brother  of  Annseus  Seneca  the  philosopher.  The  name  under 
which  he  is  known  to  us  in  sacred  and  secular  history  was  due  to 
his  adoption  into  the  family  of  Junius  Gallio  the  rhetorician. 
The  time  of  his  government  at  Corinth,  as  indicated  by  the  sacred 
historian,  must  be  placed  between  the  years  52  and  54,  if  the  dates 
we  have  assigned  to  Paul's  movements  be  correct.  We  have  no 
exact  information  on  this  subject  from  any  secular  source,  nor  is 
he  mentioned  by  any  heathen  writer  as  having  been  proconsul  of 
Achaia.  But  there  are  some  incidental  notices  of  his  life  which 
give  rather  a  curious  confirmation  of  what  is  advanced  above. 
We  are  informed  by  Tacitus  and  Dio  that  he  died  in  the  year  65 ; 
Pliny  says  that  after  his  consulship  he  had  a  serious  illness,  for  the 
removal  of  which  he  tried  a  sea- voyage;  and  from  Seneca  we 
learn  that  it  w^as  in  Achaia  that  his  brother  went  on  shipboard  for 
the  benefit  of  his  health.  If  we  knew  the  year  of  Gallio's  consul- 
ship, our  chronological  result  would  be  brought  within  narrow 
limits.  We  do  not  possess  this  information,  but  it  has  been  rea- 
sonably conjectured  that  his  promotion,  if  not  due  to  his  brother's 
influence,  would  be  subsequent  to  the  year  49,  in  which  the  phil- 
osopher returned  from  his  exile  in  Corsica  and  had  the  youthful 
Nero  placed  under  his  tuition.  The  interval  of  time  thus  marked 
out  between  the  restoration  of  Seneca  and  the  death  of  Gallio  in- 
cludes the  narrower  period  assigned  by  Luke  to  the  proconsulate 
in  Achaia. 

The  coming  of  a  new  governor  to  a  province  was  an  event  of 


GALLIC  THE  GOVERNOR. 


843 


great  importance.  The  whole  system  of  administration,  the  gen- 
eral prosperity,  the  state  of  political  parties,  the  relative  position 
of  different  sections  of  the  population,  were  necessarily  affected  by 
his  personal  character.  The  provincials  were  miserable  or  happy 
according  as  a  Yerres  or  a  Cicero  was  sent  from  Eome.  As  re- 
gards the  personal  character  of  Gallio,  the  inference  we  should 
naturally  draw  from  the  words  of  Luke  closely  corresponds  with 
what  we  are  told  by  Seneca.  His  brother  speaks  of  him  with 
singular  affection,  not  only  as  a  man  of  integrity  and  honesty,  but 
as  one  who  won  universal  regard  by  his  amiable  temper  and 
popular  manners.  His  conduct  on  the  occasion  of  the  tumult  at 
Corinth  is  quite  in  harmony  with  a  character  so  described.  He 
did  not  allow  himself,  like  Pilate,  to  be  led  into  injustice  by  the 
clamor  of  the  Jews,  and  yet  he  overlooked  with  easy  indifference 
an  outbreak  of  violence  which  a  sterner  and  more  imperious  gov- 
ernor would  at  once  have  arrested. 

The  details  of  this  transaction  were  as  follows :  The  Jews, 
anxious  to  profit  by  a  change  of  administration,  and  perhaps 
encouraged  by  the  well-known  compliance  of  Gallio's  character, 
took  an  early  opportunity  of  accusing  Paul  before  him.  They 
had  already  set  themselves  in  battle-array  against  him,  and  the 
coming  of  the  new  governor  was  the  signal  for  a  general  attack. 
It  is  quite  evident  that  the  act  was  preconcerted  and  the  occasion 
chosen.  Making  use  of  the  privileges  they  enjoyed  as  a  separate 
community,  and  well  aware  that  the  exercise  of  their  worship  was 
protected  by  the  Roman  state,  they  accused  Paul  of  violating  their 
own  religious  Law.  They  seem  to  have  thought,  if  this  violation 
of  Jewish  Law  could  be  proved,  that  Paul  would  become  amenable 
to  the  criminal  law  of  the  empire;  or  perhaps  they  hoped,  as 
afterward  at  Jerusalem,  that  he  would  be  given  up  into  their 
hands  for  punishment.  Had  Gallio  been  like  Festus  or  Felix, 
this  might  easily  have  happened,  and  then  Paul's  natural  resource 
would  have  been  to  appeal  to  the  emperor  on  the  ground  of  his 
citizenship.  But  the  appointed  time  of  his  visit  to  Rome  was  not 
yet  come,  and  the  continuance  of  his  missionary  labors  was  secured 
by  the  character  of  the  governor  who  was  providentially  sent  at 
this  time  to  manage  the  affairs  of  Achaia. 

The  scene  is  set  before  us  by  Luke  with  some  details  which  give 
us  a  vivid  notion  of  what  took  place.  Gallio  is  seated  on  that 
proconsular  chair  from  which  judicial  sentences  were  pronounced 


344          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


by  the  Eoman  magistrates.  To  this  we  must  doubtless  add  the 
other  insignia  of  Koman  power  which  were  suitable  to  a  colony 
and  the  metropolis  of  a  province.  Before  this  heathen  authority 
the  Jews  are  preferring  their  accusation  with  eager  clamor.  Their 
chief  speaker  is  Sosthenes,  the  successor  of  Crispus  or  (it  may  be) 
the  ruler  of  another  synagogue.  The  Greeks  are  standing  round, 
eager  to  hear  the  result  and  to  learn  something  of  the  new 
governor's  character,  and  at  the  same  time  hating  the  Jews  and 
ready  to  be  the  partisans  of  Paul.  At  the  moment  when  the  apos- 
tle is  "  about  to  open  his  mouth  "  Gallio  will  not  even  hear  his 
defence,  but  pronounces  a  decided  and  peremptory  judgment. 

His  answer  was  that  of  a  man  who  knew  the  limits  of  his  office, 
and  felt  that  he  had  no  time  to  waste  on  the  religious  technicalities 
of  the  Jews.  Had  it  been  a  case  in  which  the  Eoman  law  had 
been  violated  by  any  breach  of  the  peace  or  any  act  of  dishonesty, 
then  it  would  have  been  reasonable  and  right  that  the  matter 
should  have  been  fully  investigated ;  but  since  it  was  only  a  ques- 
tion of  the  Jewish  Law,  relating  to  the  disputes  of  Hebrew 
superstition  and  to  names  of  no  public  interest,  he  utterly  refused 
to  attend  to  it.  They  might  excommunicate  the  offender  or  inflict 
on  him  any  of  their  ecclesiastical  punishments,  but  he  would  not 
meddle  with  trifling  quarrels  which  were  beyond  his  jurisdiction. 
And  without  further  delay  he  drove  the  Jews  away  from  before 
his  judicial  chair. 

The  effect  of  this  proceeding  must  have  been  to  produce  the 
utmost  rage  and  disappointment  among  the  Jews.  With  the 
Greeks  and  other  bystanders  the  result  was  very  different.  Their 
dislike  of  a  superstitious  and  misanthropic  nation  was  gratified. 
They  held  the  forbearance  of  Gallio  as  a  proof  that  their  own 
religious  liberties  would  be  respected  under  the  new  administration, 
and  with  the  disorderly  impulse  of  a  mob  which  has  been  kept  for 
some  time  in  suspense  they  rushed  upon  the  ruler  of  the  syna- 
gogue and  beat  him  in  the  very  presence  of  the  proconsular 
tribunal.  Meanwhile,  Gallio  took  no  notice  of  the  injurious 
punishment  thus  inflicted  on  the  Jews,  and  with  characteristic 
indifference  left  Sosthenes  to  his  fate. 

Thus  the  accusers  were  themselves  involved  in  disgrace,  Gallio 
obtained  a  high  popularity  among  the  Greeks,  and  Paul  was 
enabled  to  pursue  his  labors  in  safety.  Had  he  been  driven  away 
from  Corinth,  the  whole  Christian  community  of  the  place  might 


Paul's  departure  from  corintpi. 


345 


have  been  placed  in  jeopardy.  But  the  result  of  the  storm  was  to 
give  shelter  to  the  infant  Church,  with  opportunity  of  safe  and 
continued  growth.  As  regards  the  apostle  himself,  his  credit  rose 
with  the  disgrace  of  his  opponents.  So  far  as  he  might  afterward 
be  noticed  by  the  Eoman  governor  or  the  Greek  inhabitants  of  the 
city,  he  would  be  regarded  as  an  injured  man.  As  his  own  discre- 
tion had  given  advantage  to  the  holy  cause  at  Philippi  by  involv- 
ing his  opponents  in  blame,  so  here  the  most  imminent  peril  was 
providentially  turned  into  safety  and  honor. 

Thus  the  assurance  communicated  in  the  vision  was  abundantly 
fulfilled.  Though  bitter  enemies  had  ^'set  on"  Paul  (Acts  xviii. 
10),  no  one  had  hurt him.  The  Lord  had  been  "  with  him 
and  "  much  people "  had  been  gathered  into  his  Church.  At 
length  the  time  came  when  the  apostle  deemed  it  right  to  leave 
Achaia  and  revisit  Judoea,  induced  (as  it  would  appear)  by  a  mo- 
tive which  often  guided  his  journeys — the  desire  to  be  present  at 
the  great  gathering  of  the  Jews  at  one  of  their  festivals,  and 
possibly  also  influenced  by  the  movements  of  Aquilaand  Priscilla, 
who  were  about  to  proceed  from  Corinth  to  Ephesus.  Before  his 
departure  he  took  a  solemn  farewell  of  the  assembled  Church. 
How  touching  Paul's  farewells  must  have  been,  especially  after  a 
protracted  residence  among  his  brethren  and  disciples,  we  may 
infer  from  the  affectionate  language  of  his  letters ;  and  one  speci- 
men is  given  to  us  of  these  parting  addresses  in  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles.  From  the  words  spoken  at  Miletus  (Acts  xx.)  we  may 
learn  what  was  said  and  felt  at  Corinth.  He  could  tell  his  disci- 
ples here,  as  he  told  them  there,  that  he  had  taught  them  "  publicly 
and  from  house  to  house;  that  he  was  "pure  from  the  blood  of  all 
men ;  "  that  by  the  space  of  a  year  and  a  half  he  had  "  not  ceased 
to  warn  every  one  night  and  day  with  tears."  And  doubtless  ho 
forewarned  them  of  ^'grievous  wolves  entering  in  among  them,  of 
men  speaking  perverse  things  arising  of  themselves,  to  draw  away 
disciples  after  them."  And  he  could  appeal  to  them,  with  the 
emphatic  gesture  of those  hands^^  which  had  labored  at  Corinth, 
in  proof  that  he  had  "  coveted  no  man's  gold  or  silver,"  and  in 
confirmation  of  the  Lord's  words  that  "it  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive."  Thus  he  departed,  with  prayers  and  tears,  from 
those  who  "accompanied  him  to  the  ship"  with  many  misgivings 
lhat  they  might  "  see  his  face  no  more." 

The  three  points  on  the  coast  to  which  our  attention  is  called  in 


346  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

the  brief  notice  of  this  voyage  contained  in  the  Acts  are  Cenchreae, 
the  harbor  of  Corinth;  Ephesus,  on  the  western  shore  of  Asia 
Minor ;  and  Caesarea  Stratonis,  in  Palestine.  More  suitable  occa- 
sions will  be  found  hereafter  for  descriptions  of  Csesarea  and  Ephe- 
sus.  The  present  seems  to  require  a  few  words  to  be  said  concern- 
ing Cenchreae. 

After  descending  from  the  low  table-land  on  which  Corinth  was 
situated,  the  road  which  connected  the  city  with  its  eastern  harbor 
extended  a  distance  of  eight  or  nine  miles  across  the  isthmian 
plain.  Cenchrea3  has  fallen  with  Corinth,  but  the  name  still  re- 
mains to  mark  the  place  of  the  port,  which  once  commanded  a 
large  trade  with  Alexandria  and  Antioch,  with  Ephesus  and  Thes- 
salonica,  and  the  other  cities  of  the  ^gean.  That  it  was  a  town 
of  some  magnitude  may  be  inferred  from  the  attention  which  Pau- 
sanias  devotes  to  it  in  the  description  of  the  environs  of  Corinth; 
and  both  its  mercantile  character  and  the  pains  which  had  been 
taken  in  its  embellishment  are  well  symbolized  in  a  coin  which 
represents  the  port  with  a  temple  on  each  enclosing  promontory, 
and  a  statue  of  Neptune  on  a  rock  between  them. 

From  this  port  Paul  began  his  voyage  to  Syria.  But  before  the 
vessel  sailed  one  of  his  companions  performed  a  religious  ceremony 
which  must  not  be  unnoticed,  since  it  is  mentioned  in  Scripture. 
Aquila  had  bound  himself  by  one  of  those  vows  which  the  Jews 
often  voluntarily  took,  even  when  in  foreign  countries,  in  conse- 
quence of  some  mercy  received  or  some  deliverance  from  danger, 
or  some  other  occurrence  which  had  produced  a  deep  religious  im- 
pression on  the  mind.  The  obligations  of  these  vows  were  similar 
to  those  in  the  case  of  Nazarites  as  regards  abstinence  from  strong 
drinks  and  legal  pollutions  and  the  wearing  of  the  hair  uncut  till 
the  close  of  a  definite  length  of  time.  Aquila  could  not  be  liter- 
ally  a  Nazarite,  for  in  the  case  of  that  greater  vow  the  cutting  of 
the  hair,  which  denoted  that  the  legal  time  was  expired,  could 
only  take  place  at  the  temple  in  Jerusalem,  or  at  least  in  Judcea. 
In  this  case  the  ceremony  was  performed  at  Cenchreae.  Huve 
Aquila — who  had  been  for  some  time  conspicuous,  even  amoiig 
the  Jews  and  Christians  at  Corinth,  for  the  long  hair  which  denoted 
that  he  was  under  a  peculiar  religious  restriction — came  to  the 
close  of  the  period  of  obligation,  and  before  accompanying  the 
apostle  to  Ephesus  laid  aside  the  tokens  of  his  vow. 

From  Corinth  to  Ephesus  the  voyage  was  among  the  islands  of 


VOYAGE  ACROSS  THE  ^GEAN. 


347 


the  Greek  Archipelago.  The  isles  of  Greece,  and  the  waters 
which  break  on  their  shores  or  rest  among  them  in  spaces  of  calm 
repose,  always  present  themselves  to  the  mind  as  the  scenes  of 
interesting  voyages,  whether  we  think  of  the  stories  of  early  legend 
or  the  stirring  life  of  classical  times,  of  the  Crusades  in  the  Middle 
Ages  or  of  the  movements  of  modern  travellers,  some  of  whom  sel- 
dom reflect  that  the  land  and  the  water  round  them  were  hallowed 
by  the  presence  and  labors  of  Paul.  One  great  purpose  of  this 
book  will  be  gained  if  it  tends  to  associate  the  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles with  the  coasts  which  are  already  touched  by  so  many  other 
historical  recollections. 

No  voyage  across  the  ^^^gean  was  more  frequently  made  than 
that  between  Corinth  and  Ephesus.  They  were  the  capitals  of  the 
two  flourishing  and  peaceful  provinces  of  Achaia  and  Asia,  and 
the  two  great  mercantile  towns  on  the  opposite  sides  of  the  sea.  If 
resemblances  may  be  again  suggested  between  the  ocean  and  the 
Mediterranean,  and  between  ancient  and  modern  times,  we  may 
say  that  the  relation  of  these  cities  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Greeks  to  each  other  was  like  that  between  New  York  and  Liver- 
pool. Even  the  time  taken  up  by  the  voyages  constitutes  a  point 
of  resemblance.  Cicero  says  that  on  his  eastward  passage,  which 
was  considered  a  long  one,  he  spent  fifteen  days,  and  that  his 
return  was  accomplished  in  thirteen. 

A  fair  wind  in  much  shorter  time  than  either  thirteen  or  fifteen 
days  would  take  the  apostle  across  from  Corinth  to  the  city  on  the 
other  side  of  the  sea.  It  seems  that  the  vessel  was  bound  for  Syria, 
and  stayed  only  a  short  time  in  harbor  at  Ephesus.  Aquila  and 
Priscilla  remained  there  while  he  proceeded.  But  even  during  the 
short  interval  of  his  stay  Paul  made  a  visit  to  his  Jewish  fellow- 
countrymen,  and  (the  sabbath  being  probably  one  of  the  days 
during  which  he  remained)  he  held  a  discussion  with  them  in  the 
synagogue  concerning  Christianity.  Their  curiosity  was  excited 
by  what  they  heard,  as  it  had  been  at  Antioch  in  Pisidia ;  and 
perhaps  that  curiosity  would  have  speedily  been  succeeded  by 
opposition  if  their  visitor  had  stayed  longer  among  them.  But  he 
was  not  able  to  grant  the  request  which  they  urgently  made.  He 
was  anxious  to  attend  the  approaching  festival  at  Jerusalem,  and 
had  he  not  proceeded  with  the  ship  this  might  have  been  impos- 
sible. He  was  so  far,  however,  encouraged  by  the  opening  which 
he  saw  that  he  left  the  Ephesian  Jews  with  a  promise  of  his  re- 


348 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


turn.  This  promise  was  limited  by  an  expression  of  that  depend- 
ence on  the  Divine  Will  which  is  characteristic  of  a  Christian's 
life,  whether  his  vocation  be  to  the  labors  of  an  apostle  or  to 
the  routine  of  ordinary  toil.  We  shall  see  that  Paul's  promisie 
was  literally  fulfilled  when  we  come  to  pursue  his  progress  on  his 
third  missionary  circuit. 

The  voyage  to  Syria  lay  first  by  the  coasts  and  islands  of  the 
^gean  to  Cos  and  Cnidus,  which  are  mentioned  on  subsequent 
voyages,  and  then  across  the  open  sea  by  Khodes  and  Cyprus  to 
Caesarea.  This  city  has  the  closest  connection  with  some  of  the 
most  memorable  events  of  early  Christianity.  We  have  already 
had  occasion  to  mention  it  in  alluding  to  Peter  and  the  baptism 
of  the  first  Gentile  convert.  We  shall  afterward  be  required  to 
make  it  the  subject  of  a  more  elaborate  notice  when  we  arrive  at 
the  imprisonment  which  was  suffered  by  Paul  under  two  successive 
Roman  governors.  The  country  was  now  no  longer  under  native 
kings.  Ten  years  had  elapsed  since  the  death  of  Herod  Agrippa, 
the  last  event  alluded  to  (Chap.  IV.)  in  connection  with  Csesarea. 
Felix  had  been  for  some  years  already  procurator  of  Judaea.  If 
the  aspect  of  the  country  had  become  in  any  degree  more  national 
under  the  reign  of  the  Herods,  it  had  now  resumed  all  the  appear- 
ance of  a  Eoman  province.  Csesarea  was  its  military  capital,  as 
it  was  the  harbor  by  which  it  was  approached  by  all  travellers 
from  the  West.  From  this  city  roads  had  been  made  to  the  Egyp- 
tian frontier  on  the  south,  and  northward  along  the  coast,  by 
Ptolemais,  Tyre,  and  Sidon,  to  Antiocli,  as  well  as  across  the  in- 
terior, by  Neapolis  or  Antipatris,  to  Jerusalem  and  the  Jordan. 

The  journey  from  Csesarea  to  Jerusalem  is  related  by  Luke  in  a 
single  word.  No  information  is  given  concerning  the  incidents 
which  occurred  there:  no  meetings  with  other  apostles,  no  con- 
troversies on  disputed  points  of  doctrine,  are  recorded  or  inferred. 
We  are  not  even  sure  that  Paul  arrived  in  time  for  the  festival  at 
which  he  desired  to  be  present.  The  contrary  seems  rather  to  be 
inferred,  for  he  is  said  simply  to  have  "saluted  the  Church,'^  and 
then  to  have  proceeded  to  Antioch.  It  is  useless  to  attempt  to  draw 
aside  the  veil  which  conceals  the  particulars  of  this  visit  of  Paul 
of  Tarsus  to  the  city  of  his  forefathers.  As  if  it  were  no  longer  in- 
tended that  we  should  view  the  Church  in  connection  with  the 
centre  of  Judaism,  our  thoughts  are  turned  immediately  to  that 
other  city  where  the  name  "  Christian"  was  first  conferred  on  it. 


Paul's  last  visit  to  antioch. 


349 


From  Jerusalem  to  Antioch  it  is  likely  that  the  journey  was 
accomplished  by  land.  It  is  the  last  time  we  shall  have  occasion 
to  mention  a  road  which  was  often  traversed,  at  different  seasons 
of  the  year,  by  Paul  and  his  companions.  Two  of  the  journeys 
along  this  Phoenician  coast  have  been  long  ago  mentioned.  Many 
years  had  intervened  since  the  ciiari table  mission  which  brought 
relief  from  Syria  to  the  poor  in  Judaea  (Chap.  IV.),  and  since  the 
meeting  of  the  council  at  Jerusalem  and  the  joyful  return  at  a 
time  of  anxious  controversy  (Chap.  VII.).  When  we  allude  to 
these  previous  visits  to  the  Holy  City,  we  feel  how  widely  the 
Church  of  Christ  had  been  extended  in  the  space  of  very  few  years. 
The  course  of  our  narrative  is  rapidly  carrying  us  from  the  East 
towards  the  West.  We  are  now  for  the  last  time  on  this  part  of 
the  Asiatic  shore.  For  a  moment  the  associations  which  surround 
us  are  all  of  the  primeval  past.  The  monuments  which  still  remain 
along  this  coast  remind  us  of  the  ancient  Phoenician  power  and  of 
Baal  and  Ashtaroth,  or  of  the  Assyrian  conquerors  who  came  from 
the  Euphrates  to  the  West,  and  have  left  forms  like  those  in  the 
palaces  of  Nineveh  sculptured  on  the  rocks  of  the  Mediterranean, 
rather  than  of  anything  connected  with  the  history  of  Greece  and 
Kome.  The  mountains  which  rise  above  our  heads  belong  to  the 
characteristic  imagery  of  the  Old  Testament ;  the  cedars  are  those 
of  the  forests  which  were  hewn  by  the  workmen  of  Hiram  and 
Solomon ;  the  torrents  which  cross  the  road  are  the  waters  from 
"  the  sides  of  Lebanon.''  But  we  are  taking  our  last  view  of  this 
scenery,  and  as  we  leave  it  we  feel  that  we  are  passing  from  the 
Jewish  infancy  of  the  Christian  Church  to  its  wider  expansion 
among  the  heathen. 

Once  before  we  had  occasion  to  remark  that  the  Church  had  no 
longer  now  its  central  point  in  Jerusalem,  but  in  Antioch,  a  city 
of  the  Gentiles.  The  progress  of  events  now  carries  us  still  more 
remotely  from  the  land  which  was  first  visited  by  the  tidings  of 
salvation.  The  world  through  which  our  narrative  takes  us  begins 
to  be  European  rather  than  Asiatic.  So  far  as  we  know,  the  present 
visit  which  Paul  paid  to  Antioch  was  his  last.  We  have  already 
seen  how  new  centres  of  Christian  life  had  been  established  by  him 
in  the  Greek  cities  of  the  ^gean.  The  course  of  the  gospel  is 
farther  and  farther  towards  the  West,  and  the  inspired  part  of  the 
apostle's  biography,  after  a  short  period  of  deep  interest  in  Judaea 
finally  centres  in  Rome. 


UHAPTEK  XIII. 


THE  SPIRITUAL  GIFTS,  CONSTITUTION,  OEDINANCES,  DIVISIONS, 
AND  HEEESTES  OF  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH  IN  THE  LIFE- 
TIME OF  PAUL. 

We  are  now  arrived  at  a  point  in  PauVs  history  when  it  seems 
needful  for  the  full  understanding  of  the  remainder  of  his  career, 
and  especially  of  his  Epistles,  to  give  some  description  of  the  in- 
ternal condition  of  those  churches  which  looked  to  him  as  their 
father  in  the  faith.  Nearly  all  of  these  had  now  been  founded, 
and  regarding  the  early  development  of  several  of  them  we  have 
considerable  information  from  his  letters  to  them  and  from  other 
sources.  This  information  we  shall  now  endeavor  to  bring  into  one 
general  view,  and  in  so  doing  (since  the  Pauline  churches  were 
only  particular  portions  of  the  universal  Church)  we  shall  neces- 
sarily have  to  consider  the  distinctive  peculiarities  and  internal 
condition  of  the  primitive  Church  generally  as  it  existed  in  the 
time  of  the  apostles. 

The  feature  which  most  immediately  forces  itself  upon  our  notice 
as  distinctive  of  the  Church  in  the  apostolic  age  is  its  possession 
of  supernatural  gifts.  Concerning  these,  our  whole  information 
must  be  derived  from  Scripture,  because  they  appear  to  have 
vanished  with  the  disappearance  of  the  apostles  themselves,  and 
there  is  no  authentic  account  of  their  existence  in  the  Ctiurch  in 
any  writings  of  a  later  date  than  the  books  of  the  New  Testament. 
This  fact  gives  a  more  remarkable  and  impressive  character  to  the 
frequent  mention  of  them  in  the  writings  of  the  apostles,  where 
the  exercise  of  such  gifts  is  spoken  of  as  a  matter  of  ordinary 
occurrence.  Indeed,  this  is  so  much  the  case  that  these  miraculous 
powers  are  not  even  mentioned  by  the  apostolic  writers  as  a  class 
apart  (as  we  should  now  consider  them),  but  are  joined  in  the  same 
classification  with  other  gifts  which  we  are  wont  to  term  natural 
endowments  or  "talents."  Thus,  Paul  tells  us  (1  Cor.  xii.  11)  that 
all  these  charisms  or  spiritual  gifts  were  wrought  by  one  and  th© 
350 


SPIRITUAL  GIFTS  IN  THE  CHURCH. 


351 


same  Spirit,  who  distributed  them  to  each  severally  according  to 
his  own  will;  and  among  these  he  classes  the  gift  of  healing  and 
the  gift  of  tongues,  as  falling  under  the  same  category  with  the 
talent  for  administrative  usefulness  and  the  faculty  of  government. 
But  though  we  learn  from  this  to  refer  the  ordinary  natural  endow- 
ments of  men,  not  less  than  the  supernatural  powers  bestowed  in 
the  apostolic  age,  to  a  divine  source,  yet  since  we  are  treating  of 
that  which  gave  a  distinctive  character  to  the  apostolic  Church,  it 
is  desirable  that  we  should  make  a  division  between  the  two  classes 
of  gifts,  the  extraordinary  and  the  ordinary,  although  this  division 
was  not  made  by  the  apostles  at  the  time  when  both  kinds  of  gifts 
were  in  ordinary  exercise. 

The  most  striking  manifestation  of  divine  interposition  was  the 
power  of  working  what  are  commonly  called  miracles — that  is, 
changes  in  the  usual  operation  of  the  laws  of  Nature.  This  power 
was  exercised  by  Paul  himself  very  frequently  (as  we  know  from 
the  narrative  in  the  Acts),  as  well  as  by  the  other  apostles,  and  in 
the  Epistles  we  find  repeated  allusions  to  its  exercise  by  ordinary 
Christians.  As  examples  of  the  operation  of  this  power  we  need 
only  refer  to  Paul's  raising  Eutychus  from  the  dead,  his  striking 
Ely  mas  with  blindness,  his  healing  the  sick  at  Ephesus,  and  his 
curing  the  father  of  Publius  at  Melita. 

The  last-mentioned  examples  are  instances  of  the  exercise  of 
the  gift  of  healing^  which  was  a  peculiar  branch  of  the  gift  of  mir- 
acles, and  sometimes  apparently  possessed  by  those  who  had  not 
the  higher  gift.  The  source  of  all  these  miraculous  powers  was 
the  charism  of  faith — namely,  that  peculiar  kind  of  wonder-work- 
ing faith  spoken  of  in  Matt.  xvii.  20, 1  Cor.  xii.  9  and  xiii.  2,  which 
consisted  in  an  intense  belief  that  all  obstacles  would  vanish  before 
the  power  given ;  this  must  of  course  be  distinguished  from  that 
disposition  of  faith  which  is  essential  to  the  Christian  life. 

We  have  remarked  that  the  exercise  of  these  miraculous  powers 
is  spoken  of  both  in  the  Acts  and  Epistles  as  a  matter  of  ordinary 
occurrence  and  in  that  tone  of  quiet  (and  often  incidental)  allusion 
in  which  we  mention  the  facts  of  our  daily  life.  And  this  is  the 
case,  not  in  a  narrative  of  events  long  past  (where  unintentional 
exaggeration  might  be  supposed  to  have  crept  in),  but  in  the  nar- 
rative of  a  contemporary  writing  immediately  after  the  occurrence 
of  the  events  which  he  records  and  of  which  he  was  an  eye-witness ; 
and  yet  further,  this  phenomenon  occurs  in  letters  whicji  speak  of 


352  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


those  miracles  as  wrought  in  the  daily  sight  of  the  readers  ad- 
dressed. Now,  the  question  forced  upon  every  intelligent  mind  is, 
Whether  such  a  phenomenon  can  be  explained  except  by  the  as- 
sumption that  the  miracles  did  really  happen  ?  Is  this  assumption 
more  difficult  than  that  of  Hume  (which  has  been  revived  with  an 
air  of  novelty  by  modern  infidels),  who  cuts  the  knot  by  assuming 
that  whenever  we  meet  with  an  account  of  a  miracle  it  is,  ipso  facto , 
to  be  rejected  as  incredible,  no  matter  by  what  weight  of  evidence 
it  may  be  supported  ? 

Besides  the  power  of  working  miracles,  other  supernatural  gifts 
of  a  less  extraordinary  character  were  bestowed  upon  the  early 
Church ;  the  most  important  were  the  gift  of  tongues  and  the  gift 
of  prophecy.  With  regard  to  the  former  there  is  much  difficulty, 
from  the  notices  of  it  in  Scripture,  in  fully  comprehending  its 
nature.  But  from  the  passages  where  it  is  mentioned  we  may 
gather  thus  much  concerning  it:  Fii^st,  that  it  was  not  a  knowledge 
of  foreign  languages,  as  is  often  supposed ;  we  never  read  of  its 
being  exercised  for  the  conversion  of  foreign  nations  nor  (except 
on  the  day  of  Pentecost  alone)  for  that  of  individual  foreigners ; 
and  even  on  that  occasion  the  foreigners  present  were  all  Jewish 
proselytes,  and  most  of  them  understood  the  Hellenistic  dialect. 
Secondly,  we  learn  that  this  gift  was  the  result  of  a  sudden  influx 
of  supernatural  inspiration,  which  came  upon  the  new  believer 
immediately  after  his  baptism,  and  recurred  afterward  at  uncertain 
intervals.  Timidly,  we  find  that  while  under  its  influence  the  ex- 
ercise of  the  understanding  was  suspended,  while  the  spirit  was 
rapt  into  a  state  of  ecstasy  by  the  immediate  communication  of  the 
Spirit  of  God.  In  this  ecstatic  trance  the  believer  was  constrained 
by  an  irresistible  power  to  pour  forth  his  feelings  of  thanksgiving 
and  rapture  in  words,  yet  the  words  which  issued  from  his  mouth 
were  not  his  own;  he  was  even  (usually)  ignorant  of  their  meaning; 
they  were  the  words  of  some  foreign  language,  and  not  intelligible 
to  the  bystanders,  unless  some  of  these  chanced  to  be  natives  of  the 
country  where  the  language  was  spoken.  Paul  desired  that  those 
who  possessed  this  gift  should  not  be  suffered  to  exercise  it  in  the 
congregation,  unless  some  one  present  possessed  another  gift  (sub- 
sidiary to  this)  called  the  ^^interpretation  of  tongues,^^  by  which  the 
ecstatic  utterance  of  the  former  might  be  rendered  available  for 
general  edification.  Another  gift  also  was  needful  for  the  check- 
ing of  false  pretensions  to  this  and  some  other  charisms — viz.  the 


NATURAL  ENDOWMENTS  OF  THE  CONVERTS.  353 

gift  of  discerning  of  spirits,  the  recipients  of  which  could  distin- 
guish between  the  real  and  the  imaginary  possessors  of  spiritual 
gifts. 

From  the  gift  of  tongues  we  pass,  by  a  natural  transition,  to  the 
gift  of  prophecij.  It  is  needless  to  remark  that  in  the  scriptural 
sense  of  the  term  di  prophet  does  not  mean  2,  foreteller  of  future  events, 
but  a  revealer  of  God's  will  to  man,  though  the  latter  sense  may  (and 
sometimes  does)  include  the  former.  So  the  gift  of  prophecy  was 
that  charism  which  enabled  its  possessors  to  utter,  with  the  au- 
thority of  inspiration,  divine  strains  of  warning,  exhortation,  en- 
couragement, or  rebuke,  and  to  teach  and  enforce  the  truths  of 
Christianity  with  supernatural  energy  and  effect.  The  wide  dif- 
fusion among  the  members  of  the  Church  of  this  prophetical  inspi- 
ration was  a  circumstance  which  is  mentioned  by  Peter  as  distinc- 
tive of  the  gospel  dispensation;  in  fact,  we  find  that  in  the  family 
of  Philip  the  evangelist  alone  there  were  four  daughters  who  ex- 
ercised this  gift ;  and  the  general  possession  of  it  is  in  like  manner 
implied  by  the  directions  of  Paul  to  the  Corinthians.  The  latter 
apostle  describes  the  marvellous  effect  of  the  inspired  addresses 
thus  spoken.  He  looks  upon  the  gift  of  prophecy  as  one  of  the 
great  instruments  for  the  conversion  of  unbelievers,  and  far  more 
serviceable  in  this  respect  than  the  gift  of  tongues,  although  by 
some  of  the  new  converts  it  was  not  so  highly  esteemed,  because 
it  seemed  less  strange  and  wonderful. 

Thus  far,  we  have  mentioned  the  extraordinary  gifts  of  the  Spirit 
which  were  vouchsafed  to  the  Church  of  that  age  alone ;  yet  (as 
we  have  before  said)  there  was  no  strong  line  of  division,  no 
"  great  gulf  fixed,''  between  these  and  what  we  now  should  call 
the  ordinary  gifts  or  natural  endowments  of  the  Christian  con- 
verts. Thus,  the  gift  of  prophecy  cannot  easily  be  separated  by 
any  accurate  demarcation  from  another  charism  often  mentioned 
in  Scripture  which  we  should  now  consider  an  ordinary  talent — 
namely,  the  gift  of  teaching.  The  distinction  between  them 
appears  to  have  been  that  the  latter  was  more  habitually  and 
constantly  exercised  by  its  possessors  than  the  former :  we  are  not 
to  suppose,  however,  that  it  was  necessarily  given  to  different 
persons;  on  the  contrary,  an  access  of  divine  inspiration  might  at 
any  moment  cause  the  teacher  to  speak  as  a  prophet ;  and  this  was 
constantly  exemplified  in  the  case  of  the  apostles,  who  exercised 
the  gift  of  prophecy  for  the  conversion  of  their  unbelieving 
23 


354 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


hearers,  and  the  gift  of  teaching  for  the  building  up  of  their 
converts  in  the  faith. 

Other  gifts  specially  mentioned  as  charisms  are  the  gift  of 
government  and  the  gift  of  ministration.  By  the  former  certain 
persons  were  specially  fitted  to  preside  over  the  Church  and  regu- 
late its  internal  order ;  by  the  latter  its  possessors  were  enabled  to 
minister  to  the  wants  of  their  brethren,  to  manage  the  distribution 
of  relief  among  the  poorer  members  of  the  Church,  to  tend  the 
sick,  and  carry  out  other  practical  works  of  piety. 

The  mention  of  these  latter  charisms  leads  us  naturally  to  con- 
sider the  offices  which  at  that  time  existed  in  the  Church,  to  which 
the  possessors  of  these  gifts  were  severally  called  according  as  the 
endowment  which  they  had  received  fitted  them  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  the  respective  functions.  We  will  endeavor,  therefore, 
to  give  an  outline  of  the  constitution  and  government  of  the 
primitive  Christian  churches  as  they  existed  in  the  time  of  the 
apostles,  so  far  as  we  can  ascertain  them  from  the  information 
supplied  to  us  in  the  New  Testament. 

Amongst  the  several  classifications  which  are  there  given  of 
church  officers,  the  most  important  (from  its  relation  to  subsequent 
ecclesiastical  history)  is  that  by  which  they  are  divided  into 
apostles,  presbyters,  and  deacons.  The  monarchical  or  (as  it  would 
be  now  called)  the  episcopal  element  of  church  government  w\as, 
in  this  first  period,  supplied  by  the  authority  of  the  apostles.  This 
title  was  probably  at  first  confined  to  "the  Twelve,"  who  were 
immediately  nominated  tO'  their  office  (with  the  exception  of 
Matthias)  by  our  Lord  himself.  To  this  body  the  title  was  limited 
by  the  Judaizing  section  of  the  Church ;  but  Paul  vindicated  his 
own  claim  to  the  apostolic  name  and  authority  as  resting  upon  the 
same  commission  given  him  by  the  same  Lord,  and  his  companion, 
Luke,  applies  the  name  to  Barnabas  also.  In  a  lower  sense,  the 
term  was  applied  to  all  the  more  eminent  Christian  teachers;  as, 
for  example,  to  Andronicus  and  Junias.  And  it  was  also  some- 
times used  in  its  simple  etymological  sense  of  emissary,  which  had 
not  yet  been  lost  in  its  other  and  more  technical  meaning.  Still, 
those  only  were  called  emphatically  the  apostles  who  had  received 
their  commission  from  Christ  himself,  including  the  eleven  who 
had  been  chosen  by  him  while  on  earth,  with  Matthias  and  Paul, 
who  had  been  selected  for  the  office  by  their  Lord  (though  ip 
different  ways)  after  his  ascension. 


THE  POWERS  OF  THE  APOSTLES. 


355 


In  saying  that  the  apostles  embodied  that  element  in  church 
government  which  has  since  been  represented  by  episcopacy  we 
must  not,  however,  be  understood  to  mean  that  the  power  of  the 
apostles  was  subject  to  those  limitations  to  which  the  authority  of 
bishops  has  always  been  subjected.  The  primitive  bishop  was 
surrounded  by  his  council  of  presbyters,  and  took  no  important 
step  without  their  sanction ;  but  this  was  far  from  being  the  case 
with  the  apostles.  They  were  appointed  by  Christ  himself,  with 
absolute  power  to  govern  his  Church ;  to  them  he  had  given  the 
keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  with  authority  to  admit  or  to  ex- 
clude ;  they  were  also  guided  by  his  perpetual  inspiration,  so  that 
all  their  moral  and  religious  teaching  was  absolutely  and  infallibly 
true ;  they  were  empowered  by  their  solemn  denunciations  of  evil 
and  their  inspired  judgments  on  all  moral  questions  to  bind  and 
to  loose,  to  remit  and  to  retain  the  sins  of  men.  This  was  the 
essential  peculiarity  of  their  office,  which  can  find  no  parallel  in 
the  after  history  of  the  Church.  But,  so  far  as  their  function 
was  to  govern,  they  represented  the  monarchical  element  in  the 
constitution  of  the  early  Church,  and  their  power  was  a  full 
counterpoise  to  that  democratic  tendency  which  has  sometimes 
been  attributed  to  the  ecclesiastical  arrangements  of  the  apostolic 
period.  Another  peculiarity  which  distinguishes  them  from  all 
subsequent  rulers  of  the  Church  is,  that  they  were  not  limited  to 
a  sphere  of  action  defined  by  geographical  boundaries  ;  the  whole 
world  was  their  diocese,  and  they  bore  the  glad  tidings  east  or 
west,  north  or  south,  as  the  Holy  Spirit  might  direct  their  course 
at  the  time,  and  governed  the  churches  which  they  founded 
wherever  they  might  be  placed.  Moreover,  those  charisms  which 
were  possessed  by  other  Christians  singly  and  severally  were  col- 
lectively given  to  the  apostles,  because  all  were  needed  for  their 
work.  The  gift  of  miracles  was  bestowed  upon  them  in  abundant 
measure,  that  they  might  strike  terror  into  the  adversaries  of  the 
truth,  and  win  by  outward  wonders  the  attention  of  thousands 
whose  minds  were  closed  by  ignorance  against  the  inward  and  the 
spiritual.  They  had  the  gift  of  prophecy  as  the  very  characteristic 
of  their  office,  for  it  was  their  especial  commission  to  reveal  the 
truth  of  God  to  man;  they  were  consoled  in  the  midst  of  their 
labors  by  heavenly  visions,  and  rapt  in  supernatural  ecstasies  in 
which  they  "  spake  in  tongues,''  "  to  God  and  not  to  man.''  They 
had  the  '^gift  of  governments^  for  that  which  came  upon  them  daily 


356  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

was  "the  care  of  all  the  churches;"  the  gift  of  teaching fov' 
they  must  build  up  their  converts  in  the  faith;  even  the  gift  of 
ministration^^  was  not  unneeded  by  them,  nor  did  they  think  it 
beneath  them  to  undertake  the  humblest  offices  of  a  deacon  for  the 
good  of  the  Church.  When  needful,  they  could  "serve  tables*' 
and  collect  alms  and  work  with  their  own  hands  at  mechanical 
trades,  "that  so  laboring  they  might  support  the  weak,"  inasmuch 
as  they  were  the  servants  of  Him  who  came  not  to  be  ministered 
unto,  but  to  minister. 

Of  the  offices  concerned  with  church  government,  the  next  in 
rank  to  that  of  the  apostles  was  the  office  of  overseers  or  elders, 
more  usually  known  (by  their  Greek  designations)  as  bishops  or 
presbyters.  These  terms  are  used  in  the  New  Testament  as  equiv- 
alent, the  former  [kniano'iTog)  denoting  (as  its  meaning  of  overseer 
implies)  the  duties,  the  latter  (Trpeapyrepog)  the  rank,  of  the  office. 
The  history  of  the  Church  leaves  us  no  room  for  doubt  that  on  the 
death  of  the  apostles,  or  perhaps  at  an  earlier  period  (and  in  either 
case  by  their  directions),  one  amongst  the  presbyters  of  each 
church  was  selected  to  preside  over  the  rest,  and  to  him  was 
applied  emphatically  the  title  of  the  bishop  or  overseer  which 
had  previously  belonged  equally  to  all ;  thus  he  became  in  reality 
(what  he  was  sometimes  called)  the  successor  of  the  apostles,  as 
exercising  (though  in  a  lower  degree)  that  function  of  government 
which  had  formerly  belonged  to  them.  But  in  speaking  of  this 
change  we  are  anticipating,  for  at  the  time  of  which  we  are  now 
writing,  at  the  foundation  of  the  Gentile  churches,  the  apostles 
themselves  were  the  chief  governors  of  the  Church,  and  the  pres- 
byters of  each  particular  society  were  co-ordinate  with  one  another. 
We  find  that  they  existed  at  an  early  period  in  Jerusalem,  and 
likewise  that  they  were  appointed  by  the  apostles  upon  the  first 
formation  of  a  church  in  every  city.  The  same  name,  "elder," 
was  attached  to  an  office  of  a  corresponding  nature  in  the  Jewish 
synagogues,  whence  both  title  and  office  were  probably  derived. 
The  name  of  bishop  was  afterward  given  to  this  office  in  the  Gen- 
tile churches  at  a  somewhat  later  period,  as  expressive  of  its  duties 
and  as  more  familiar  than  the  other  title  to  Greek  ears. 

The  office  of  the  presbyters  was  to  watch  over  the  particular 
church  in  which  they  ministered  in  all  that  regarded  its  external 
order  and  internal  purity ;  they  were  to  instruct  the  ignorant,  to 
exhort  the  faithful,  to  confute  the  gainsayers,  to  "warn  the  unruly, 


THE  ORDER  OF  DEACONS. 


357 


to  comfort  the  feeble-minded,  to  support  the  weak,  to  be  patient 
towards  all."  They  were  "  to  take  heed  to  the  flock  over  which 
the  Holy  Ghost  had  made  them  overseers,  to  feed  the  Church  of 
God  which  he  had  purchased  with  his  own  blood."  In  one  word, 
it  was  their  duty  (as  it  has  been  the  duty  of  all  who  have  been 
called  to  the  same  office  during  the  nineteen  centuries  which  have 
succeeded)  to  promote  to  the  utmost  of  their  ability,  and  by  every 
means  within  their  reach,  the  spiritual  good  of  all  those  committed 
to  their  care. 

The  last  of  the  three  orders,  that  of  deacons,  did  not  take  its 
place  in  the  ecclesiastical  organization  till  towards  the  close  of 
Paul's  life,  or  at  least  this  name  was  not  assigned  to  those  who 
discharged  the  functions  of  the  diaconate  till  a  late  period;  the 
Epistle  to  the  Philippians  being  the  earliest  in  which  the  term 
occurs*  in  its  technical  sense.  In  fact,  the  word  (StaKovog)  occurs 
thirty  times  in  the  New  Testament,  and  only  three  times  (or  at 
most  four)  is  it  used  as  an  official  designation;  in  all  the  other 
passages  it  is  used  in  its  simple  etymological  sense  of  a  ministering 
servant.  It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  too,  that  it  never  occurs  in  the 
Acts  as  the  title  of  those  seven  Hellenistic  Christians  who  are  gen- 
erally (though  improperly)  called  the  seven  deacons,  and  who  were 
only  elected  to  supply  a  temporary  emergency.f  Although  the  title 
of  the  diaconate,  however,  does  not  occur  till  afterward,  the  office 
seems  to  have  existed  from  the  first  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem 
(see  Acts  v.  6,  10) ;  those  who  discharged  its  duties  were  then 
called  the  young  men,  in  contradistinction  to  the  presbyters  or 
elders,  and  it  was  their  duty  to  assist  the  latter  by  discharging  the 
mechanical  services  requisite  for  the  well-being  of  the  Christian 
community.  Gradually,  however,  as  the  Church  increased,  the 
natural  division  of  labor  would  suggest  a  subdivision  of  the  min- 
istrations performed  by  them;  those  which  only  required  bodily 
labor  would  be  entrusted  to  a  less  educated  class  of  servants,  and 

*  In  Rom.  xvi.  1  it  is  applied  to  a  woman  ;  and  we  cannot  confidently  as- 
sert that  it  is  there  used  technically  to  denote  an  office,  especially  as  the  word 
8ta/coi/o?  is  so  constantly  used  in  its  non-technical  sense  of  one  who  ministers 
in  any  way  to  others. 

f  We  observe,  also,  that  when  any  of  the  seven  are  referred  to,  it  is  never 
by  the  title  of  deacon;  thus  Philip  is  called  "the  evangelist"  (Acts  xxi.  8). 
In  fact,  the  office  of  the  seven  was  one  of  much  higher  importance  than  that 
held  by  the  subsequent  deacons. 


358  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

those  which  required  the  work  of  the  head  as  w^ell  as  the  hands 
(such,  for  example,  as  the  distribution  of  alms)  would  form  the 
duties  of  the  deacons;  for  we  may  now  speak  of  them  by  that 
name  which  became  appropriated  to  them  before  the  close  of  the 
apostolic  epoch. 

There  is  not  much  information  given  us  with  regard  to  their 
functions  in  the  New  Testament,  but  from  Paul's  directions  to 
Timothy  concerning  their  qualifications  it  is  evident  that  their  office 
was  one  of  considerable  importance.  He  requires  that  they  should  be 
men  of  grave  character  and  "  not  greedy  of  filthy  lucre,"  the  latter 
qualification  relating  to  their  duty  in  administering  the  charitable 
fund  of  the  Church.  He  desires  that  they  should  not  exercise  the 
office  till  after  their  character  had  been  first  subjected  to  an  exam- 
ination, and  had  been  found  free  from  all  imputation  against  it.  If 
(as  is  reasonable)  w^e  explain  these  intimations  by  what  we  know 
of  the  diaconate  in  the  succeeding  century,  we  may  assume  that 
its  duties  in  the  apostolic  churches  (when  their  organization  was 
complete)  were  to  assist  the  presbyters  in  all  that  concerned  the 
outward  service  of  the  Church  and  in  executing  the  details  of 
those  measures  the  general  plan  of  which  was  organized  by  the 
presbyters.  And  doubtless  those  only  were  selected  for  this  office 
who  had  received  the  gift  of  ministration  [dtaKoviag)  previously 
mentioned. 

It  is  a  disputed  point  whether  there  was  an  order  of  deaconesses 
to  minister  among  the  women  in  the  apostolic  Church ;  the  only 
proof  of  their  existence  is  the  epithet  attached  to  the  name  of 
Phoebe,  which  may  be  otherwise  understood.  At  the  same  time, 
it  must  be  acknowledged  that  the  almost  Oriental  seclusion  in 
which  the  Greek  women  were  kept  would  render  the  institution 
of  such  an  office  not  unnatural  in  the  churches  of  Greece,  as  well 
as  in  those  of  the  East. 

Besides  the  three  orders  of  apostles,  presbyters,  and  deacons,  we 
find  another  classification  of  the  ministry  of  the  Church  in  the 
Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  where  they  are  divided  under  four  heads 
— viz.  1st,  apostles ;  2dly,  prophets ;  3dly,  evangelists  ;  4thly,  pas- 
tors and  teachers.  By  the  fourth  class  we  must  understand  the 
presbyters  to  be  denoted,  and  we  then  have  two  other  names  inter- 
polated between  these  and  the  apostles — viz.  prophets  and  evange- 
lists. By  the  former  we  must  understand  those  on  whom  the  gift 
of  prophecy  was  bestowed  in  such  abundant  measure  as  to  consti- 


MODE  OF  APPOINTMENT  TO  CHURCH  OFFICES.  359 


tute  their  peculiar  characteristic,  and  whose  work  it  was  to  impart 
constantly  to  their  brethren  the  revelations  which  they  received 
from  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  term  evangelist  is  applied  to  those  mis- 
sionaries who,  like  Philip  the  Hellenist  and  Timothy,  travelled 
from  place  to  place  to  bear  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ  to  unbeliev- 
ing nations  or  individuals.  Hence  it  follows  that  the  apostles  were 
all  evangelists,  although  there  were  also  evangelists  who  were  not 
apostles.  It  is  needless  to  add  that  our  modern  use  of  the  word 
evangelist  (as  meaning  writer  of  a  Gospel)  is  of  later  date,  and  has 
no  place  here. 

All  these  classes  of  church  officers  were  maintained  (so  far  as 
they  required  it)  by  the  contributions  of  those  in  whose  service 
they  labored.  Paul  lays  down  in  the  strongest  manner  their  right 
to  such  maintenance,  yet  at  the  same  time  we  find  that  he  very 
rarely  accepted  the  offerings  which,  in  the  exercise  of  this  right, 
he  might  himself  have  claimed.  He  preferred  to  labor  with  his 
own  hands  for  his  own  support,  that  he  might  put  his  disinterested 
motives  beyond  the  possibility  of  suspicion;  and  he  advises  the 
presbyters  of  the  Ephesian  Church  to  follow  his  example  in  this 
respect,  that  so  they  might  be  able  to  contribute  by  their  own  ex- 
ertions to  the  support  of  the  helpless. 

The  mode  of  appointment  to  these  different  offices  varied  with 
the  nature  of  the  office  itself.  The  apostles,  as  we  have  seen,  re- 
ceived their  commission  directly  from  Christ  himself ;  the  prophets 
were  appointed  by  that  inspiration  which  they  received  from  the 
Holy  Spirit,  yet  their  claims  would  be  subjected  to  the  judgment 
of  those  who  had  received  the  gift  of  discernment  of  spirits ;  the 
evangelists  were  sent  on  particular  missions  from  time  to  time  by 
the  Christians  with  whom  they  lived  (but  not  without  a  special 
revelation  of  the  Holy  Spirits  will  to  that  effect),  as  the  Church 
of  Antioch  sent  away  Paul  and  Barnabas  to  evangelize  Cyprus ; 
the  presbyters  and  deacons  were  appointed  by  the  apostles  them- 
selves (as  at  Lystra,  Iconium,  and  Antioch  in  Pisidia),  or  by  their 
deputies,  as  in  the  case  of  Timothy  and  Titus ;  yet  in  all  such 
cases  it  is  not  improbable  that  the  concurrence  of  the  whole  body 
of  the  Church  was  obtained ;  and  it  is  possible  that  in  other  cases, 
as  well  as  in  the  appointment  of  the  seven  Hellenists,  the  officers 
of  the  church  may  have  been  elected  by  the  church  which  they 
were  to  serve. 

In  all  cases,  so  far  as  we  may  infer  from  the  recorded  instances 


360  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

in  the  Acts,  those  who  were  selected  for  the  performance  of  church 
offices  were  solemnly  set  apart  for  the  duties  to  which  they  devoted 
themselves.  This  ordination  they  received  whether  the  office  to 
w^hich  they  were  called  was  permanent  or  temporary.  The  church 
of  which  they  were  members  devoted  a  preparatory  season  to 
"fasting  and  prayer,"  and  then  those  who  were  to  be  set  apart 
were  consecrated  to  their  work  by  that  solemn  and  touching  sym- 
bolical act,  the  laying-on  of  hands,  which  has  been  ever  since 
appropriated  to  the  same  purpose  and  meaning.  And  thus,  in 
answer  to  the  faith  and  prayers  of  the  Church,  the  spiritual  gifts 
necessary  for  the  performance  of  the  office  were  bestowed  by  Him 
who  is  "  the  Lord  and  Giver  of  life." 

Having  thus  briefly  attempted  to  describe  the  offices  of  the 
apostolic  Church,  we  pass  to  the  consideration  of  its  ordinances. 
Of  these,  the  chief  were,  of  course,  those  two  sacraments  ordained 
by  Christ  himself  which  have  been  the  heritage  of  the  universal 
Church  throughout  all  succeeding  ages.  The  sacrament  of  baptism 
was  regarded  as  the  door  of  entrance  into  the  Christian  Church, 
and  was  held  to  be  so  indispensable  that  it  could  not  be  omitted 
even  in  the  case  of  Paul.  We  have  seen  that  although  he  had 
been  called  to  the  apostleship  by  the  direct  intervention  of  Christ 
himself,  yet  he  was  commanded  to  receive  baptism  at  the  hands 
of  a  simple  disciple.  In  ordinary  cases  the  sole  condition  re- 
quired for  baptism  was  that  the  persons  to  be  baptized  should 
acknowledge  Jesus  as  the  Messiah,  "declared  to  be  the  Son  of 
God  with  power,  by  his  resurrection  from  the  dead."  In  this 
acknowledgment  was  virtually  involved  the  readiness  of  the  new 
converts  to  submit  to  the  guidance  of  those  whom  Christ  had  ap- 
pointed as  the  apostles  and  teachers  of  his  Church ;  and  we  find 
that  they  were  subsequently  instructed  in  the  truths  of  Christian- 
ity, and  were  taught  the  true  spiritual  meaning  of  those  ancient 
prophecies  which  (if  Jews)  they  had  hitherto  interpreted  of  a 
human  conqueror  and  an  earthly  kingdom.  This  instruction, 
however,  took  place  after  baptism,  not  before  it;  and  herein  we 
remark  a  great  and  striking  difference  from  the  subsequent  usage 
of  the  Church.  For  not  long  after  the  time  of  the  apostles  the 
primitive  practice  in  this  respect  was  completely  reversed ;  in  all 
cases  the  convert  was  subjected  to  a  long  course  of  preliminary 
instruction  before  he  was  admitted  to  baptism,  and  in  some  in- 
stances the  catechumen  remained  unbaptized  till  the  hour  of  death ; 


THE  BAPTISM  OF  CONVERTS. 


361 


for  thus  he  thought  to  escape  the  strictness  of  a  Christian  life, 
and  fancied  that  a  deathbed  baptism  would  operate  magically 
upon  his  spiritual  condition  and  ensure  his  salvation.  The  apos- 
tolic practice  of  immediate  baptism  would,  had  it  been  retained, 
have  guarded  the  Church  from  so  baneful  a  superstition. 

It  has  been  questioned  whether  the  apostles  baptized  adults 
only,  or  whether  they  admitted  infants  also  into  the  Church ;  yet 
we  cannot  but  think  it  almost  demonstratively  proved  that  infant 
baptism  was  their  practice.  This  seems  evident,  not  merely  be- 
cause (had  it  been  otherwise)  we  must  have  found  some  traces  of 
the  first  introduction  of  infant  baptism  afterward,  but  also  because 
the  very  idea  of  the  apostolic  baptism,  as  the  entrance  into  Chrisfs 
kingdom,  implies  that  it  could  not  have  been  refused  to  infants 
without  violating  the  command  of  Christ:  "Suffer  little  children 
to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not,  for  of  such  is  the  kingdom 
of  heaven.''  Again,  Paul  expressly  says  that  the  children  of  a 
Christian  parent  were  to  be  looked  upon  as  consecrated  to  God 
(ayioi)  by  virtue  of  their  very  birth ;  and  it  would  have  been  most 
inconsistent  with  this  view,  as  well  as  with  the  practice  in  the 
case  of  adults,  to  delay  the  reception  of  infants  into  the  Church 
till  they  had  been  fully  instructed  in  Christian  doctrine. 

We  know  from  the  Gospels  that  the  new  converts  were  baptized 
"  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost."  And  after  the  performance  of  the  sacrament  an  outward 
sign  was  given  that  God  was  indeed  present  with  his  Church, 
through  the  mediation  of  the  Son,  in  the  person  of  the  Spirit;  for 
the  baptized  converts,  when  the  apostles  had  laid  their  hands  on 
them,  received  some  spiritual  gift,  either  the  power  of  working 
miracles  or  of  speaking  in  tongues,  bestowed  upon  each  of  them 
by  Him  who  "  divideth  to  every  man  severally  as  he  will."  It  is 
needless  to  add  that  baptism  was  (unless  in  exceptional  cases) 
administered  by  immersion,  the  convert  being  plunged  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  w^atcr  to  represent  his  death  to  the  life  of  sin, 
and  then  raised  from  this  momentary  burial  to  represent  his  resur- 
rection to  the  life  of  righteousness.  It  must  be  a  subject  of  regret 
that  the  general  discontinuance  of  this  original  form  of  baptism 
(though  perhaps  necessary  in  our  northern  climates)  has  rendered 
obscure  to  popular  apprehension  some  very  important  passages  of 
Scripture. 

With  regard  to  the  other  sacrament,  we  know  both  from  the 


362  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Acts  and  the  Epistles  how  constantly  the  apostolic  Church  obeyed 
their  Lord's  command,  "Do  this  in  remembrance  of  me."  Indeed, 
it  would  seem  that  originally  their  common  meals  were  ended,  as 
that  memorable  feast  at  Emmaus  had  been,  by  its  celebration ;  so 
that,  as  at  the  first  to  those  two  disciples,  their  Lord's  presence 
was  daily  "made  known  unto  them  in  the  breaking  of  bread.'^ 
Subsequently  the  communion  was  administered  at  the  close  of  the 
public  feasts  of  love  {dyaTrai)  at  which  the  Christians  met  to  realize 
their  fellowship  one  with  another,  and  to  partake  together,  rich 
and  poor,  masters  and  slaves,  on  equal  terms,  of  the  common 
meal.  But  this  practice  led  to  abuses,  as  we  see  in  the  case  of  the 
Corinthian  Church,  where  the  very  idea  of  the  ordinance  was 
violated  by  the  providing  of  different  food  for  the  rich  and  poor, 
and  where  some  of  the  former  were  even  guilty  of  intemperance. 
Consequently,  a  change  was  made,  and  the  communion  adminis- 
tered before  instead  of  after  the  meal,  and  finally  separated  from 
it  altogether. 

The  festivals  observed  by  the  apostolic  Church  were  at  first  the 
same  with  those  of  the  Jews,  and  the  observance  of  these  was  con- 
tinued, especially  by  the  Christians  of  Jewish  birth,  for  a  consider- 
able time.  A  higher  and  more  spiritual  meaning,  however,  was 
attached  to  their  celebration ;  and  particularly  the  paschal  feast 
was  kept  no  longer  as  a  shadow  of  good  things  to  come,  but  as  the 
commemoration  of  blessings  actually  bestowed  in  the  death  and 
resurrection  of  Christ.  Thus  we  already  see  the  germ  of  our 
Easter  festival  in  the  exhortation  which  Paul  gives  to  the  Corinth- 
ians concerning  the  manner  in  which  they  should  celebrate  the 
paschal  feast.  Nor  was  it  only  at  this  annual  feast  that  they  kept 
in  memory  the  resurrection  of  their  Lord ;  every  Sunday  likewise 
was  a  festival  in  memory  of  the  same  event ;  the  Church  never 
failed  to  meet  for  common  prayer  and  praise  on  that  day  of  the 
week,  and  it  very  soon  acquired  the  name  of  the  "  Lord's  Day,'* 
which  it  has  since  retained. 

But  the  meetings  of  the  first  converts  for  public  worship  were 
not  coiifined  to  a  single  day  of  the  week ;  they  were  always 
frequent,  often  daily.  The  Jewish  Christians  met  at  first  in  Jeru- 
salem in  some  of  the  courts  of  the  temple,  there  to  join  in  the 
prayers  and  hear  the  teaching  of  Peter  and  John.  Afterward  the 
private  houses  of  the  more  opulent  Christians  were  thrown  open 
to  furnish  their  brethren  with  a  place  of  assembly,  and  they  met 


ORDER  OF  WORSHIP. 


363 


for  prayer  and  praise  in  some  "upper  chamber/'  with  the  "doors 
shut  for  fear  of  the  Jews."  The  outward  form  and  order  of  their 
worship  differed  very  materially  from  our  own,  as  indeed  was 
necessarily  the  case  where  so  many  of  the  worshippers  were  under 
the  miraculous  influence  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Some  were  filled 
with  prophetic  inspiration ;  some  constrained  to  pour  forth  their 
ecstatic  feelings  in  the  exercise  of  the  gift  of  tongues  "as  the 
Spirit  gave  them  utterance."  We  see  from  PauFs  directions  to  the 
Corinthians  that  there  was  danger  even  then  lest  their  worship 
should  degenerate  into  a  scene  of  confusion  from  the  number  who 
wished  to  take  part  in  the  public  ministrations ;  and  he  lays  down 
rules  which  show  that  even  the  exercise  of  supernatural  gifts  was 
to  be  restrained  if  it  tended  to  violate  the  orderly  celebration  of 
public  worship.  He  directs  that  not  more  than  two  or  three 
should  prophesy  in  the  same  assembly,  and  that  those  who  had 
the  gift  of  tongues  should  not  exercise  it  unless  some  one  present 
had  the  gift  of  interpretation  and  could  explain  their  utterances 
to  the  congregation.  He  also  forbids  women  (even  though  some 
of  them  might  be  prophetesses)  to  speak  in  the  public  assembly, 
and  desires  that  they  should  appear  veiled,  as  became  the  modesty 
of  their  sex. 

In  the  midst  of  so  much  diversity,  however,  the  essential  parts 
of  public  worship  were  the  same  then  as  now,  for  we  find  that 
prayer  was  made  and  thanksgiving  offered  up  by  those  who 
officiated,  and  that  the  congregation  signified  their  assent  by  a 
unanimous  Amen.  Psalms  also  were  chanted,  doubtless  to  some 
of  those  ancient  Hebrew  melodies  which  have  been  handed  down, 
not  improbably,  to  our  own  times  in  the  simplest  form  of  ecclesi- 
astical music;  and  addresses  of  exhortation  or  instruction  were 
given  by  those  whom  the  gift  of  prophecy  or  the  gift  of  teaching 
had  fitted  for  the  task. 

But  whatever  were  the  other  acts  of  devotion  in  which  these 
assemblies  were  employed,  it  seems  probable  that  the  daily  wor- 
ship always  concluded  with  the  celebration  of  the  Holy  Com- 
munion. And  as  in  this  the  members  of  the  Church  expressed 
and  realized  the  closest  fellowship,  not  only  with  their  risen  Lord, 
but  also  with  each  other,  so  it  was  customary  to  symbolize  this 
latter  union  by  the  interchange  of  the  kiss  of  peace  before  the 
tacrament — a  practice  to  which  Paul  frequently  alludes. 

It  would  have  been  well  if  the  inward  love  and  harmony  of  the 


364         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Church  had  really  corresponded  with  the  outward  manifestation 
of  it  in  this  touching  ceremony.  But  this  was  not  the  case  even 
while  the  apostles  themselves  poured  out  the  wine  and  broke  the 
bread  which  symbolized  the  perfect  union  of  the  members  of 
Christ's  body.  The  kiss  of  peace  sometimes  only  veiled  the  hatred 
of  warring  factions.  So  Paul  expresses  to  the  Corinthians  his 
grief  at  hearing  that  there  were  "  divisions  among  them,"  which 
showed  themselves  when  they  met  together  for  public  worship. 
The  earliest  division  of  the  Christian  Church  into  opposing  parties 
was  caused  by  the  Judaizing  teachers,  of  whose  factious  efforts  in 
Jerusalem  and  elsewhere  we  have  already  spoken.  Their  great 
object  was  to  turn  the  newly-converted  Christians  into  Jewish 
proselytes,  who  should  differ  from  other  Jews  only  in  the  recogni- 
tion of  Jesus  as  the  Messiah.  In  their  view,  the  natural  posterity 
of  Abraham  were  still  as  much  as  ever  the  theocratic  nation, 
entitled  to  God's  exclusive  favor,  to  which  the  rest  of  mankind 
could  only  be  admitted  by  becoming  Jews.  Those  members  of 
this  party  who  were  really  sincere  believers  in  Christianity  prob- 
ably expected  that  a  majority  of  their  countymen,  finding  their 
own  national  privileges  thus  acknowledged  and  maintained  by  the 
Christians,  would  on  their  part  more  willingly  acknowledge  Jesus 
as  their  Messiah,  and  thus  they  fancied  that  the  Christian  Church 
would  gain  a  larger  accession  of  members  than  could  ever  accrue 
to  it  from  isolated  Gentile  converts ;  so  that  they  probably  jus- 
tified their  opposition  to  Paul  on  grounds  not  only  of  Jewish 
but  of  Christian  policy,  for  they  imagined  that  by  his  admission 
of  uncircumcised  Gentiles  into  the  full  membership  of  the  Church 
he  was  repelling  far  more  numerous  converts  of  Israelitish  birth 
who  would  otherwise  have  accepted  the  doctrine  of  Jesus.  This 
belief  (which  in  itself,  and  seen  from  their  point  of  view  in  that 
age^  was  not  unreasonable)  might  have  enabled  them  to  excuse  to 
their  consciences,  as  Christians,  the  bitterness  of  their  opposition 
to  the  great  Christian  apostle.  But  in  considering  them  as  a  party 
we  must  bear  in  mind  that  they  felt  themselves  more  Jews  than 
Christians.  They  acknowledged  Jesus  of  Nazareth  as  the  prom- 
ised Messiah,  and  so  far  they  were  distinguished  from  the  rest  of 
their  countrymen  ;  but  the  Messiah  himself,  they  thought,  was 
only  a  "Saviour  of  his  people  Israel,"  and  they  ignored  that  true 
meaning  of  the  ancient  prophecies  which  Paul  was  inspired  to 
reveal  to  the  universal  Church,  teaching  us  that  the  "  excellent 


DIVISIONS  IN  THE  CHURCH. 


things"  which  are  spoken  of  the  people  of  God  and  the  city  of 
God  in  the  Old  Testament  are  to  be  by  us  interpreted  of  the 
"household  of  faith"  and  *'the  heavenly  Jerusalem." 

We  have  seen  that  the  Judaizers  at  first  insisted  upon  the  ob- 
serv^ance  of  the  Law  of  Moses,  and  especially  of  circumcision,  as  an 
absolute  requisite  for  admission  into  the  Church,  saying,  "  Except 
ye  be  circumcised  after  the  manner  of  Moses,  ye  cannot  be  saved." 
But  after  the  decision  of  the  "  council  of  Jerusalem"  it  was  im- 
possible for  them  to  require  this  condition  ;  they  therefore  altered 
their  tactics,  and  as  the  decree  of  the  council  seemed  to  assume 
that  the  Jewish  Christians  would  continue  to  observe  the  Mosaic 
Law,  the  Judaizers  took  advantage  of  this  to  insist  on  the  necessity 
of  a  separation  between  those  who  kept  the  whole  Law  and  all 
others;  they  taught  that  the  uncircumcised  were  in  a  lower  con- 
dition as  to  spiritual  privileges,  and  at  a  greater  distance  from 
God,  and  that  only  the  circumcised  converts  were  in  a  state  of  full 
acceptance  with  him :  in  short,  they  kept  the  Gentile  converts 
who  would  not  submit  to  circumcision  on  the  same  footing  as  the 
proselytes  of  the  gate,  and  treated  the  circumcised  alone  proselytes 
of  righteousness.  When  we  comprehend  all  that  was  involved  in 
this,  we  can  easily  understand  the  energetic  opposition  with  which 
their  teaching  was  met  by  Paul.  It  was  no  mere  question  of  out- 
ward observance,  no  matter  of  indifference  (as  it  might  at  first 
sight  appear),  whether  the  Gentile  converts  were  circumcised  or 
not ;  on  the  contrary,  the  question  at  stake  was  nothing  less  than 
this — whether  Christians  should  be  merely  a  Jewish  sect  under 
the  bondage  of  a  ceremonial  Law,  and  only  distinguished  from 
other  Jews  by  believing  that  Jesus  was  the  Messiah,  or  whether 
they  should  be  the  catholic  Church  of  Christ,  owning  no  other 
allegiance  but  to  him,  freed  from  the  bondage  of  the  letter,  and 
bearing  the  seal  of  their  inheritance  no  longer  in  their  bodies,  but 
in  their  hearts.  We  can  understand  now  the  full  truth  of  his  in- 
dignant remonstrance,  ^'  If  ye  be  circumcised,  Christ  shall  profit 
you  nothing."  And  we  can  understand  also  the  exasperation 
which  his  teaching  must  have  produced  in  those  who  held  the 
very  antithesis  of  this — namely,  that  Christianity  without  circum- 
cision was  utterly  worthless.  Hence  their  long  and  desperate 
struggle  to  destroy  the  influence  of  Paul  in  every  church  which 
he  founded  or  visited — in  Antioch,  in  Galatia,  in  Corinth,  in  Jeru- 
salem, and  in  Home.    For,  as  he  was  in  truth  the  great  prophet 


3G6         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

divinely  commissioned  to  reveal  the  catholicity  of  the  Christian 
Church,  so  he  appeared  to  them  the  great  apostate,  urged  by  the 
worst  motives  to  break  down  the  fence  and  root  up  the  hedge 
which  separated  the  heritage  of  the  Lord  from  a  godless  world. 

We  shall  not  be  surprised  at  their  success  in  creating  divisions 
in  the  churches  to  which  they  came  when  we  remember  that  the 
nucleus  of  all  those  churches  was  a  body  of  converted  Jews  and 
proselytes.  The  Judaizing  emissaries  were  ready  to  flatter  the 
prejudices  of  the  influential  body,  nor  did  they  abstain  (as  we 
know  both  from  tradition  and  from  his  own  letters)  from  insin- 
uating the  most  scandalous  charges  against  their  great  opponent. 
And  thus  in  every  Christian  Church  established  by  Paul  there 
sprang  up,  as  we  shall  see,  a  schismatic  party  opposed  to  his 
teaching  and  hostile  to  his  person. 

This  great  Judaizing  party  was  of  course  subdivided  into  various 
sections,  united  in  their  main  object,  but  distinguished  by  minor 
shades  of  difference.  Thus,  we  find  at  Corinth  that  it  comprehended 
two  factions,  the  one  apparently  distinguished  from  the  other  by  a 
greater  degree  of  violence.  The  more  moderate  called  themselves 
the  followers  of  Peter,  or  rather  of  Cephas,  for  they  preferred  to 
use  his  Hebrew  name.  These  dwelt  much  upon  our  Lord's  special 
promises  to  Peter,  and  the  necessary  inferiority  of  Paul  to  him  who 
was  divinely  ordained  to  be  the  rock  whereon  the  Church  should 
be  built.  They  insinuated  that  Paul  felt  doubts  about  his  own 
apostolic  authority,  and  did  not  dare  to  claim  the  right  of  main 
tenance  which  Christ  had  expressly  given  to  his  true  apostles. 
The  also  depreciated  him  as  a  maintainer  of  celibacy,  and  con- 
trasted him  in  this  respect  with  the  great  pillars  of  the  Church, 

the  brethren  of  the  Lord  and  Cephas,''  who  were  married.  And 
no  doubt  they  declaimed  against  the  audacity  of  a  converted  per- 
secutor, born  into  the  Church  out  of  due  time,"  in  "  withstand- 
ing to  the  face"  the  chief  of  the  apostles.  A  still  more  violent 
section  called  themselves,  by  a  strange  misnomer,  the  party  of 
Christ.  These  api)ear  to  have  laid  great  stress  upon  the  fact  that 
Paul  had  never  seen  or  known  our  Lord  while  on  earth;  and  they 
claimed  for  themselves  a  peculiar  connection  with  Christ,  as  hav- 
ing either  been  among  the  number  of  his  disciples,  or  at  least  as 
being  in  close  connection  with  the  "brethren  of  the  Lord,"  and 
especially  with  James,  the  head  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem.  To 
this  subdivision  probably  belonged  the  emissaries  who  professed 


CARE  FOR  THE  "  WEAK  BRETHREN.'' 


867 


to  come  "  from  James,"  and  who  created  a  schism  in  the  Church 
at  Antioch. 

Connected  to  a  certain  extent  with  the  Judaizing  party,  but  yet 
to  be  carefully  distinguished  from  it,  were  those  Christians*  who 
are  known  in  the  New  Testament  as  the  "  weak  brethren."  These 
were  not  a  factious  or  schismatic  party ;  nay,  they  were  not, 
properly  speaking,  a  party  at  all.  They  were  individual  converts 
of  Jewish  extraction,  w^hose  minds  were  not  as  yet  sufficiently 
enlightened  to  comprehend  the  fulness  of  "  the  liberty  Vv^ith  which 
Christ  had  made  them  free."  Their  conscience  was  sensitive  and 
filled  with  scruples,  resulting  from  early  habit  and  old  prejudices; 
but  they  did  not  join  in  the  violence  of  the  Judaizing  bigots,  and 
there  was  even  a  danger  lest  they  should  be  led,  by  the  example 
of  their  more  enlightened  brethren,  to  wound  their  own  conscience 
by  joining  in  acts  which  they  in  their  secret  hearts  thought  wrong. 
Nothing  is  more  beautiful  than  the  tenderness  and  sympathy 
which  Paul  shows  towards  these  weak  Christians :  while  he  plainly 
sets  before  them  their  mistake,  and  shows  that  their  prejudices 
result  from  ignorance,  yet  he  has  no  sterner  rebuke  for  them  than 
to  express  his  confidence  in  their  further  enlightenment :  "If  in 
anything  ye  be  otherwise  minded,  God  shall  reveal  even  this  unto 
you."  So  great  is  his  anxiety  lest  the  liberty  which  they  wit- 
nessed in  others  should  tempt  them  to  blunt  the  delicacy  of  their 
moral  feeling  that  he  warns  his  more  enlightened  converts  to 
abstain  from  lawful  indulgences,  lest  they  cause  the  weak  to 
stumble :  "  If  meat  make  my  brother  to  offend,  I  will  eat  no  meat 
while  the  world  standeth,  lest  I  make  my  brother  to  offend." 
"  Brethren,  ye  have  been  called  unto  liberty ;  only  use  not  liberty 
for  an  occasion  to  the  flesh,  but  by  love  serve  one  another."  "  De- 
stroy not  him  with  thy  meat  for  whom  Christ  died." 

These  latter  warnings  were  addressed  by  Paul  to  a  party  very 
different  from  those  of  whom  we  have  previously  spoken — a  party 
who  called  themselves  (as  w^e  see  from  his  Epistle  to  Corinth)  by 
his  own  name  and  professed  to  follow  his  teaching,  yet  were  not 
always  animated  by  his  spirit.  There  was  an  obvious  danger  les* 
the  opponents  of  the  Judaizing  section  of  the  Church  should 
themselves  imitate  one  of  the  errors  of  their  antagonists  by  com- 
bining as  partisans  rather  than  as  Christians ;  Paul  feels  himself 
necessitated  to  remind  them  that  the  very  idea  of  the  catholic 
Church  excludes  all  party  combinations  from  its  pale,  and  that 


868         LITE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


adverse  factions,  ranging  themselves  under  human  leaders,  involve 
a  contradiction  to  the  Christian  name:  "Is  Christ  divided?  v/as 
Paul  crucified  for  you?  or  were  you  baptized  into  the  name  of 
Paul?^'  "Who,  then,  is  Paul,  and  who  is  Apollos,  but  ministers 
by  whom  ye  believed 

The  Pauline  party  (as  they  called  themselves)  appear  to  have 
ridiculed  the  scrupulosity  of  their  less  enlightened  brethren,  and 
to  have  felt  for  them  a  contempt  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of 
Christian  love.  And  in  their  opposition  to  the  Judaizers  they 
showed  a  bitterness  of  feeling  and  violence  of  action  too  like  that 
of  their  opponents.  Some  of  them,  also,  w^ere  inclined  to  exult 
over  the  fall  of  God's  ancient  people,  and  to  glory  in  their  own 
position  as  though  it  had  been  won  by  superior  merit.  These  are 
rebuked  by  Paul  for  their  "  boasting,"  and  warned  against  its  con- 
sequences. "Be  not  high-minded,  but  fear;  for  if  God  spared 
not  the  natural  branches,  take  heed  lest  he  also  spare  not  thee.'' 
One  section  of  this  party  seems  to  have  united  these  errors  with 
one  still  more  dangerous  to  the  simplicity  of  the  Christian  faith : 
they  received  Christianity  more  in  an  intellectual  than  a  moral 
aspect;  not  as  a  spiritual  religion  so  much  as  a  new  system  of 
philosophy.  This  was  a  phase  of  error  most  likely  to  occur  among 
the  disputatious  reasoners  who  abounded  in  the  great  Greek  cities; 
and  accordingly  we  find  the  first  trace  of  its  existence  at  Corinth. 
There  it  took  a  peculiar  form,  in  consequence  of  the  arrival  of 
Apollos  as  a  Christian  teacher  soon  after  the  departure  of  Paul. 
He  was  a  Jew  of  Alexandria,  and  as  such  had  received  that  Gre- 
cian cultivation  and  had  acquired  that  familiarity  with  Greek 
philosophy  which  distinguished  the  more  learned  Alexandrian 
Jews.  Thus  he  was  able  to  adapt  his  teaching  to  the  taste  of 
his  philosophizing  hearers  at  Corinth  far  more  than  Paul  could 
do;  and  indeed  the  latter  had  purposely  abstained  from  even 
attempting  this  at  Corinth.  Accordingly,  the  school  which  we 
have  mentioned  called  themselves  the  followers  of  Apollos,  and 
extolled  his  philosophic  views  in  opposition  to  the  simple  and  un- 
learned simplicity  v/hich  they  ascribed  to  the  style  of  Paul.  It  is 
easy  to  perceive  in  the  temper  of  this  portion  of  the  Church  the 
germ  of  that  rationalizing  tendency  which  afterward  developed  itself 
into  the  Greek  element  of  Gnosticism.  Already,  indeed,  although 
that  heresy  was  not  yet  invented,  some  of  the  worst  opinions  of 
the  worst  Gnostics  found  advocates  among  those  who  called  them- 


HERESIES  IN  THE  PRIMITIVE  CHURCH. 


369 


selves  Christians;  there  was  even  now  a  party  in  the  Church 
which  defended  fornication  on  theory,  and  which  denied  the  re- 
surrection of  the  dead.  These  heresies  probably  originated  with 
those  who  (as  we  have  observed)  embraced  Christianity  as  a  new 
philosophy,  some  of  whom  attempted,  with  a  perverted  ingenuity, 
to  extract  from  its  doctrines  a  justification  of  the  immoral  life  to 
which  they  were  addicted.  Thus,  Paul  had  taught  that  the  Law 
was  dead  to  true  Christians ;  meaning  thereby  that  those  who  were 
penetrated  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and  made  one  wdth  Christ  worked 
righteousness,  not  in  consequence  of  a  law  of  precepts  and  penal- 
ties, but  through  the  necessary  operation  of  the  spiritual  principle 
wdthin  them.  For,  as  the  law  against  theft  might  be  said  to  be 
dead  to  a  rich  man  (because  he  would  feel  no  temptation  to  break 
it),  so  the  whole  moral  law  would  be  dead  to  a  perfect  Christian ; 
hence  to  a  real  Christian  it  might  in  one  sense  be  truly  said  that 
prohibitions  were  abolished.  But  the  heretics  of  whom  we  are 
speaking  took  this  proposition  in  a  sense  the  very  opposite  to  that 
which  it  really  conveyed,  and  whereas  Paul  taught  that  prohibi- 
tions were  abolished  for  the  righteous,  they  maintained  that  all 
things  were  lawful  to  the  wicked.  "  The  Law  is  dead  "  w^as  their 
motto,  and  their  practice  was  what  the  practice  of  Antinomians 
in  all  ages  has  been.  "  Let  us  continue  in  sin,  that  grace  may 
abound,"  was  their  horrible  perversion  of  the  evangelical  revela- 
tion that  God  is  love.  "  In  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision 
availeth  anything,  nor  uncircumcision "The  letter  killeth,  but 
the  spirit  giveth  life "  Meat  commendeth  us  not  to  God ;  for 
neither  if  we  eat  are  we  the  better,  nor  if  we  eat  not  are  we  the 
worse;"  "the  kingdom  of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink."  Such 
were  the  words  in  which  Paul  expressed  the  great  truth  that  re- 
ligion is  not  a  matter  of  outward  ceremonies,  but  of  inw^ard  life. 
But  these  heretics  caught  up  the  words,  and  inferred  that  all  out- 
ward acts  were  indifferent,  and  none  could  be  criminal.  They 
advocated  the  most  unrestrained  indulgence  of  the  passions,  and 
took  for  their  maxim  the  worst  precept  of  Epicurean  atheism, 
"  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for  to-morrow  we  die."  It  is  in  the  w^ealthy 
and  vicious  cities  of  Rome  and  Corinth  that  we  find  these  errors 
first  manifesting  themselves;  and  in  the  voluptuous  atmosphere 
of  the  latter  it  was  not  unnatural  that  there  should  be  some  who 
would  seek  in  a  new  religion  an  excuse  for  their  old  vices,  and 
others  who  would  easily  be  led  astray  by  those  "  evil  communica- 
24 


370 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


tions"  whose  corrupting  influence  the  apostle  himself  mentions  as 
the  chief  source  of  this  mischief. 

The  resurrection  of  the  dead  was  denied  in  the  same  city  and  by 
the  same  party ;  nor  is  it  strange  that  as  the  sensual  Felix  trembled 
when  Paul  preached  to  him  of  the  judgment  to  come,  so  these 
profligate  cavillers  shrank  from  the  thought  of  that  tribunal  before 
which  account  must  be  given  of  the  things  done  in  the  body. 
Perhaps  also  (as  some  have  inferred  from  Paul's  refutation  of  these 
heretics)  they  had  misunderstood  the  Christian  doctrine,  which 
teaches  us  to  believe  in  the  resurrection  of  a  spiritual  body,  as 
though  it  had  asserted  the  reanimation  of  "  this  vile  body  "  of  "  flesh 
and  blood,"  which  "cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God;"  or  it  is 
possible  that  a  materialistic  philosophy  led  them  to  maintain  that 
when  the  body  had  crumbled  away  in  the  grave  or  been  consumed 
on  the  funeral  pyre  nothing  of  the  man  remained  in  being.  In 
either  case  they  probably  explained  away  the  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection as  a  metaphor  similar  to  that  employed  by  Paul  when  he 
says  that  baptism  is  the  resurrection  of  the  new  convert ;  thus  they 
would  agree  with  those  later  heretics  (of  whom  were  Hymenseus 
and  Philetus)  who  taught  "  that  the  resurrection  was  past  already." 

Hitherto  we  have  spoken  of  those  divisions  and  heresies  which 
appear  to  have  sprung  up  in  the  several  churches  founded  by  Paul 
at  the  earliest  period  of  their  history,  almost  immediately  after 
their  institution.  Beyond  this  period  we  are  not  yet  arrived  in 
Paul's  life,  and  from  his  conversion  even  to  the  time  of  his  im- 
prisonment his  conflict  was  mainly  with  the  Jews  or  JudaLzers. 
But  there  were  other  forms  of  error  which  harassed  his  declining 
years;  and  these  w^e  will  now  endeavor  (although  anticipating  the 
course  of  our  biography)  shortly  to  describe,  so  that  it  may  not  be 
necessary  afterward  to  revert  to  the  subject,  and  at  the  same  time 
that  particular  cases  which  will  meet  us  in  thi  Epistles  may  be 
vmderstood  in  their  relation  to  the  general  religious  aspect  of  the 
time. 

We  have  seen  that  in  the  earliest  epoch  of  the  Church  there 
were  two  elements  of  error  which  had  already  shown  themselves — 
namely,  the  bigoted,  exclusive,  and  superstitious  tendency,  which 
was  of  Jewish  origin,  and  the  pseudo-philosophic  or  rationalizing 
tendency,  which  was  of  Grecian  birth.  In  the  early  period  of 
which  we  have  hitherto  spoken,  and  onward  till  the  time  of  Paul's 


THE  GNOSTIC  HERESY. 


371 


imprisonment  at  Eome,  the  first  of  these  tendencies  was  the  prin- 
cipal source  of  danger ;  but  after  this,  as  the  Church  enlarged  itself 
and  the  number  of  Gentile  converts  more  and  more  exceeded  that 
of  the  Jewish  Christians,  the  case  was  altered.  The  catholicity  of 
the  Church  became  an  established  fact,  and  the  Judaizers,  properly 
so  called,  ceased  to  exist  as  an  influential  party  anywhere  except 
in  Palestine.  Yet  still,  though  the  Jews  were  forced  to  give  up 
their  exclusiveness  and  to  acknowledge  the  uncircumcised  as  "  fel- 
low-heirs and  of  the  same  body,"  their  superstition  remained,  and 
became  a  fruitful  source  of  mischief.  On  the  other  hand,  those 
who  sought  for  nothing  m.ore  in  Christianity  than  a  new  philosophy 
were  naturally  increased  in  number  in  proportion  as  the  Church 
gained  converts  from  the  educated  classes;  the  lecturers  in  the 
schools  of  Athens,  the  "  wisdom-seekers  "  of  Corinth,  the  Antino- 
mian  perverters  of  PauPs  teaching,  and  the  Platonizing  rabbis  of 
Alexandria,  all  would  share  in  this  tendency.  The  latter,  indeed, 
as  represented  by  the  learned  Philo,  had  already  attempted  to  con- 
struct a  system  of  Judaic  Platonism  which  explained  away  almost 
all  the  peculiarities  of  the  Mosaic  theology  into  accordance  with 
the  doctrines  of  the  Academy.  And  thus  the  way  was  already 
paved  for  the  introduction  of  that  most  curious  amalgam  of  Hel- 
lenic and  Oriental  speculation  with  Jewish  superstition  which  was 
afterward  called  the  Gnostic  heresy.  It  is  a  disputed  point  at 
what  time  this  heresy  made  its  first  appearance  in  the  Church ; 
some  think  that  it  had  already  commenced  in  the  Church  of  Corinth 
when  Paul  warned  them  to  beware  of  the  knowledge  (gnosis)  which 
puffeth  up ;  others  maintain  that  it  did  not  originate  till  the  time 
of  Basilides,  long  after  the  last  apostle  had  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus. 
Perhaps,  however,  we  may  consider  this  as  a  difference  rather  about 
the  definition  of  a  term  than  the  history  of  a  sect.  If  we  define 
Gnosticism  to  be  that  combination  of  Orientalism  and  Platonism 
held  by  the  followers  of  Basilides  or  Valentinus,  and  refuse  the 
title  of  Gnostic  to  any  but  those  who  adopted  their  system  in  its 
full-grown  absurdity,  no  doubt  we  must  not  place  the  Gnostica 
among  the  heretics  of  the  apostolic  age.  But  if,  on  the  other  hand 
(as  seems  most  natural),  we  define  a  Gnostic  to  be  one  who  claims 
the  possession  of  a  peculiar  "  gnosis  "  (^.  e.  a  deep  and  philosophic 
insight  into  the  mysteries  of  theology  unattainable  by  the  vulgar), 
then  it  is  indisputable  that  Gnosticism  had  begun  when  Paul 
warned  Timothy  against  those  who  laid  claim  to  a  ^'knowledge 


37^ 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTI-E  PAUL. 


falsely  so  called''  {ifjevS^wiLioc  yvcjGLc),  And,  moreover,  we  find  that 
even  in  the  apostolic  age  these  arrogant  speculators  had  begun  to 
blend  with  their  Hellenic  philosophy  certain  fragments  of  Jewish 
superstition  which  afterward  were  incorporated  into  the  Cabbala. 
In  spite,  however,  of  the  occurrence  of  such  Jewish  elements,  those 
heresies  which  troubled  the  later  years  of  Paul,  and  afterward  of 
John,  were  essentially  rather  of  Gentile  than  of  Jewish  origin.  So 
far  as  they  agreed  with  the  later  Gnosticism  this  must  certainly 
have  been  the  case,  for  we  know  that  it  was  a  characteristic  of  all 
the  Gnostic  sects  to  despise  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  Moreover,  those 
who  laid  claims  to  "gnosis"  at  Corinth  (as  we  have  seen)  were  a 
Gentile  party,  who  professed  to  adopt  Paul's  doctrine  of  the  aboli- 
tion of  the  Law,  and  perverted  it  into  Antinomianism ;  in  short, 
they  were  the  opposite  extreme  to  the  Judaizing  party.  Nor  need 
we  be  surprised  to  find  that  some  of  these  philosophizing  heretics 
adopted  some  of  the  wildest  superstitions  of  the  Jews,  for  these 
very  superstitions  were  not  so  much  the  natural  grov^^th  of  Judaism 
as  ingrafted  upon  it  by  its  rabbinical  corrupters  and  derived  from 
Oriental  sources.  And  there  was  a  strong  affinity  between  the  neo- 
Platonic  philosophy  of  Alexandria  and  the  Oriental  theosophy 
which  sprang  from  Booddhism  and  other  kindred  systems,  and 
which  degenerated  into  the  practice  of  magic  and  incantations. 

It  is  not  necessary,  however,  that  we  should  enter  into  any  dis- 
cussion of  the  subsequent  development  of  these  errors ;  our  subject 
only  requires  that  we  give  an  outline  of  the  forms  w^hich  they 
assumed  during  the  lifetime  of  Paul,  and  this  we  can  only  do  very 
imperfectly,  because  the  allusions  in  Paul's  writings  are  so  few 
and  so  brief  that  they  give  us  but  little  information.  Still,  they 
suffice  to  show  the  main  features  of  the  heresies  which  he  con- 
demns, especially  when  we  compare  them  with  notices  in  other 
parts  of  the  New  Testament  and  with  the  history  of  the  Church  in 
the  succeeding  century. 

We  may  consider  these  heresies  first  in  their  doctrinal,  and 
secondly  in  their  practical,  aspect.  With  regard  to  the  former,  we 
find  that  their  general  characteristic  was  the  claim  to  a  deep  phil- 
osophical insight  into  the  mysteries  of  religion.  Thus  the  Colos- 
sians  are  warned  against  the  false  teachers  who  would  deceive 
them  by  a  vain  affectation  of  "philosophy,"  and  who  were 
"pufied  up  by  a  fleshly  mind"  (Col.  ii.  8,  18).  So,  in  the  Epistle 
to  Timothy,  Paul  speaks  of  these  heretics  as  falsely  claiming 


ASCETICISM  A  CHIEF  CHARACTERISTIC. 


373 


''knowledge"  (gnosis).  And  in  the  Epistle  to  tlie  Epliesians  (so 
called)  he  seems  to  allude  to  the  same  boastful  assumption  when 
he  speaks  of  the  love  of  Christ  as  surpassing  "  knowledge in  a 
passage  which  contains  other  apparent  allusions  to  Gnostic  doc- 
trine. Connected  with  this  claim  to  a  deeper  insight  into  truth 
than  that  possessed  by  the  uninitiated  was  the  manner  in  which 
some  of  these  heretics  explained  away  the  facts  of  revelation  by 
an  allegorical  interpretation.  Thus  we  find  that  Hymenaius  and 
Philetus  maintained  that  "  the  resurrection  was  past  already."  We 
have  seen  that  a  heresy  apparently  identical  with  this  existed  at 
a  very  early  period  in  the  Church  of  Corinth  among  the  free- 
thinking  or  pseudo-philosophical  party  there ;  and  all  the  Gnostic 
riects  of  the  second  century  were  united  in  denying  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead.  Again,  we  find  the  Colossian  heretics  introducing  a 
worship  of  angels,  intruding  into  those  things  which  they  have 
not  seen;"  and  so  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  the  "self-styled 
Gnostics"  {-ipevSuVj  yvug)  are  occupied  with  "endless  genealogies," 
which  were  probably  fanciful  myths,  concerning  the  origin  and 
emanation  of  spiritual  beings.  This  latter  is  one  of  the  points  in 
which  Jewish  superstition  was  blended  wdth  Gentile  speculation ; 
for  we  find  in  the  Cabbala,  or  collection  of  Jewish  traditional 
theology,  many  fabulous  statements  concerning  such  emanations. 
It  seems  to  be  a  similar  superstition  which  is  stigmatized  in  the 
Pastoral  Epistles  as  consisting  of  "  profane  and  old  wives'  fables," 
and  again,  of  "  Jewish  fables  and  commandments  of  men."  The 
Gnostics  of  the  second  century  adopted  and  systematized  this 
theory  of  emanations,  and  it  became  one  of  the  most  peculiar  and 
distinctive  features  of  their  heresy.  But  this  was  not  the  only 
Jewish  element  in  the  teaching  of  these  Colossian  heretics;  we 
find  also  that  they  made  a  point  of  conscience  of  observing  the 
Jewish  sabbaths  and  festivals,  and  they  are  charged  with  clinging 
to  outward  rites  [aroLxela  tov  ;^(5cr/zov)  and  making  distinctions  be- 
tween the  lawfulness  of  different  kinds  of  food. 

In  their  practical  results  these  heresies  which  we  are  considering 
had  a  twofold  direction.  On  one  side  was  an  ascetic  tendency, 
such  as  we  find  at  Colosse,  showing  itself  by  an  arbitrarily  invented 
worship  of  God,  an  affectation  of  self-humiliation  and  mortifica- 
tion of  the  flesh.  So  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles  w^e  find  the  prohibi- 
tion of  marriage,  the  enforced  abstinence  from  food,  and  other 
bodily  mortifications  mentioned  as  characteristics  of  heresy.  If 


374  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

this  asceticism  originated  from  the  Jewish  element  which  has  been 
mentioned  above,  it  may  be  compared  with  the  practice  of  the 
Essenes,  whose  existence  shows  that  such  ascetism  was  not  incon- 
sistent with  Judaism,  although  it  was  contrary  to  the  views  of  the 
Judaizing  party  properly  so  called.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may 
have  arisen  from  that  abhorrence  of  matter  and  anxiety  to  free  the 
soul  from  the  dominion  of  the  body  which  distinguished  the  Alex- 
andrian Platonists,  and  which  (derived  from  them)  became  a 
characteristic  of  some  of  the  Gnostic  sects. 

But  this  asceticism  was  a  weak  and  comparatively  innocent  form 
in  which  the  practical  results  of  this  incipient  Gnosticism  exhib- 
ited themselves.  Its  really  dangerous  manifestation  was  derived 
not  from  its  Jewish  but  from  its  heathen  element.  We  have  seen 
how  this  showed  itself  from  the  first  at  Corinth — how  men  shel- 
tered their  immoralities  under  the  name  of  Christianity,  and  even 
justified  them  by  a  perversion  of  its  doctrines.  Such  teaching 
could  not  fail  to  find  a  ready  audience  wherever  there  were  found 
vicious  lives  and  hardened  consciences.  Accordingly,  it  was  in 
the  luxurious  and  corrupt  population  of  Asia  Minor  that  this  early 
Gnosticism  assumed  its  worst  form  of  immoral  practice  defended 
by  Antinomian  doctrine.  Thus,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians, 
Paul  warns  his  readers  against  the  sophistical  arguments  by  which 
certain  false  teachers  strove  to  justify  the  sins  of  impurity,  and  to 
persuade  them  that  the  acts  of  the  body  could  not  contaminate 
the  soul :  ^'  Let  no  man  deceive  you  with  vain  words  ;  for  because 
of  these  things  cometh  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  children  of  dis- 
obedience.'^  Hymenseus  and  Philetus  are  the  first  leaders  of  this 
party  mentioned  by  name ;  we  have  seen  that  they  agreed  with  the 
Corinthian  Antinomians  in  denying  the  resurrection,  and  they 
agreed  with  them  no  less  in  practice  than  in  theory.  Of  the  first 
of  them  it  is  expressly  said  that  he  had  cast  away  a  good  con- 
science," and  of  both  we  are  told  that  they  showed  themselves  not 
to  belong  to  Christ,  because  they  had  not  his  seal,  this  seal  being 
described  as  twofold — "  The  Lord  knoweth  them  that  are  his,''  and 

het  every  one  who  nameth  the  name  of  Christ  depart  I'rom  iniq- 
uity."   Paul  appears  to  imply  that  though  they  boasted  their 

knowledge  of  God,"  yet  that  the  Lord  had  no  knowledge  of 
them ;  as  our  Saviour  had  himself  declared  that  to  the  claims 
of  such  false  disciples  he  would  reply,  "  I  never  l-neiv  you ;  depart 
from  jx^^i  ye  workers  of  iniquify.^'    But  in  the  same  Epistle  where 


SENSUAL  IMPURITY  TAUGHT. 


these  heresiarchs  are  condemned  Paul  intimates  tliat  their  prin- 
ciples were  not  yet  fully  developed;  he  warns  Timothy  that  an 
outburst  of  immorality  and  lawlessness  must  be  shortly  expected 
within  the  Church  beyond  anything  which  had  yet  been  experi- 
enced. The  same  anticipation  appears  in  his  farewell  address  to 
the  Ephesian  presbyters,  and  even  at  the  early  period  of  his 
Epistles  to  the  Thessalonians ;  and  we  see  from  the  Epistles  of 
Peter  and  Jude  and  from  the  Apocalypse  of  John,  all  addressed 
(it  should  be  remembered)  to  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor,  that 
this  prophetic  warning  was  soon  fulfilled.  We  find  that  many 
Christians  used  their  liberty  as  a  cloak  of  maliciousness,  "  promis- 
ing their  hearers  liberty,  yet  themselves  the  slaves  of  corruption," 
"  turning  the  grace  of  God  into  lasciviousness  " — that  they  were 
justly  condemned  by  the  surrounding  heathen  for  their  crimes, 
and  even  suffered  punishment  as  robbers  and  murderers.  They 
were  also  infamous  for  the  practice  of  the  pretended  arts  of  magic 
and  witchcraft,  which  they  may  have  borrowed  either  from  the 
Jewush  soothsayers  and  exorcisers  or  from  the  heathen  professors 
of  magical  arts  who  so  much  abounded  at  the  same  epoch.  Some 
of  them,  who  are  called  the  followers  of  Balaam  in  the  Epistles 
of  Peter  and  Jude,  and  the  Nicolaitans  (an  equivalent  name)  in 
the  Apocalypse,  taught  their  followers  to  indulge  in  the  sensual 
impurities,  and  even  in  the  idol-feasts,  of  the  heathen.  We  find, 
moreover,  that  these  false  disciples  with  their  licentiousness  in 
morals  united  anarchy  in  politics  and  resistance  to  law  and 
government.  They  "  walked  after  the  flesh  in  the  lust  of  unclean- 
ness  and  despised  governments.''  And  thus  they  gave  rise  to  those 
charges  against  Christianity  itself  which  were  made  by  the  heathen 
writers  at  the  time,  whose  knowledge  of  the  new  religion  was 
naturally  taken  from  those  amongst  its  professors  w^ho  renderea 
themselves  notorious  by  falling  under  the  judgment  of  the  law. 

When  thus  we  contemplate  the  true  character  of  these  divisions 
and  heresies  which  beset  the  apostolic  Church,  we  cannot  but 
acknowledge  that  it  needed  all  those  miraculous  gifts  with  which 
it  w^as  endowed,  and  all  that  inspired  wisdom  which  presided  over 
its  organization,  to  ward  off  dangers  which  threatened  to  blight  its 
growth  and  destroy  its  very  existence.  In  its  earliest  infancy  two 
powerful  and  venomous  foes  twined  themselves  round  its  very 
cradle,  but  its  strength  was  according  to  its  day;  with  a  super- 
natural vigor  it  rent  off  the  coils  of  Jewish  bigotry  and  stifled  the 


876        LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL, 

poisonous  breath  of  heathen  licentiousness,  but  the  peril  was  mor- 
tal and  the  struggle  was  for  life  or  death.  Had  the  Church's  fate 
been  subjected  to  the  ordinary  laws  which  regulate  the  history  of 
earthly  commonwealths,  it  could  scarcely  have  escaped  one  of  tbe 
two  opposite  destinies,  either  of  which  must  have  equally  defeated 
(if  we  may  so  speak)  the  world's  salvation.  Either  it  must  have 
been  cramped  into  a  Jewish  sect,  according  to  the  wish  of  the 
majority  of  its  earliest  members,  or  (having  escaped  this  immediate 
extinction)  it  must  have  added  one  more  to  the  innumerable 
schools  of  heathen  philosophy,  subdividing  into  a  hundred  branches, 
whose  votaries  would  some  of  them  have  sunk  into  Oriental  super- 
stitions, others  into  pagan  voluptuousness.  If  we  need  any  proof 
how  narrowly  the  Church  escaped  this  latter  peril,  we  have  only 
to  look  at  the  fearful  power  of  Gnosticism  in  the  succeeding  cen- 
tury. And,  indeed,  the  more  we  consider  the  elements  of  which 
every  Christian  community  was  originally  composed,  the  more 
must  we  wonder  how  the  little  flock  of  the  wise  and  good  could 
have  successfully  resisted  the  overwhelming  contagion  of  folly  and 
wickedness.  In  every  city  the  nucleus  of  the  Church  consisted  of 
Jews  and  Jewish  proselytes ;  on  this  foundation  was  superadded 
a  miscellaneous  mass  of  heathen  converts,  almost  exclusively  from 
the  lowest  classes — baptized,  indeed,  into  the  name  of  Jesus,  but 
still  with  all  the  habits  of  a  life  of  idolatry  and  vice  clinging  to 
them.  How  was  it,  then,  that  such  a  society  could  escape  the  two 
temptations  which  assailed  it  just  at  the  time  when  they  were  most 
likely  to  be  fatal  ?  While  as  yet  the  Jewish  element  preponde- 
rated, a  fanatical  party,  commanding  almost  necessarily  the  sym- 
pathies of  the  Jewish  portion  of  the  society,  made  a  zealous  and 
combined  effort  to  reduce  Christianity  to  Judaism  and  subordinate 
the  Church  to  the  synagogue.  Over  their  great  opponent,  the  one 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  they  won  a  temporary  triumph  and  saw 
him  consigned  to  prison  and  to  death.  How  was  it  that  the  very 
hour  of  their  victory  was  the  epoch  from  which  we  date  their  fail- 
ure? Again :  this  stage  is  passed,  the  Church  is  thrown  open  to 
the  Gentiles,  and  crowds  flock  in,  some  attracted  by  wonder  at  the 
miracles  they  see,  some  by  hatred  of  the  government  under  which 
they  live,  and  by  hopes  that  they  may  turn  the  Church  into  an 
organized  conspiracy  against  law  and  order ;  and  even  the  best,  as 
yet  unsettled  in  their  faith,  and  ready  to  exchange  their  new  belief 
for  a  newer,  "  carried  about  with  every  wind  of  doctrine."    At  such 


HERESY  AND  CORRUPTION  PROPHESIED.  377 

an  epoch  a  systematic  theory  is  devised  reconciling  the  profession 
of  Christianity  with  the  practice  of  immorality ;  its  teachers  pro- 
chaim  that  Christ  has  freed  them  from  the  Law,  and  that  the  man 
who  has  attained  true  spiritual  enlightenment  is  above  the  obliga- 
tions of  outward  morality ;  and  with  this  seducing  philosophy  for 
the  Gentile  they  really  combine  the  Cabbalistic  superstitions  of 
rabbinical  tradition  to  captivate  the  Jew.  Who  could  wonder  if, 
w^hen  such  incendiaries  applied  their  torch  to  such  materials,  a 
flame  burst  forth  which  wellnigh  consumed  the  fabric?  Surely 
that  day  of  trial  was  revealed  in  fire,"  and  the  building  which 
was  able  to  abide  the  flame  was  nothing  less  than  the  temple  of 
God. 

It  is  painful  to  be  compelled  to  acknowledge  among  the  Chris- 
tians of  the  apostolic  age  the  existence  of  so  many  forms  of  error 
and  sin.  It  was  a  pleasing  dream  which  represented  the  primitive 
Church  as  a  society  of  angels,  and  it  is  not  without  a  struggle  that 
we  bring  ourselves  to  open  our  eyes  and  behold  the  reality.  But 
yet  it  is  a  higher  feeling  which  bids  us  thankfully  to  recognize  the 
truth  that  "there  is  no  partiality  with  God" — that  he  has  never 
supernaturally  coerced  any  generation  of  mankind  into  virtue  nor 
rendered  schism  and  heresy  impossible  in  any  age  of  the  Church. 
So  Paul  tells  his  converts  that  there  must  needs  be  heresies  among 
them,  that  the  good  may  be  tried  and  distinguished  from  the  bad ; 
implying  that  without  the  possibility  of  a  choice  there  would  be  no 
test  of  faith  or  holiness.  And  so  our  Lord  himself  compared  his 
Church  to  a  net  cast  into  the  sea,  which  gathered  fish  of  all  kinds, 
both  good  and  bad ;  nor  was  its  purity  to  be  attained  by  the  ex- 
clusion of  evil  till  the  end  should  come.  Therefore,  if  we  sigh,  as 
well  we  may,  for  the  realization  of  an  ideal  which  Scripture  paints 
to  us  and  imagination  embodies,  but  which  our  eyes  seek  for  and 
cannot  find,  if  we  look  vainly  and  with  earnest  longings  for  the 
appearance  of  that  glorious  Church  "  without  spot  or  wrinkle  or 
any  such  thing,"  the  fitting  bride  of  a  heavenly  Spouse,  it  may 
calm  our  impatience  to  recollect  that  no  such  Church  has  ever 
existed  upon  earth,  while  yet  we  do  not  forget  that  it  has  existed 
and  does  exist  in  heaven.  In  the  very  lifetime  of  the  apostles,  no 
less  than  now,  "the  earnest  expectation  of  the  creature  waited  for 
the  manifestation  of  the  sons  of  God;"  miracles  did  not  convert; 
inspiration  did  not  sanctify ;  then,  as  now,  imperfection  and  evil 
clung  to  the  members  and  clogged  the  energies  of  the  kingdom  of 


378        LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PACTL. 


God ;  now,  as  then,  Cliristians  are  fellow-beirs  and  of  the  same 
body  with  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect;  now,  as  then,  the 
communion  of  saints  unites  into  one  family  the  Church  militant 
with  the  Church  triumphant. 


NOTE. 

Upon  the  Origin  of  the  Heresies  of  the  Later  Apos- 
tolic Age. 

In  the  above  sketch  we  have  taken  a  somewhat  different  view  of 
these  heresies  from  that  advocated  with  great  ability  by  Mr.  Stan- 
ley. Pie  considers  all  the  heretics  opposed  by  Paul  in  the  Epistles 
to  the  Colossians  and  Ephesians,  and  in  those  to  Timothy  and  Titus, 
and  even  those  denounced  by  Peter,  Jude,  and  John,  to  have  been 
Judaizers ;  and  he  speaks  of  PauFs  opposition  to  them  as  "the 
second  act  of  the  conflict  with  Judaism.''  In  deference  to  a  writer 
who  has  done  much  to  give  clearness  and  vividness  to  our  know- 
ledge of  the  apostolic  age,  we  feel  bound  to  justify  our  dissent  from 
his  view  by  a  few  additional  remarks. 

First,  we  think  that  even  if  the  Jewish  element  had  been  the 
chief  ingredient  in  the  teaching  of  these  heretics,  still  they  ought 
not  to  be  called  Judaizers.  The  characteristic  of  the  original  Juda- 
izers was  a  determination  to  confine  Christendom  within  the  walls 
of  the  synagogue,  and  to  put  Christianity  on  the  same  footing  with 
Pharisaism  or  Sadduceeism  as  a  tolerated  Jewish  sect.  The  rapid 
increase  and  gradual  preponderance  of  the  Gentile  portion  of  the 
Church  soon  rendered  the  existence  of  this  Judaizing  party  impos- 
sible except  in  Palestine.  Hence  it  seems  to  introduce  unnecessary 
confusion  if  we  apply  the  distinctive  name  of  Judaizers  to  heretics 
whose  opinions  were  so  very  different  from  those  advocated  by  the 
party  originally  called  by  that  name. 

But  farther:  we  cannot  think  that  the  Jewish  element  had  that 
preponderating  influence  in  the  heresies  of  the  later  apostolic  period 
which  Mr.  Stanley  assigns  to  it.  On  the  contrary,  the  accounts 
of  them  in  the  Epistles  incline  us  to  believe  that  the  Jewish  ele- 
ment w^as  only  the  accidental,  and  the  Gentile  element  the  essen- 
tial, constituent  of  these  heresies.  Mr.  Stanley's  reasons  for  the 
opposite  opinion  are  mainly  as  follows : 


THE  HERESIES  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE.  379 

(1)  That  the  party  claiming  fevSuvvfioc  yvuGic  is  the  same  party 
who  are  called  vojLLo6iddGKa?.ot.  But  the  former  are  mentioned  in 
quite  a  diflerent  part  of  the  Epistle  from  the  latter,  and  there  is 
no  proof  that  the  same  persons  are  meant  in  the  two  passages ; 
and  even  if  they  are,  the  expression  vofioSi^dGKaloL  might  very  well 
be  applied  to  learned  Platonizing  Jews  like  Philo,  who  taught 
what  they  considered  the  true  and  deep  view  of  the  Mosaic  Law, 
by  which  it  was  allegorized  away  into  a  mystic  philosophy.  And 
in  the  teaching  of  such  Jews,  Judaism  was  quite  subordinated  to 
Hellenism. 

(2)  Mr.  Stanley  argues  that  the  anarchical  policy  of  the  heretics 
denounced  by  Peter  and  Jude  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  Jewish 
national  aspiration  after  earthly  empire  and  impatience  of  the 
Roman  yoke.  It  may  be  conceded  that  some  Jewish  Christians 
may  have  joined  these  agitators  from  such  feelings,  but  is  it 
not  equally  probable  that,  as  Arnold  supposes,  this  lawless  party 
consisted  mainly  of  nominal  converts  from  heathenism,  who  "  took 
part  with  Christianity  for  its  negative  side,  not  for  its  positive," 
outlawed  by  their  vices  or  their  crimes  from  the  existing  order  of 
society,  and  anxious  to  revolutionize  it,  and  hoping  to  find  in  the 
Church  an  instrument  for  promoting  their  sinister  ends? 

(3)  Mr.  Stanley  assumes  that  those  who  say  they  are  Jews 
and  are  not"  are  to  be  identified  with  the  Nicolaitans  or  Balaam- 
ites,  mentioned  in  the  same  chapter.  But  this  is  not  quite  clear; 
and  even  if  they  be  the  same  party,  there  is  no  proof  that  they 
were  Judaizing  Christians ;  on  the  contrary,  the  practices  attrib- 
uted to  them  are  in  direct  opposition  to  Judaism.  And  we  should 
therefore  be  inclined  to  agree  with  Dr.  Burton,  that  their  profession 
of  Judaism  was  only  adopted  to  shield  them  from  heathen  perse- 
cution at  a  time  when  it  was  directed  against  Christians — Judaism 
being  a  religio  licitaj  which  Christianity  was  not. 

(4)  Mr.  Stanley  argues  that  as  Cerinthus  is  (traditionally)  con- 
nected with  the  Ebionites,  and  as  John  is  represented  (traditionally) 
as  opposing  Cerinthus,  therefore  John  wrote  against  the  Ebionites, 
and  consequently  against  a  Judaizing  sect  of  heretics.  But  we  do 
not  think  it  would  be  safe  to  rely  upon  such  inferences,  founded 
upon  conditions  of  a  vague  and  somewhat  inconsistent  kind.  It 
is  true  that  Cerinthus  is  sometimes  classed  with  the  Ebionites  by 
the  early  writers  against  heretics,  but  this  appears  only  to  be  be- 
cause some  of  their  less  important  doctrinal  tenets  were  the  same, 


380  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

for  in  the  most  essential  points  they  seem  to  have  been  the  very 
antipodes  of  one  another.  The  Cerinthians  are  represented  as 
advocates  of  gross  sensuality  and  unbridled  license,  like  the 
Antinomians  of  Corinth ;  whereas  the  Ebionites  were  a  sect  of 
ascetics  who  practised  the  most  austere  temperance  and  resembled 
the  Essenes  in  the  strictness  of  their  morality.  Again,  we  are  told 
by  Epiphanius  that  Cerinthus  considered  the  Law  as  the  work  of 
an  evil  spirit,  like  the  later  Gnostics;  whereas  the  Ebionites  were 
strict  Judaizers,  the  true  representatives  of  the  original  party  so 
called.  Moreover,  John  is  universally  believed  to  have  written 
against  heresies  which  manifested  themselves  at  Ephesus,  whereas 
the  Ebionites  were  confined  to  Palestine.  And  though  Cerinthus 
adhered  to  some  of  the  observances  of  the  Law,  yet  he  is  recorded 
to  have  derived  his  theology  not  from  Palestine,  but  from  Alexan- 
dria. 

Having  thus  mentioned  Mr.  Stanley's  principal  reasons  for 
thinking  the  heresies  in  question  to  be  Jewish,  we  will  state  the 
arguments  which  have  led  us  to  believe  them  of  Gentile  origin : 

(1)  Their  strong  resemblance  to  the  Corinthian  Antinomianism, 
shown  by  Hymenaeus  and  Philetus  denying  the  resurrection,  and 
by  the  Sophists  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians  {k€voI  Aoyoi),  who 
justified  fornication ;  and  by  their  name  of  "  followers  of  Balaam," 
as  explained  to  arise  from  their  persuading  their  followers  to 
commit  fornication. 

(2)  Their  eating  hSulSOvra^  which  we  cannot  conceive  any  Jew- 
ish sect  doing. 

(3)  The  whole  tone  in  which  they  are  spoken  of  by  Peter  and 
Jude,  whose  denunciations  are  directed  against  a  system  of  open 
and  avowed  profligacy,  such  as  might  be  supposed  with  greater 
ease  to  spring  from  heathen  laxity  than  from  Jewish  formalism. 
Surely,  had  they  been  a  Judaizing  sect  some  notice  of  the  fact 
must  have  been  found  in  these  Epistles,  whereas  it  seems  implied 
that  they  were  perverters  of  Paul's  doctrines. 

(4)  The  fact  that  the  Epistles  of  John  are  directed  against 
heretics  who  claimed  a  peculiar  "  knowledge  of  God and  main- 
tained their  right  to  sin ;  still  reminding  us  of  the  Corinthian 
Antinomians,  and  with  no  trace  of  Judaism. 

(5)  The  close  connection  between  the  opinions  of  all  these 
heretics  and  those  of  the  later  Gnostics;  which  leads  us  to  infer 
that  Judaism  could  not  be  a  predominant  feature  in  their  heresies, 


THE  HERESIES  OF  THE  APOSTOLIC  AGE. 


381 


since  later  Gnosticism  was  so  especially  opposed  to  Judaism.  For, 
though  the  Gnostics  borrowed  some  Jewish  notions  which  they 
blended  with  their  own  system,  yet  they  all  agreed  in  referring  the 
origin  of  the  Mosaic  Law  either  to  an  evil  spirit  or  to  an  inferior 
and  unenlightened  demiurge. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


DEPARTURE  FROM  ANTIOCH. — JOURNEY  THROUGH  PHRYGIA  AND 
GALATIA. — APOLLOS  AT  EPHESUS  AND  CORINTH. — ARRIVAL  OF 
PAUL  AT  EPHESUS. — DISCIPLES  OF  JOHN  THE  BAPTIST. — THE 
SYNAGOGUE. — THE  SCHOOL  OF  TYRANNUS. — MIRACLES. — EPHE- 
SIAN  MAGIC. — THE  EXORCISTS.— BURNING  OF  THE  BOOKS. 

The  next  period  of  Paul's  life  opens  with  a  third  journey  through 
the  interior  of  Asia  Minor.  In  the  short  stay  which  he  had  made 
at  Ephesus  on  his  return  from  his  second  journey  he  had  promised 
to  come  again  to  that  city  if  the  providence  of  God  should  allow 
it.  This  promise  he  was  enabled  to  fulfil  after  a  hasty  visit  to  the 
metropolis  of  the  Jewish  nation  and  a  longer  sojourn  in  the  first 
metropolis  of  the  Gentile  Church. 

It  would  lead  us  into  long  and  useless  discussions  if  we  were  to 
speculate  on  the  time  spent  at  Antioch  and  the  details  of  the  apos- 
tle^s  occupation  in  the  scene  of  his  early  labors.  We  have  already 
stated  our  reasons  for  believing  that  the  discussions  which  led  to 
the  council  at  Jerusalem  took  place  at  an  earlier  period,  as  well  as 
the  quarrel  between  Peter  and  Paul  concerning  the  propriety  of 
concession  to  the  Judaizers.  But  without  knowing  the  particular 
form  of  the  controversies  brought  before  him,  or  the  names  of  those 
Christian  teachers  with  whom  he  conferred,  we  have  seen  enough 
to  make  us  aware  that  imminent  dangers  from  the  Judaizing  party 
surrounded  the  Church,  and  that  Antioch  w^as  a  favorable  place  for 
meeting  the  machinations  of  this  party,  as  well  as  a  convenient 
starting-point  for  a  journey  undertaken  to  strengthen  those  com- 
munities that  were  likely  to  be  invaded  by  false  teachers  from 
Judsea. 

It  is  evident  that  it  was  not  Paul's  only  object  to  proceed  with 
all  haste  to  Ephesus ;  nor  indeed  is  it  credible  that  he  could  pass 
through  the  regions  of  Cilicia  and  Lycaonia,  Phrygia  and  Galatia, 
without  remaining  to  confirm  those  churches  which  he  had  founded 
himself,  and  some  of  which  he  had  visited  twice.  We  are  plainly 
382 


DEPARTURE  FROM  ANTIOCH. 


383 


told  that  his  journey  was  occupied  in  this  work,  and  the  few  words 
which  refer  to  this  subject  imply  a  systematic  visitation.  He  would 
be  the  more  anxious  to  establish  them  in  the  true  principles  of  the 
gospel  in  proportion  as  he  was  aware  of  the  widely-spreading  influ- 
ence of  the  Judaizers.  Another  specific  object,  not  unconnected 
with  the  healing  of  divisions,  was  before  him  during  the  whole 
of  this  missionary  journey — a  collection  for  the  relief  of  the  poor 
Christians  in  Judaea.  It  had  been  agreed  at  the  meeting  of  the 
apostolic  council  (Gal.  ii.  9,  10)  that  while  some  should  go  to  the 
heathen  and  others  to  the  circumcision,  the  former  should  care- 
fully "  remember  the  poor;"  and  this  we  see  Paul,  on  the  present 
journey  among  the  Gentile  churches,  "forward  to  do."  We  even 
know  the  "  order  which  he  gave  to  the  churches  of  Galatia "  (1 
Cor.  xvi.  1,  2).  He  directed  that  each  person  should  lay  by  in 
store,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  according  as  God  had  prospered 
him,  that  the  collection  should  be  deliberately  made,  and  prepared 
for  an  opportunity  of  being  taken  to  Jerusalem. 

We  are  not  able  to  state  either  the  exact  route  which  Paul  fol- 
lowed or  the  names  of  the  companions  by  whom  he  was  attended. 
As  regards  the  latter  subject,  however,  two  points  may  be  taken 
for  granted — that  Silas  ceased  to  be,  and  that  Timotheus  continued 
to  be,  an  associate  of  the  apostle.  It  is  most  probable  that  Silas 
remained  behind  in  Jerusalem,  whence  he  had  first  accompanied 
Barnabas  with  the  apostolic  letter,  and  where,  on  the  first  mention 
of  his  name,  he  is  said  to  have  held  a  leading  position  in  the 
Church.  He  is  not  again  mentioned  in  connection  with  the 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles.  The  next  place  in  Scripture  where  his 
name  occurs  is  in  the  letter  of  the  apostle  of  the  circumcision  (1 
Pet.  V.  12),  which  is  addressed  to  the  strangers  scattered  through- 
out Pontus,  Galatia,  Cappadocia,  Asia,  and  Bithynia.  There 
**Silvanus"  is  spoken  of  as  one  not  unknown  to  the  persons 
addressed,  but  as  "a  faithful  brother  unto  them;"  by  him  the 
letter  was  sent  which  "  exhorted  "  the  Christians  in  the  north  and 
west  of  Asia  Minor,  and  "  testified  that  that  was  the  true  grace  of 
God  wherein  they  stood;"  and  the  same  disciple  is  seen,  on  the 
last  mention  of  his  name  as  on  the  first,  to  be  co-operating  for  the 
welfare  of  the  Church  both  with  Peter  and  Paul. 

It  may  be  considered,  on  the  other  hand,  probable,  if  not 
certain,  that  Timotheus  was  with  the  apostle  through  the  whole 
s>f  this  journey.    Abundant  mention  of  him  is  made,  both  in  the 


384  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Acts  and  the  Epistles,  in  connection  with  Paul's  stay  at  Ephesus 
and  his  subsequent  movements.  Of  the  other  companions  who 
were  undoubtedly  with  him  at  Ephesus,  we  cannot  say  with  con- 
fidence whether  they  attended  him  from  Antioch  or  joined  him 
afterward  at  some  other  point.  But  Erastus  (Acts  xix.  22)  may 
have  remained  with  him  since  the  time  of  his  first  visit  to  Corinth, 
and  Caius  and  Aristarchus  (Acts  xix.  29)  since  the  still  earlier 
period  of  his  journey  through  Macedonia.  Perhaps  we  have 
stronger  reasons  for  concluding  that  Titus — who,  though  not  men- 
tioned in  the  Acts,  was  certainly  of  great  service  in  the  second 
missionary  journey — travelled  with  Paul  and  Timotheus  through 
the  earlier  part  of  it.  In  the  frequent  mention  which  is  made  of 
him  in  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians  he  appears  as  the 
apostle's  laborious  minister,  and  as  a  source  of  his  consolation  and 
support,  hardly  less  strikingly  than  the  disciple  whom  he  had  taken 
on  the  previous  journey  from  Lystra  and  Iconium. 

Whatever  might  be  the  exact  route  which  the  apostle  followed 
from  Antioch  to  Ephesus,  he  would  certainly  revisit  those  churches 
which  twice  before  had  known  him  as  their  teacher.  He  would 
pass  over  the  Cilician  plain  on  the  w^arm  southern  shore  and  the 
high  table-land  of  Lycaonia  on  the  other  sida  of  the  Pass  of 
Taurus.  He  would  see  once  more  his  own  early  home  on  the 
banks  of  the  Cydnus,  and  Timothy  would  be  once  more  in  the 
scenes  of  his  childhood  at  the  base  of  the  Kara-Dagh.  After 
leaving  Tarsus,  the  cities  of  Derbe,  Lystra,  and  Iconium,  possi- 
bly also  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  would  be  the  primary  objects  in  the 
apostle's  progress.  Then  we  come  to  Phrygia  and  Galatia,  both 
vague  and  indeterminate  districts,  which  he  had  visited  once,  and 
through  which,  as  before,  we  cannot  venture  to  lay  down  a  route. 
Though  the  visitation  of  the  churches  was  systematic,  we  need  not 
conclude  that  the  same  exact  course  was  followed.  Since  the  order 
in  which  the  two  districts  are  mentioned  is  different  from  that  in 
the  former  instance,  we  are  at  liberty  to  suppose  that  he  travelled 
first  from  Lycaonia  through  Cappadocia  into  Galatia,  and  then  by 
Western  Phrygia  to  the  coast  of  the  ^gean.  In  this  last  part  of 
his  progress  we  are  in  still  greater  doubt  as  to  the  route,  and  one 
question  of  interest  is  involved  in  our  opinion  concerning  it.  The 
great  road  from  Ephesus  by  Iconium  to  the  Euphrates  passed 
along  the  valley  of  the  Mseander,  and  near  the  cities  of  Laodicea, 
Colosse,  and  Hierapolis;  and  we  should  naturally  suppose  that 


APOLLOS  AT  EPHESUS  AND  COPINTH. 


385 


the  apostle  would  approach  the  capital  of  Asia  along  this  well- 
travelled  line.  But  the  arguments  are  so  strong  for  believing  that 
Paul  was  never  personally  at  Colosse  that  it  is  safer  to  imagine  him 
following  some  road  farther  to  the  north — such  as  that,  for  instance, 
which  after  passing  near  Thyatira  entered  the  valley  of  the  Hermus 
at  Sardis. 

Thus,  then,  we  may  conceive  the  apostle  arrived  at  that  region 
where  he  was  formerly  in  hesitation  concerning  his  future  prog- 
ress, the  frontier  district  of  Asia  and  Phrygia,  the  mountains 
which  contain  the  upper  waters  of  the  Hermus  and  Mseander. 
And  now  our  attention  is  suddenly  called  away  to  another  preacher 
of  the  gospel,  whose  name,  next  to  that  of  the  apostles,  is  perhaps 
the  most  important  in  the  early  history  of  the  Church.  There 
came  at  this  time  to  Ephesus,  either  directly  from  Egypt  by  sea, 
as  Aquila  or  Priscilla  from  Corinth,  or  by  some  route  through  the 
intermediate  countries,  like  that  of  Paul  himself,  a  "disciple" 
named  Apollos,  a  native  of  Alexandria.  This  visit  occurred  at  a 
critical  time,  and  led  to  grave  consequences  in  reference  to  the 
establishment  of  Christian  truth  and  the  growth  of  parties  in 
the  Church ;  while  the  religious  community  (if  so  it  may  be 
called)  to  which  he  belonged  at  the  time  of  his  arrival  furnishes 
us  with  one  of  the  most  interesting  links  between  the  Gospels  and 
the  Acts. 

Apollos,  along  with  twelve  others  who  are  soon  afterward  men- 
tioned at  Ephesus,  was  acquainted  with  Christianity  only  so  far  as 
it  had  been  made  known  by  John  the  Baptist.  They  "  knew  only 
the  baptism  of  John."  From  the  great  part  which  was  acted  by 
the  forerunner  of  Christ  in  the  first  announcement  of  the  gospel, 
and  from  the  effect  produced  on  the  Jewish  nation  by  his  appear- 
ance, and  the  number  of  disciples  who  came  to  receive  at  his  hands 
the  baptism  of  repentance,  we  should  expect  some  traces  of  his 
ijifluence  to  appear  in  the  subsequent  period  during  which  the 
gospel  was  spreading  beyond  Judsea.  Many  Jews  from  other 
countries  received  from  the  Baptist  their  knowledge  of  the  Mes- 
siah, and  carried  with  them  this  knowledge  on  their  return  from 
Palestine.  We  read  of  a  heretical  sect  at  a  much  later  period  who 
held  John  the  Baptist  to  have  been  himself  the  Messiah.  But  in 
a  position  intermediate  between  this  deluded  party  and  those  who 
were  travelling  as  teachers  of  the  full  and  perfect  gospel  there  were 
doubtless  many  among  the  floating  Jewish  population  of  the  em- 

25 


886 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


pire  whose  knowledge  of  Christ  extended  only  to  that  which  had 
been  preached  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan.  That  such  persons 
should  be  found  at  Ephesus,  the  natural  meeting-place  of  all  relig- 
ious sects  and  opinions,  is  what  we  might  have  supposed  a  priori. 
Their  own  connection  with  Judcea,  or  the  connection  of  their 
teachers  with  Judaea,  had  been  broken  before  the  day  of  Pentecost. 
Thus  their  Christianity  was  at  the  same  point  at  which  it  had 
stood  at  the  commencement  of  our  Lord^s  ministry.  They  were 
ignorant  of  the  full  meaning  of  the  death  of  Christ,  possibly  they 
did  not  even  know  the  fact  of  his  resurrection,  and  they  were  cer- 
tainly ignorant  of  the  mission  of  the  Comforter.  But  they  knew 
that  the  times  of  the  Messiah  were  come,  and  that  One  had  ap- 
peared in  whom  the  prophecies  were  fulfilled.  That  voice  had 
reached  them  which  cried,  "Prepare  ye  the  way  of  the  Lord"  (Isa. 
xl.  3).  They  felt  that  the  axe  was  laid  to  the  root  of  the  tree,  that 
"  the  kingdom  of  heaven  was  at  hand,"  that  "  the  knowledge  of 
salvation  was  come  to  those  that  sit  in  darkness"  (Luke  i.  77),  and 
that  the  children  of  Israel  were  everywhere  called  to  "repent." 
Such  as  were  in  this  religious  condition  were  evidently  prepared 
for  the  full  reception  of  Christianity  so  soon  as  it  was  presented  to 
them ;  and  we  see  that  they  were  welcomed  by  Paul  and  the 
Giristians  at  Ephesus  as  fellow-disciples  of  the  same  Lord  and 
Master. 

In  some  respects  Apollos  was  distinguished  from  the  other  dis- 
ciples of  John  the  Baptist  who  are  alluded  to  at  the  same  place 
and  nearly  at  the  same  time.  There  is  much  significance  in  the 
first  fact  that  is  stated,  that  he  was  "  born  at  Alexandria."  Some- 
thing has  been  said  by  us  already  concerning  the  Jews  of  Alex- 
andria and  their  theological  influence  in  the  age  of  the  apostles.  In 
the  establishment  of  a  religion  which  was  intended  to  be  the  com- 
plete fulfilment  of  Judaism,  and  to  be  universally  supreme  in  the 
Gentile  world,  we  should  expect  Alexandria  to  bear  her  part  as 
w^ell  as  Jerusalem.  The  Hellenistic  learning  fostered  by  the  foun- 
dations of  the  Ptolemies  might  be  made  the  handmaid  of  the  truth 
no  less  than  the  older  learning  of  Judaea  and  the  schools  of  the 
Hebrews.  As  regards  Apollos,  he  was  not  only  an  Alexandrian 
Jew  by  birth,  but  he  had  a  high  reputation  for  an  eloquent  and 
forcible  power  of  speaking,  and  had  probably  been  well  trained  in 
the  rhetorical  schools  on  the  banks  of  the  Nile.  But  though  he 
yj2js,  endued  with  the  eloquence  of  a  Greek  orator,  the  subjects  of  his 


BOLDNESS  OF  APOLLOS. 


387 


study  and  teaching  were  the  Scriptures  of  his  forefathers.  The 
character  which  he  bore  in  the  synagogues  was  that  of  a  man 
mighty  in  the  Scriptures."  In  addition  to  these  advantages  of 
birth  and  education,  he  seems  to  have  had  the  fullest  and  most 
systematic  instruction  in  the  gospel  which  a  disciple  of  John  could 
possibly  receive.  Whether  from  the  Baptist  himself,  or  from  some 
of  those  who  travelled  into  other  lands  with  his  teaching  as  their 
possession,  A  polios  had  received  full  and  accurate  instruction  in 
the  way  of  the  Lord.''  We  are  further  told  that  his  character 
was  marked  by  a  fervent  zeal  for  spreading  the  truth.  Thus  we 
may  conceive  of  him  as  travelling,  like  a  second  Baptist,  beyond 
the  frontiers  of  Judsea — expounding  the  prophecies  of  the  Old 
Testament,  announcing  that  the  times  of  the  Messiah  were  come, 
and  calling  the  Jews  to  repentance  in  the  spirit  of  Elias.  Hence 
he  was,  like  his  great  teacher,  diligently  "  preparing  the  way  of 
the  Lord."  Though  ignorant  of  the  momentous  facts  which  had 
succeeded  the  resurrection  and  ascension,  he  was  turning  the 
hearts  of  the  "disobedient  to  the  wisdom  of  the  just"  and  "mak- 
ing ready  a  people  for  the  Lord,"  whom  he  was  soon  to  know 
"  more  perfectly."  Himself  "  a  burning  and  shining  light,"  he 
bore  witness  to  "that  Light  which  lighteth  every  man  that  cometh 
into  the  world,"  as,  on  the  other  hand,  he  was  a  "swift  witness'' 
against  those  Israelites  whose  lives  were  unholy,  and  came  among 
them  "  to  purify  the  sons  of  Levi,  that  they  might  offer  unto  the 
Lord  an  offering  in  righteousness,"  and  to  proclaim  that  if  they 
were  unfaithful  God  was  still  able  "  to  raise  up  children  unto 
Abraham." 

Thus  burning  with  zeal  and  confident  of  the  truth  of  what  he 
had  learnt,  he  s})oke  out  boldly  in  the  synagogue.  An  intense 
interest  must  have  been  excited  about  this  time  concerning  the 
Messiah  in  the  synagogue  at  Ephesus.  Paul  had  recently  been 
there,  and  departed  with  the  promise  of  return.  Aquila  and 
Priscilla,  though  taking  no  forward  part  as  public  teachers,  would 
diligently  keep  the  subject  of  the  apostle's  teaching  before  the  minda 
of  the  Israelites.  And  now  an  Alexandrian  Jew  presented  himse'il 
among  them  bearing  testimony  to  the  same  Messiah  with  singular 
eloquence  and  with  great  power  in  the  interpretation  of  Scripture. 
Thus  an  unconscious  preparation  was  made  for  the  arrival  of  the 
apostle,  who  was  even  now  travelling  towards  Ephesus  through 
the  uplands  of  Asia  Minor. 


388  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


The  teaching  of  Apollos,  though  eloquent,  learned,  and  zealous, 
was  seriously  defective.  But  God  had  provided  among  his  listeners 
those  who  could  instruct  him  more  perfectly.  Aquila  and  Pris- 
cilla  felt  that  he  was  proclaiming  the  same  truth  in  which  they  had 
been  instructed  at  Corinth.  They  could  inform  him  that  they  had 
met  with  one  who  had  taught  with  authority  far  more  concerning 
Christ  than  had  been  known  even  to  John  the  Baptist,  and  they 
could  recount  to  him  the  miraculous  gifts  which  attested  the  out- 
pouring of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Thus  they  attached  themselves  closely 
to  Apollos,  and  gave  him  complete  instruction  in  that  "way  of  the 
Lord^'  which  he  had  already  taught  accurately,  though  imper- 
fectly ;  and  the  learned  Alexandrian  obtained  from  the  tentmakers 
a  knowledge  of  that  "  mystery  "  which  the  ancient  Scriptures  had 
only  partially  revealed. 

This  providential  meeting  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla  in  Asia  became 
the  means  of  promoting  the  spread  of  the  gospel  in  Achaia.  Now  that 
Apollos  was  made  fully  acquainted  with  the  Christian  doctrine,  his 
zeal  urged  him  to  go  where  it  had  been  firmly  established  by  an 
apostle.  It  is  possible,  too,  that  some  news  received  from  Cor- 
inth might  lead  him  to  suppose  that  he  could  be  of  active  service 
there  in  the  cause  of  truth.  The  Christians  of  Ephesus  encour- 
aged him  in  this  intention,  and  gave  him  "  letters  of  commenda- 
tion "  to  their  brethren  across  the  ^gean.  On  his  arrival  at  Cor- 
inth he  threw  himself  at  once  among  those  Jews  who  had  rejected 
Paul,  and  argued  with  them  publicly  and  zealously  on  the  ground 
of  their  Scriptures,  and  thus  became  "  a  valuable  support  to  those 
who  had  already  believed  through  the  grace  of  God;''  for  he  proved 
with  power  that  that  Jesus  who  had  been  crucified  at  Jerusalem,  and 
whom  Paul  was  proclaiming  throughout  the  world,  was  indeed  the 
Christ.  Thus  he  watered  where  Paul  had  planted,  and  God  gave 
an  abundant  increase  (1  Cor.  iii.  6).  And  yet  evil  grew  up  side  by 
side  with  the  good.  For  while  he  was  a  valuable  aid  to  the  Chris- 
tians and  a  formidable  antagonist  to  the  Jews,  and  while  he  was 
honestly  co-operating  in  Paul's  great  work  of  evangelizing  the 
world,  he  became  the  occasion  of  fostering  party  spirit  among  the 
Corinthians,  and  was  unwillingly  held  up  as  a  rival  of  the  apostle 
himself.  In  this  city  of  rhetoricians  and  sophists  the  erudition 
and  eloquent  speaking  of  Apollos  were  contrasted  with  the  un- 
learned simplicity  with  which  Paul  had  studiously  presented  the 
gospel  to  his  Corinthian  hearers.    Thus  many  attached  themselves 


THE  CITY  OF  EPHESUS. 


389 


to  the  new  i^acher  and  called  themselves  by  the  name  of  Apollos, 
while  others  ranged  themselves  as  the  party  of  Paul  (1  Cor.  i.  12), 
forgetting  that  Christ  could  not  be  divided,"  and  that  Paul  and 
Apollos  were  merely  "ministers  by  whom  they  had  believed"  (1 
Cor.  iii.  5).  We  have  no  reason  to  imagine  that  Apollos  himself 
encouraged  or  tolerated  such  unchristian  divisions.  A  proof  of 
his  strong  feeling  to  the  contrary  and  of  his  close  attachment  to 
Paul  is  furnished  by  that  letter  to  the  Corinthians  which  will  soon 
be  brought  under  our  notice,  when,  after  vehement  rebukes  of  the 
schismatic  spirit  prevailing  among  the  Corinthians,  it  is  said  "  touch- 
ing our  brother  Apollos  "  that  he  was  unwilling  to  return  to  them 
at  that  particular  time,  though  Paul  himself  had  "greatly  de- 
sired it." 

But  now  the  apostle  himself  is  about  to  arrive  in  Ephesus.  His 
residence  in  this  plage,  like  his  residence  in  Antioch  and  Corinth, 
is  a  subject  to  which  our  attention  is  particularly  called.  There- 
fore, all  the  features  of  the  city — its  appearance,  its  history,  the 
character  of  its  population,  its  political  and  mercantile  relations — 
possess  the  utmost  interest  for  us.  We  shall  defer  such  description 
to  a  future  chapter,  and  limit  ourselves  here  to  what  may  set  before 
the  reader  the  geographical  position  of  Ephesus  as  the  point  in 
which  PauPs  journey  from  Antioch  terminated  for  the  present. 

We  imagined  him  about  the  frontier  of  Asia  and  Phrygia  on  his 
approach  from  the  interior  to  the  sea.  From  this  region  of  vol- 
canic mountains  a  tract  of  country  extends  to  the  ^gean  which 
is  watered  by  two  of  the  long  western  rivers,  the  Hermus  and  the 
Mseander,  and  which  is  celebrated  through  an  extended  period  of 
classical  history,  and  is  sacred  to  us  as  the  scene  of  the  churches 
of  the  Apocalypse.  Near  the  mouth  of  one  of  these  rivers  is 
Smyrna;  near  that  of  the  other  is  Miletus.  The  islands  of  Samos 
and  Chios  are  respectively  opposite  the  projecting  portion  of  coast, 
where  the  rivers  flow  by  these  cities  to  the  sea.  Between  the  Her- 
mus and  the  Mseander  is  a  smaller  river,  named  the  Cayster, 
separated  from  the  latter  by  the  ridge  of  Messogis,  and  from  the 
former  by  Mount  Tmolus.  Here,  in  the  level  valley  of  the  Cay- 
ster, is  the  early  cradle  of  the  Asiatic  name,  the  district  of 
primeval  "Asia  " — not  as  understood  in  its  political  or  ecclesiastical 
sense,  but  the  Asia  of  old  poetic  legend.  And  here,  in  a  situation 
pre-eminent  among  the  excellent  positions  which  the  lonians 
chose  for  their  cities,  Ephesus  was  built  on  some  hills  near  the 


890 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


6ea.  For  some  time  after  its  foundation  by  Androclus  the 
Athenian  it  was  inferior  to  Miletus,  but  with  the  decay  of  the 
latter  city  in  the  Macedonian  and  Koman  periods  it  rose  to  greater 
eminence,  and  in  the  time  of  Paul  it  was  the  greatest  city  of  Asia 
Minor,  as  well  as  the  metropolis  of  the  provi7ice  of  Asia.  Though 
Greek  in  its  origin,  it  was  half  Oriental  in  the  prevalent  worship 
and  in  the  character  of  its  inhabitants ;  and  being  constantly 
visited  by  ships  from  all  parts  of  the  Mediterranean,  and  united 
by  great  roads  with  the  markets  of  the  interior,  it  was  the  common 
meeting-place  of  various  characters  and  classes  of  men. 

Among  those  whom  Paul  met  on  his  arrival  was  the  small  com- 
pany of  Jews  above  alluded  to  who  professed  the  imperfect  Chris- 
tianity of  John  the  Baptist.  By  this  time  Apollos  had  departed 
to  Corinth.  Those  "disciples'^  who  were  now  at  Ephesus  were  in 
the  same  religious  condition  in  which  he  had  been  when  Aquila 
and  Priscilla  first  spoke  to  him,  though  doubtless  they  were 
inferior  to  him  both  in  learning  and  zeal.  Paul  found,  on 
inquiry,  that  they  had  only  received  John's  baptism,  and  that  they 
were  ignorant  of  the  great  outpouring  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  which 
the  life  and  energy  of  the  Church  consisted.  They  were  even  per- 
plexed by  his  question.  He  then  pointed  out,  in  conformity  with 
what  had  been  said  by  John  the  Baptist  himself,  that  that  prophet 
only  preached  repentance  to  prepare  men's  minds  for  Christ,  who 
is  the  true  object  of  faith.  On  this  they  received  Christian  bap- 
tism, and  after  they  were  baptized  the  laying-on  of  the  apostle's 
hands  resulted,  as  in  all  other  churches,  in  the  miraculous  gifts  of 
tongues  and  of  prophecy. 

After  this  occurrence  has  been  mentioned  as  an  isolated  fact  our 
attention  is  called  to  the  great  teacher's  labors  in  the  synagogue. 
Doubtless,  Aquila  and  Priscilla  were  there.  Though  they  are  not 
mentioned  here  in  connection  with  Paul,  we  have  seen  them  so 
lately  (Acts  xviii.)  instructing  Apollos,  and  we  shall  find  them  so 
soon  again  sending  salutations  to  Corinth  in  the  apostle^"  letter 
from  Ephesus  (1  Cor.  xvi.)?  that  we  cannot  but  believe  he  met  his 
old  associates  and  again  experienced  the  benefit  of  their  aid.  It  is 
even  probable  that  he  again  worked  with  them  at  the  same  trade  ; 
for  in  the  address  to  the  Ephesian  elders  at  Miletus  (Acts  xx.  34) 
he  stated  that  his  own  hands  had  ministered  to  his  necessities, 
and  to  those  who  were  with  him,"  and  in  writing  to  the  Corinthians 
he  says  (1  Cor.  iv.  11,  12)  that  such  toil  had  continued  "even  to 


THE  SCHOOL  OF  TYRANNUS. 


891 


that  hour."  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  "  reasoned  "  in  the  syna- 
gogue at  Ephesus  with  the  same  zeal  and  energy  with  which  his 
spiritual  labors  had  been  begun  at  Corinth.  He  had  been  anxiously 
expected,  and  at  first  he  was  heartily  welcomed.  A  preparation 
for  his  teaching  had  been  made  by  Apollos  and  those  who  instructed 
him.  "  For  three  months  "  Paul  continued  to  speak  boldly  in  the 
synagogue,  "  arguing  and  endeavoring  to  convince  his  hearers  of 
all  that  related  to  the  kingdom  of  God."  The  hearts  of  some  were 
hardened,  while  others  repented  and  believed ;  and  in  the  end  the 
apostle's  doctrine  was  publicly  calumniated  by  the  Jews  before  the 
people.  On  this  he  openly  separated  himself  and  withdrew  the 
disciples  from  the  synagogue,  and  the  Christian  Church  at  Ephesus 
became  a  distinct  body,  separated  both  from  the  Jews  and  the 
Gentiles. 

As  the  house  of  Justus  at  Corinth  had  afforded  Paul  a  refuge 
from  calumny  and  an  opportunity  of  continuing  his  public  instruc- 
tion, so  here  he  had  recourse  to  the  school  of  Tyrannus,"  who 
was  probably  a  teacher  of  philosophy  or  rhetoric  converted  by  the 
apostle  to  Christianity.  His  labors  in  spreading  the  gospel  were 
here  continued  for  two  whole  years.  For  the  incidents  which 
occurred  during  this  residence,  for  the  persons  with  whom  the 
apostle  became  acquainted,  and  for  the  precise  subjects  of  his 
teaching,  we  have  no  letters  to  give  us  information  supplementary 
to  the  Acts,  as  in  the  cases  of  Thessalonica  and  Corinth,  inasmuch 
as  that  which  is  called  the  "Epistle  to  the  Ephesians"  enters  into 
no  personal  or  incidental  details.  But  we  have  in  the  address  to 
the  Ephesian  elders  at  Miletus  an  affecting  picture  of  an  apostle's 
labors  for  the  salvation  of  those  whom  his  Master  came  to  redeem. 
From  that  address  we  learn  that  his  voice  had  not  been  heard 
within  the  school  of  Tyrannus  alone,  but  that  he  had  gone  about 
among  his  converts,  instructing  them  "  from  house  to  house,"  and 
warning  "  each  one "  of  them  affectionately  "  with  tears."  The 
subject  of  his  teaching  was  ever  the  same  both  for  Jews  and  Greeks 
— "repentance  towards  God  and  faith  towards  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ."  Labors  so  incessant,  so  disinterested,  and  continued 
through  so  long  a  time  could  not  fail  to  produce  a  great  result  at 
Ephesus.  A  large  church  was  formed,  over  which  many  presbyters 
were  called  to  preside.  Nor  were  the  results  confined  to  the  city. 
Throughout  the  province  of  "Asia"  the  name  of  Christ  became 
generally  known,  both  to  the  Jews  and  the  Gentiles,  and  doubtless 


392         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


many  daughter-churches  were  founded,  whether  in  the  course  of 
journeys  undertaken  by  the  apostle  himself  or  by  means  of  those 
with  whom  he  became  acquainted;  as,  for  instance,  by  Epaphras. 
Archippus,  and  Philemon  in  connection  with  Colosse  and  its 
neighbor  cities  Hierapolis  and  Laodicea. 

It  is  during  this  interval  that  one  of  the  two  characteristics  of 
the  people  of  Ephesus  comes  prominently  into  view.  This  city 
was  renowned  throughout  the  world  for  the  worship  of  Diana 
and  the  practice  of  magic.  Though  it  was  Greek  city,  like  Athens 
or  Corinth,  the  manners  of  its  inhabitants  were  half  Oriental. 
The  image  of  the  tutelary  goddess  resembled  an  Indian  idol  rather 
than  the  beautiful  forms  which  crowded  the  Acropolis  of  Athens : 
and  the  enemy  which  Paul  had  to  oppose  was  not  a  vaunting 
philosophy,  as  at  Corinth,  but  a  dark  and  Asiatic  superstition. 
The  worship  of  Diana  and  the  practice  of  magic  were  closely 
connected  together.  Eustathius  says  that  the  mysterious  symbols 
called  "  Ephesian  Letters'^  were  engraved  on  the  crown,  the  girdle, 
and  the  feet  of  the  goddess.  These  Ephesian  letters  or  monograms 
have  been  compared  to  the  Eunic  characters  of  the  North.  When 
pronounced  they  were  regarded  as  a  charm,  and  were  directed  to 
be  used  especially  by  those  who  were  in  the  power  of  evil  spirits. 
When  written  they  were  carried  about  as  amulets.  Curious  stories 
are  told  of  their  influence.  Croesus  is  related  to  have  repeated  the 
mystic  syllables  when  on  his  funeral  pile ;  and  an  Ephesian  wrestler 
is  said  to  have  always  struggled  successfully  against  an  antagonist 
from  Miletus  until  he  lost  the  scroll,  which  before  had  been  like  a 
talisman.  The  study  of  these  symbols  was  an  elaborate  science, 
and  books,  both  numerous  and  costly,  were  compiled  by  its  pro- 
fessors. 

This  statement  throws  some  light  on  the  peculiar  character  of 
the  miracles  wrought  by  Paul  at  Ephesus.  We  are  not  to  suppose 
that  the  apostles  were  always  able  to  work  miracles  at  will.  An  in- 
flux of  supernatural  power  was  given  to  them  at  the  time  and  accord- 
ing to  the  circumstances  that  required  it.  And  the  character  of 
the  miracles  was  not  always  the  same.  They  were  accommodated 
to  the  peculiar  forms  of  sin,  superstition,  and  ignorance  they  were 
required  to  oppose.  Here,  at  Ephesus,  Paul  was  in  the  face  of 
magicians,  like  Moses  and  Aaron  before  Pharaoh ;  and  it  is  dis- 
tinctly said  that  his  miracles  were  "  not  ordinary  wonders,"  from 
which  we  may  infer  that  they  were  different  from  those  which  he 


EPHESIAN  MAGIC. 


393 


usually  performed.  We  know  in  the  case  of  our  blessed  Lord's 
miracles  that  tliough  the  change  was  usually  accomplished  on  the 
speaking  of  a  word,  intermediate  agency  was  sometimes  employed, 
as  when  the  blind  man  was  healed  at  the  Pool  of  Siloam.  A 
miracle  which  has  a  closer  reference  to  our  present  subject  is  that 
in  which  the  hem  of  Christ's  garment  was  made  effectual  to  the 
healing  of  a  poor  sufferer  and  the  conviction  of  the  bystanders. 
So  on  this  occasion  garments  were  made  the  means  of  communi- 
cating a  healing  power  to  those  who  w^ere  at  a  distance,  whether 
they  were  possessed  with  evil  spirits  or  afflicted  with  ordinary 
diseases.  Such  effects,  thus  publicly  manifested,  must  have  been 
a  signal  refutation  of  the  charms  and  amulets  and  mystic  letters 
of  Ephesus.  Yet  was  this  no  encouragement  to  blind  superstition. 
When  the  suffering  woman  was  healed  by  touching  the  hem  of 
the  garment,  the  Saviour  turned  round  and  said,  "Virtue  is  gone 
out  of  772f."  And  here  at  Ephesus  we  are  reminded  that  it  was 
God  who  "wrought  miracles  by  the  hands  of  Paul"  (v.  11),  and 
that  "  the  name,"  not  of  Paul,  but  "  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  was  mag- 
nified" (v.  17). 

These  miracles  must  have  produced  a  great  effect  upon  the 
minds  of  those  who  practised  curious  arts  in  Ephesus.  Among 
the  magicians  who  were  then  in  this  city  in  the  course  of  their 
wanderings  through  the  East,  were  several  Jewish  exorcists.  This 
is  a  circumstance  which  need  not  surprise  us.  The  stern  severity 
with  which  sorcery  was  forbidden  in  the  Old  Testament  attests 
the  early  tendency  of  the  Israelites  to  such  practices;  the  Talmud 
bears  witness  to  the  continuance  of  these  practices  at  a  later 
period ;  and  we  have  already  had  occasion,  in  the  course  of  this 
history,  to  notice  the  spread  of  Jewish  magicians  through  various 
parts  of  the  Roman  empire.  It  was  an  age  of  superstition  and  im- 
posture— an  age  also  in  which  the  powers  of  evil  manifested  them- 
selves with  peculiar  force.  Hence  we  find  Paul  classing  "witch- 
craft" among  the  works  of  the  flesh  (Gal.  v.  20),  and  solemnly 
warning  the  Galatians,  both  in  words  and  by  his  letters,  that  they 
who  practise  it  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God ;  and  it  is  of 
such  that  he  writes  to  Timothy  (2  Tim.  iii.  13)  that  "evil  men 
and  seducers  shall  wax  worse  and  worse,  deceiving  and  being  de- 
ceived." This  passage  in  Paul's  latest  letter  had  probably  refer- 
ence to  that  very  city  in  which  we  see  him  now  brought  into 
opposition  with  Jewish  sorcerers.    These  men,  believing  that  the 


894         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

name  of  Jesus  acted  as  a  charm,  and  recognizing  the  apostle  as  a 
Jew  like  themselves,  attempted  his  method  of  casting  out  evil 
spirits.  But  He  to  whom  the  demons  were  subject,  and  who  had 
given  to  his  servant  "  power  and  authority"  over  them  (Luke  ix. 
1),  had  shame  and  terror  in  store  for  those  who  presumed  thus  to 
take  his  holy  Name  in  vain. 

One  specific  instance  is  recorded  which  produced  disastrous  con- 
sequences to  those  who  made  the  attempt,  and  led  to  wide  results 
among  the  general  population.  In  the  number  of  those  who 
attempted  to  cast  out  evil  spirits  by  the  "  name  of  Jesus  "  were 
seven  brothers,  sons  of  Sceva,  who  is  called  a  high  priest,  either 
because  he  had  really  held  this  office  at  Jerusalem,  or  because  he 
was  chief  of  one  of  the  twenty-four  courses  of  priests.  But  the 
demons,  who  were  subject  to  Jesus,  and  by  his  will  subject  to  those 
who  preached  his  gospel,  treated  with  scorn  those  who  used  his 
Name  without  being  converted  to  his  truth.  "Jesus  I  know,  and 
Paul  I  know  ;  but  who  are  ye?  "  was  the  answer  of  the  evil  spirit. 
And  straightway  the  man  who  was  possessed  sprang  upon  them 
with  frantic  violence,  so  that  they  were  utterly  discomfited,  and 
"fled  out  of  the  house  naked  and  wounded.*' 

This  fearful  result  of  the  profane  use  of  that  holy  Name  which 
was  proclaimed  by  the  apostles  for  the  salvation  of  all  men  soon 
became  notorious,  both  among  the  Greeks  and  the  Jews.  Con- 
sternation and  alarm  took  possession  of  the  minds  of  many,  and 
in  proportion  to  this  alarm  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  began  to 
be  reverenced  and  honored.  Even  among  those  who  had  given 
their  faith  to  Paul's  preaching,  some  appear  to  have  retained  their 
attachment  to  the  practice  of  magical  arts.  Their  conscience  was 
moved  by  what  had  recently  occurred,  and  they  came  and  made  a 
full  confession  to  the  apostle,  and  publicly  acknowledged  and 
forsook  their  deeds  of  darkness. 

The  fear  and  conviction  seem  to  have  extended  beyond  those 
who  made  a  profession  of  Christianity.  A  large  number  of  the 
sorcerers  themselves  openly  renounced  the  practice  which  had 
been  so  signally  condemned  by  a  higher  power,  and  they  brought 
together  the  books  that  contained  the  mystic  formularies  and  burnt 
them  before  all  the  people.  When  the  volumes  were  consumed 
they  proceeded  to  reckon  up  the  price  at  which  these  manuals  of 
enchantment  would  be  valued.  Such  books,  from  their  very 
nature,  would  be  costly,  and  id\  books  in  that  age  bore  a  value 


BURNING  OF  THE  BOOKS. 


395 


which  is  far  above  any  standard  with  which  we  are  familiar. 
Hence  we  must  not  be  surprised  that  the  whole  cost  thus  sacrificed 
and  surrendered  amounted  to  as  much  as  two  thousand  pounds  of 
English  money.  This  scene  must  have  been  long  remembered  at 
Ephesus.  It  was  a  strong  proof  of  honest  conviction  on  the  part 
of  the  sorcerers,  and  a  striking  attestation  of  the  triumph  of  J esus 
Christ  over  the  powers  of  darkness.  The  workers  of  evil  were 
put  to  scorn,  like  the  priests  of  Baal  by  Elijah  on  Mount  Carmel, 
and  the  teaching  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ  "  increased  mightily  and 
grew  strong." 

With  this  narrative  of  the  burning  of  the  books  we  have  nearly 
reached  the  term  of  Paul's  three  years'  residence  at  Ephesus. 
Before  his  departure,  however,  two  important  subjects  demand  our 
attention,  each  of  which  may  be  treated  in  a  separate  chapter — 
the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  with  the  circumstances  in 
Achaia  which  led  to  the  writing  of  it,  and  the  uproar  in  the 
Ephesian  theatre,  which  will  be  considered  in  connection  with  a 
description  of  the  city  and  some  notice  of  the  worship  of  Diana. 


CHAPTER  XV. 


PAUL  PAYS  A  SHORT  VISIT  TO  CORINTH. — RETURNS  TO  EPHE- 
SUS. — WRITES  A  LETTER  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS,  WHICH  IS  NOW 
LOST. — THEY  REPLY,  DESIRING  FARTHER  EXPLANATIONS. — 
STATE  OF  THE  CORINTHIAN  CHURCH. — PAUL  WRITES  "THE 
FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS." 

We  have  hitherto  derived  such  information  as  we  possess  con- 
cerning the  proceedings  of  Paul  at  Ephesus  from  the  narrative 
in  the  Acts,  but  v/e  must  now  record  an  occurrence  which  Luke 
has  passed  over  in  silence,  and  which  we  know  only  from  a  few 
incidental  allusions  in  the  letters  of  the  apostle  himself.  This 
occurrence,  which  probably  took  place  not  later  than  the  beginning 
of  the  second  year  of  Paul's  residence  at  Ephesus,  was  a  short  visit 
which  he  paid  to  the  Church  at  Corinth. 

If  we  had  not  possessed  any  direct  information  that  such  a  visit 
had  been  made,  yet  in  itself  it  w^ould  have  seemed  highly  probable 
that  Paul  would  not  have  remained  three  years  at  Ephesus  with- 
out revisiting  his  Corinthian  converts.  We  have  already  remarked 
on  the  facility  of  communication  which  existed  between  these  two 
great  cities,  which  were  united  by  a  continual  reciprocity  of  com- 
merce and  were  the  capitals  of  two  peaceful  provinces.  And  we 
have  seen  examples  of  the  intercourse  which  actually  took  place 
between  the  Christians  of  the  two  churches,  both  in  the  case  of 
Aquila  and  Priscilla,  who  had  migrated  from  the  one  to  the  other, 
and  in  that  of  Apollos,  concerning  whom,  "  when  he  was  disposed 
to  pass  into  Achaia,''  "  the  brethren  [at  Ephesus]  wrote,  exhorting 
the  disciples  [at  Corinth]  to  receive  him"  (Acts  xviii.  27).  We 
have  seen  in  the  last  chapter  some  of  the  results  of  this  visit  of 
Apollos  to  Corinth ;  he  was  now  probably  returned  to  Ephesus, 
where  we  know  that  he  was  remaining  (and,  it  would  seem,  sta- 
tionary) during  the  third  year  of  Paul's  residence  in  that  capital. 
No  doubt  on  his  return  he  had  much  to  rell  of  the  Corinthian  con- 
verts to  their  father  in  the  faith — much  of  joy  and  hope,  but  also 
396 


A  SHORT  VISIT  TO  CORINTH. 


397 


much  of  pain,  to  communicate ;  for  tliere  can  be  little  doubt  that 
those  tares  among  the  wheat  which  we  shall  presently  see  in  their 
maturer  growth  had  already  begun  to  germinate,  although  neither 
Paul  had  planted  nor  Apollos  watered  them.  One  evil,  at  least, 
we  know,  prevailed  extensively,  and  threatened  to  corrupt  the 
whole  Church  of  Corinth.  This  was  nothing  less  than  the  addic- 
tion of  many  Corinthian  Christians  to  those  sins  of  impurity  which 
they  had  practised  in  the  days  of  their  heathenism,  and  which  dis- 
graced their  native  city  even  among  the  heathen.  We  have  before 
mentioned  the  peculiar  licentiousness  of  manners  which  prevailed 
at  Corinth.  So  notorious  was  this  that  it  had  actually  passed  into 
the  vocabulary  of  the  Greek  tongue,  and  the  very  verb  "  to  Cor- 
inthianize"  meant  "to  play  the  wanton; "  nay,  the  bad  reputation 
of  the  city  had  become  proverbial  even  in  foreign  languages,  and 
is  immortalized  by  the  Latin  poets.  Such  being  the  habits  in 
which  many  of  the  Corinthian  converts  had  been  educated,  we 
cannot  wonder  if  it  proved  most  difficult  to  root  out  immorality 
from  the  rising  Church.  The  offenders  against  Christian  chastity 
were  exceedingly  numerous  at  this  period,  and  it  was  especially 
with  the  object  of  attemping  to  reform  them  and  to  check  the 
growing  mischief  that  Paul  now  determined  to  visit  Corinth. 

He  has  himself  described  this  visit  as  a  painful  one ;  he  went  in 
sorrow  at  the  tidings  he  had  received,  and  w^hen  he  arrived  he  found 
the  state  of  things  even  worse  than  he  had  expected ;  he  tells  us 
that  it  was  a  time  of  personal  humiliation  to  himself,  occasioned 
by  the  flagrant  sins  of  so  many  of  his  own  converts ;  he  reminds 
the  Corinthians  afterward  how  he  had  "  mourned  "  over  those  who 
had  dishonored  the  name  of  Christ  by  "the  uncleanness  and  for- 
nication and  wantonness  which  they  had  committed.'^ 

But  in  the  midst  of  his  grief  he  showed  the  greatest  tenderness 
for  the  individual  offenders  ;  he  warned  them  of  the  heinous  guilt 
which  they  were  incurring;  he  showed  them  its  inconsistency  with 
their  Christian  calling;  he  reminded  them  how  at  their  baptism 
they  had  died  to  sin  and  risen  again  unto  righteousness ;  but  he 
did  not  at  once  exclude  them  from  the  Church  which  they  had 
defiled.  Yet  he  was  compelled  to  threaten  them  with  this  penalty 
if  they  persevered  in  the  sins  which  had  now  called  forth  his  re- 
buke. He  has  recorded  the  very  words  which  he  used.  "If  I 
come  again,''  he  said,  "  I  will  not  spare.'' 

It  appears  probable  that  on  this  occasion  Paul  remained  but  a 


898  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


very  short  time  at  Corintli.  When  afterward,  in  writing  to  them, 
he  says  that  he  does  not  wish  "  now  to  pay  them  a  passing  visit," 
he  seems  to  imply  that  his  last  visit  had  deserved  that  epithet. 
Moreover,  had  it  occupied  a  large  portion  of  the  "space  of  three 
years  "  which  he  describes  himself  to  have  spent  at  Ephesus  (Acts 
XX.  31),  he  would  probably  have  expressed  himself  differently  in 
that  part  of  his  address  to  the  Ephesian  presbyters ;  and  a  long 
visit  could  scarcely  have  failed  to  furnish  more  allusions  in  the 
Epistles  so  soon  after  written  to  Corinth.  The  silence  of  Luke  also, 
which  is  easily  explained  on  the  supposition  of  a  short  visit,  would 
be  less  natural  had  Paul  been  long  absent  from  Ephesus,  where  he 
appears  from  the  narrative  in  the  Acts  to  be  stationary  during  all 
this  period. 

On  these  grounds  we  suppose  that  the  apostle,  availing  himself 
of  the  constant  maritime  intercourse  between  the  two  cities,  had 
gone  by  sea  to  Corinth,  and  that  he  now  returned  to  Ephesus  by 
the  same  route  (which  was  very  much  shorter  than  that  by  land), 
after  spending  a  few  days  or  weeks  at  Corinth. 

But  his  censures  and  warnings  had  produced  too  little  effect 
upon  his  converts ;  his  mildness  had  been  mistaken  for  weakness ; 
his  hesitation  in  punishing  had  been  ascribed  to  a  fear  of  the 
offenders ;  and  it  was  not  long  before  he  received  new  intelligence 
that  the  profligacy  which  had  infected  the  community  was  still 
increasing.  Then  it  was  that  he  felt  himself  compelled  to  resort 
to  harsher  measures ;  he  wrote  an  Epistle  (which  has  not  been  pre- 
served to  us)  in  which,  as  we  learn  from  himself,  he  ordered  the 
Christians  of  Corinth,  by  virtue  of  his  apostolic  authority,  "  to 
cease  from  all  intercourse  with  fornicators."  By  this  he  meant,  as 
he  subsequently  explained  his  injunctions,  to  direct  the  exclusion 
of  all  profligates  from  the  Church.  The  Corinthians,  however, 
either  did  not  understand  this,  or  (to  excuse  themselves)  they 
affected  not  to  do  so ;  for  they  asked.  How  was  it  possible  for  them 
to  abstain  from  all  intercourse  with  the  profligate,  unless  they 
entirely  secluded  themselves  from  all  the  business  of  life  which 
they  had  to  transact  with  their  heathen  neighbors  ?  Whether  the 
lost  Epistle  contained  any  other  topics  we  cannot  know  with  cer- 
tainty, but  we  may  conclude  with  some  probability  that  it  was  very 
short  and  directed  to  this  one  subject;  otherwise  it  is  not  easy  to 
understand  why  it  should  not  have  been  preserved  together  with 
the  two  subsequent  Epistles. 


CONDITION  OF  THE  CORINTHIAN  CHURCH.  399 


Soon  after  this  short  letter  had  been  despatched,  Timotheus, 
accompanied  by  Erastus,  left  Ephesus  for  Macedonia.  Paul  de- 
sired him,  if  possible,  to  continue  his  journey  to  Corinth,  but  did 
not  feel  certain  that  it  would  be  possible  for  him  to  do  so  con- 
sistently with  the  other  objects  of  his  journey,  which  probably  had 
reference  to  the  great  collection  now  going  on  for  the  poor  Hebrew 
Christians  at  Jerusalem. 

Meantime,  some  members  of  the  household  of  Chloe,  a  dis- 
tinguished Christian  family  at  Corinth,  arrived  at  Ephesus,  and 
from  them  Paul  received  fuller  information  than  he  before  pos- 
sessed of  the  condition  of  the  Corinthian  Church.  The  spirit  of 
party  had  seized  upon  its  members  and  wellnigh  destroyed  Chris- 
tian love.  We  have  already  seen,  in  our  general  view  of  the  divisions 
of  the  apostolic  Church,  that  the  great  parties  which  then  divided 
the  Christian  world  had  ranked  themselves  under  the  names  of 
different  apostles,  w^hom  they  attempted  to  set  up  against  each 
other  as  rival  leaders.  At  Corinth,  as  in  other  places,  emissaries 
had  arrived  from  the  Judaizers  of  Palestine  who  boasted  of  their 
"  letters  of  commendation  "  from  the  metropolis  of  the  faith ;  they 
did  not,  however,  attempt  as  yet  to  insist  upon  circumcision,  as  we 
shall  find  them  doing  successfully  among  the  simpler  population 
of  Galatia.  This  would  have  been  hopeless  in  a  great  and  civilized 
community  like  that  of  Corinth,  imbued  with  Greek  feelings  of 
contempt  for  what  they  would  have  deemed  a  barbarous  supersti- 
tion. Here,  therefore,  the  Judaizers  confined  themselves,  in  the 
first  instance,  to  personal  attacks  against  Paul,  whose  apostleship 
they  denied,  whose  motives  they  calumniated,  and  whose  authority 
they  persuaded  the  Corinthians  to  repudiate.  Some  of  them  de- 
clared themselves  the  followers  of  Cephas,  whom  the  Lord  himself 
had  selected  to  be  the  chief  apostle;  others  (probably  the  more 
extreme  members  of  the  party)  boasted  of  their  own  immediate 
connection  with  Christ  himself  and  their  intimacy  with  "the 
brethren  of  the  Lord,"  and  especially  with  James,  the  head  of 
the  Church  at  Jerusalem.  The  endeavors  of  these  agitators  to 
undermine  the  influence  of  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  met  with 
undeserved  success,  and  they  gained  over  a  strong  party  to  their 
side.  Meanwhile,  those  who  were  still  steadfast  to  the  doctrines 
of  Paul  were  not  all  unshaken  in  their  attachment  to  his  person  : 
a  portion  of  them  preferred  the  Alexandrian  learning  with  which 
ApoUos  had  enforced  his  preaching  to  the  simple  style  of  their 


400  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

first  teacher,  who  had  designedly  abstained  at  Corinth  from  any- 
thing like  philosophical  argumentation.  This  party,  then,  who 
sought  to  form  for  themselves  a  philosophical  Christianity,  called 
themselves  the  followers  of  Apollos,  although  the  latter,  for  his 
part,  evidently  disclaimed  the  rivalry  with  Paul  which  was  thus 
implied,  and  even  refused  to  revisit  Corinth  lest  he  should  seem  to 
countenance  the  factious  spirit  of  his  adherents. 

It  is  not  impossible  that  the  Antinomian  free-thinkers,  whom  we 
have  already  seen  to  form  so  dangerous  a  portion  of  the  primitive 
Church,  attached  themselves  to  this  last-named  party ;  at  any  rate, 
they  were  at  this  time  one  of  the  worst  elements  of  evil  at  Cor- 
inth :  they  put  forward  a  theoretic  defence  of  the  practical  immo- 
rality in  which  they  lived,  and  some  of  them  had  so  lost  the  very 
foundation  of  Christian  faith  as  to  deny  the  resurrection  of  the 
dead,  and  thus  to  adopt  the  belief  as  well  as  the  sensuality  of  their 
Epicurean  neighbors,  whose  motto  was,  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for 
to-morrow  we  die." 

A  crime  recently  committed  by  one  of  these  pretended  Chris- 
tians was  now  reported  to  Paul,  and  excited  his  utmost  abhor- 
rence :  a  member  of  the  Corinthian  Church  was  openly  living  in 
incestuous  intercourse  with  his  stepmother,  and  that  during  his 
father's  life;  yet  this  audacious  offender  was  not  excluded  from 
the  Church. 

Nor  were  these  the  only  evils:  some  Christians  were  showing 
their  total  want  of  brotherly  love  by  bringing  vexatious  actions 
against  their  brethren  in  the  heathen  courts  of  law ;  others  were 
turning  even  the  spiritual  gifts  which  they  had  received  from  the 
Holy  Ghost  into  occasions  of  vanity  and  display,  not  unaccom- 
panied by  fanatical  delusion ;  the  decent  order  of  Christian  wor- 
ship was  disturbed  by  the  tumultuary  claims  of  rival  ministra- 
tions ;  women  had  forgotten  the  modesty  of  their  sex,  and  came 
forward  unveiled  (contrary  to  the  habit  of  their  country)  to  ad- 
dress the  public  assembly  ;  and  even  the  sanctity  of  the  holy  com- 
munion itself  was  profaned  by  scenes  of  revelling  and  debauch. 

About  the  same  time  that  all  this  disastrous  intelligence  was 
brought  to  Paul  by  the  household  of  Chloe,  other  messengers 
arrived  from  Corinth  bearing  the  answer  of  the  Church  to  his 
previous  letter,  of  which  (as  we  have  mentioned  above)  they  re- 
quested an  explanation,  and  at  the  same  time  referring  to  his  de- 
cision several  questions  which  caused  dispute  and  difficulty.  These 


Paul's  reply  to  the  corinthians. 


401 


questions  related — 1st,  to  the  controversies  respecting  meat  which 
had  been  offered  to  idols ;  2dly,  to  the  disputes  regarding  celibacy 
and  matrimony,  the  right  of  divorce,  and  the  perplexities  which 
arose  in  the  case  of  mixed  marriages  where  one  of  the  parties  was 
an  unbeliever;  3dly,  to  the  exercise  of  spiritual  gifts  in  the  public 
assemblies  of  the  Church. 

Paul  hastened  to  reply  to  these  questions,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  denounce  the  sins  which  had  polluted  the  Corinthian  Church 
and  almost  annulled  its  right  to  the  name  of  Christian.  The  letter 
which  he  w^as  thus  led  to  write  is  addressed  not  only  to  this  metro- 
politan Church,  but  also  to  the  Christian  communities  established 
in  other  places  in  the  same  province,  which  might  be  regarded  as 
dependencies  of  that  in  the  capital  city ;  hence  w^e  must  infer  that 
these  churches  also  had  been  infected  by  some  of  the  errors  or  vices 
which  had  prevailed  at  Corinth.  This  letter  is,  in  its  contents,  the 
most  diversified  of  all  Paul's  Epistles,  and  in  proportion  to  the 
variety  of  its  topics  is  the  depth  of  its  interest  for  ourselves.  For 
by  it  we  are  introduced,  as  it  w^ere,  behind  the  scenes  of  the  apos- 
tolic Church,  and  its  minutest  features  are  revealed  to  us  under  the 
light  of  daily  life.  We  see  the  picture  of  a  Christian  congregation 
as  it  met  for  worship  in  some  upper  chamber,  such  as  the  house 
of  Aquila  or  of  Gains  could  furnish.  We  see  that  these  seasons  of 
pure  devotion  were  not  unalloyed  by  human  vanity  and  excitement ; 
yet,  on  the  other  hand,  w^e  behold  the  heathen  auditor  pierced  to 
the  heart  by  the  inspired  eloquence  of  the  Christian  prophets,  the 
secrets  of  his  conscience  laid  bare  to  him,  and  himself  constrained 
to  fall  down  on  his  face  and  worship  God ;  we  hear  the  fervent 
thanksgiving  echoed  by  the  unanimous  amen ;  we  see  the  admin- 
istration of  the  holy  communion  terminating  the  feast  of  love. 
Again,  we  become  familiar  with  the  perplexities  of  domestic  life, 
the  corrupting  proximity  of  heathen  immorality,  the  lingering 
superstition,  the  rash  speculation,  the  lawless  perversion  of  Chris- 
tian liberty ;  we  witness  the  strife  of  theological  factions,  the  party 
names,  the  sectarian  animosities.  We  perceive  the  difficulty  of  the 
task  imposed  upon  the  apostle,  who  must  guard  from  so  many  perils 
and  guide  through  so  many  difficulties  his  children  in  the  faith, 
whom  else  he  had  begotten  in  vain ;  and  we  learn  to  appreciate 
more  fully  the  magnitude  of  that  laborious  responsibility  under 
which  he  describes  himself  as  almost  ready  to  sink — "  the  care  of 
all  the  churches." 
26 


402  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


But  wliile  we  rejoice  that  so  many  details  of  the  deepest  histor- 
ical interest  have  been  preserved  to  us  by  this  Epistle,  let  us  not 
forget  to  thank  God,  who  so  inspired  his  apostle  that  in  his  answers 
to  questions  of  transitory  interest  he  has  laid  down  principles  of 
eternal  obligation.  Let  us  trace  with  gratitude  the  providence  of 
Him  who  "  out  of  darkness  calls  up  light,'^  by  whose  mercy  it  was 
provided  that  the  unchastity  of  the  Corinthians  should  occasion  the 
sacred  laws  of  moral  purity  to  be  established  for  ever  through  the 
Christian  world — that  their  denial  of  the  resurrection  should  cause 
those  words  to  be  recorded  whereon  reposes,  as  upon  a  rock  that 
cannot  be  shaken,  our  sure  and  certain  hope  of  immortality. 

The  following  is  a  translation  of  the  Epistle,  which  was  written 
at  Easter  in  the  third  year  of  Paul's  residence  at  Ephesus  ; 


FIEST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COEINTHIANS. 
I. 

1  Paul,  a  called  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  salutation. 

2  God,  and  Sosthenes  the  brother,  greet  the  Church  of 

God  at  Corinth,  who  have  been  hallowed  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  called 
to  be  his  holy  people,  together  with  all  who  worship  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord  in  every  place  which  is  their  home,  and  our  home  also. 

3  Grace  be  unto  you  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father,  and  from  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

4  I  thank  my  God  continually  on  your  behalf,  for  the  introductory 

,  .  tnanks^wing 

grace  which  he  gave  you  [at  the  first]  in  Christ  Jesus,  for  their  con- 

5  Because,  in  him,  you  were  every-wise  enriched  with  all 

6  the  gifts  of  speech  and  knowledge  (for  thus  my  testimony  to  Christ 

7  was  confirmed  among  you),  so  that  you  came  behind  no  other  church 
in  any  spiritual  gift ;  looking  earnestly  for  the  time  when  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  shall  be  revealed  to  our  sight. 

8  And  he  also  will  confirm  you  unto  the  end,  that  you  may  be  with- 

9  out  reproach  at  the  day  of  his  coming.  For  God  is  faithful,  by  whom 
you  were  called  into  fellowship  with  his  Son,  Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord 
and  Master. 

10  Nevertheless,  brethren,  I  exhort  you,  by  the  name  of  Bebuke 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to  shun  disputes,  and  sufibr  no  spirit,  aucFspe- 

....  1     1     •  ^       '      ^  cial  censure  of 

divisions  among  you,  but  to  be  knit  together  m  the  same  the  pseudo- 

11  mind,  and  the  same  judgment.    For  tidings  have  been  partyT^^^^*^* 
brought  to  me  concerning  you,  my  brethren,  by  the 
members  of  Chloe's  household,  whereby  I  have  learnt  that  there  are 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


403 


12  contentions  among  you.  I  mean,  that  one  of  you  says,  "  I  am  a 
follower  of  Paul another,   "  I  of  Apollos another,   "  I  of 

13  Cephas;''  another,  "I  of  Christ."    Is  Christ  divided?    Was  Paul 

14  crucified  for  you  ?  or  were  you  baptized  unto  the  name  of  Paul.  I 
thank  God  that  I  baptized  none  of  you  except  Crispus  and  Gains 

15, 16  (lest  any  one  should  say  that  I  baptized  unto  my  own  name) ;  and 
I  baptized  also  the  household  of  Stephanas ;  besides  these  I  know  not 

17  that  I  baptized  any  other.  For  Christ  sent  me  forth  as  his  apostle, 
not  to  baptize,  but  to  publish  his  glad  tidings ;  and  that,  not  with  the 
wisdom  of  argument,  lest  thereby  the  cross  of  Christ  should  lose  its 

18  mark  of  shame.  For  the  tidings  of  the  cross,  to  those  in  the  way  of 
perdition,  are  folly ;  but  to  us,  in  the  way  of  salvation,  they  are  the 

1 9  power  of  God.    And  so  it  is  written,  "  I  will  destroy  the  wisdom  of  the 

20  wise,  and  bring  to  nothing  the  understanding  of  the  prudentJ^  Where  is 
the  philosopher  ?  Where  is  the  rabbi  ?  Where  is  the  reasoner  of 
this  passing  world  ?    Has  not  God  turned  this  world's  wisdom  into 

21  folly  ?  For  when  the  world  had  failed  to  gain  by  its  wisdom  the 
knowledge  of  the  wisdom  of  God,  it  pleased  God,  by  the  folly  of  our 

22  preaching,  to  save  those  who  have  faith  therein.  For  the  Jews  ask 
for  a  sign  from  heaven,  and  the  Greeks  demand  a  system  of  philos- 

23  ophy  ;  but  we  proclaim  a  Messiah  crucified,  to  the  Jews  a  stumbling- 

24  block,  and  to  the  Greeks  a  folly;  but  to  the  called  themselves, 
whether  they  be  Jews  or  Greeks,  Christ  the  power  of  God,  and  the 

25  wisdom  of  God.  For  the  folly  which  is  of  God,  is  wiser  than  man's 
wisdom,  and  the  weakness  which  is  of  God,  is  stronger  than  man's 

26  strength.  For  you  see,  brethren,  how  God  has  called  you  ;  how  few 
of  you  are  wise  in  earthly  wisdom,  how  few  are  powerful,  how  few 

27  are  noble.  But  what  the  world  thinks  folly,  God  has  chosen,  to  con- 
found its  wisdom ;  and  what  it  holds  for  weakness  he  has  chosen,  to 

28  confound  its  strength  ;  and  what  the  world  counts  base  and  scorns  as 
worthless,  nay,  what  it  deems  to  have  no  being,  God  has  chosen,  to 

29  bring  to  naught  the  things  that  be ;  that  no  flesh  should  glory  in  his 

30  presence.  But  you  he  owns  for  his  children  in  Christ  Jesus,  who 
has  become  to  us  God's  wisdom,  and  righteousness,  and  sanctification, 

31  and  redemption ;  that  the  Scripture  might  be  fulfilled  which  saith, 
"  He  that  gloriethj  let  him  glory  in  the  Lord  J  ^ 

II. 

1     So,  brethren,  when  I  myself  first  came  to  declare  J"  ^^'^  own 

'  *'  teaching  he 

among  you  the  testimony  of  God,  I  came  not  with  anv  ^^^^  aimed 

f»  .         1  Ml      P     -I  1.1         1  .     at  establisbing 

Z  surpassing  skill  or  eloquence,  or  philosophy.  For  it  a  reputation 
was  no  eartlily  knowledge  which  I  determined  to  dis-  o7  eioqiTe^nce^ 


404 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


play  among  you,  but  the  knowledge  of  Jesus  Christ  g^jfpe^i.^ 

3  alone,  and  him — crucified.     And  in  my  intercourse  natural  power 

'  ^  ^  and  wisdom 

with  you,  I  was  weisjhed  down  by  a  feelino-  of  my  weak-  which  belongs 
ness,  and  was  filled  with  anxiety,  and  self-distrust,  of  God. 

4  And  when  I  proclaimed  my  message,  I  used  not  the  persuasive  argu- 
ments of  human  wisdom,  but  showed  forth  by  sure  proofs  the  miglit 

6  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  your  faith  might  have  its  foundation  not  in 
the  wisdom  of  men,  but  in  the  power  of  God. 

6  Nevertheless,  among  those  who  are  ripe  in  knowledge  I  speak  wis- 
dom ;  albeit  not  the  w^isdom  of  this  passing  world,  nor  of  those  who 

7  rule  it,  whose  greatness  will  soon  be  nothing.  But  it  is  God's  wis- 
dom that  I  speak ;  whereof  the  secret  is  made  known  to  his  people, 
even  the  hidden  wisdom  which  God  ordained  before  the  ages, 

8  that  we  might  be  glorified  thereby.  But  the  rulers  of  this  world 
knew  it  not ;  for  had  they  known  it,  they  would  not  have  crucified 

9  the  Lord  of  glory.  But  as  it  is  written,  "  Eye  hath  not  seen^  nor  ear 
heardy  neither  have  entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which  God 

10  hath  prepared  for  them  that  love  himj^  Yet  to  us  God  has  revealed 
them  by  his  Spirit,  for  the  Spirit  fathoms  all  things,  even  the  deepest 

11  counsels  of  God.  For  who  can  know  what  is  in  a  man  but  the  spirit 
of  the  man  which  is  within  him  ?  even  so  none  can  know  what  is  in 

12  God,  but  the  Spirit  of  God  alone.  Now  to  us  has  been  granted,  not 
the  spirit  of  this  world,  but  the  Spirit  which  is  of  God;  that  we 
might  understand  those  good  things  which  have  been  freely  given  us 
by  God. 

13  These  are  the  things  whereof  we  speak,  in  words  not  taught  by 
man's  wisdom,  but  by  the  Holy  Spirit ;  explaining  spiritual  things 

14  to  spiritual  men.  But  the  natural  man  rejects  the  teaching  of  God's 
Spirit,  for  to  him  it  is  folly ;  and  it  must  needs  be  beyond  his  know- 

15  ledge,  for  the  spiritual  mind  alone  can  judge  thereof.  But  the 
spiritual  man  judges  all  things  truly,  yet  cannot  himself  be  truly 

16  judged  by  others.  For  "  Who  hath  knoion  the  mind  of  the  Lord,  that 
he  may  instruct  him     but  we  have  the  mind  of  the  Lord  within  us. 

IIL 

1  And  I,  brethren,  could  not  speak  to  you  as  spiritual  The   part  y 

.  ^   '  n        •    t-  i»  which  claimed 

men,  but  as  carnal,  and  m  the  first  infancy  of  your  to   be  "the 

2  growth  in  Christ.  I  fed  you  with  milk,  and  not  with  (Xeu/tlar^iKol), 
meat ;  for  you  were  not  able  to  bear  the  stronger  food ;       carmu'^  by 

3  nay,  you  are  not  yet  able,  for  you  are  still  carnal.  For  ^^^^l  disaen- 
while  you  are  divided  amongst  yourselves  by  jealousy, 

and  strife,  and  factious  parties,  is  it  not  evident  that  you  are  carnal, 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS.  405 


4  and  walking  in  the  common  ways  of  men?  When  one  says,  "I 
follow  Paul/'  and  another,  "  I  follow  Apollos,"  can  you  deny  that 
you  are  carnal  ? 

5  Who  then  is  Paul  ?  or  who  is  Apollos  ?  what  are  they  it  is  a  contra- 
bnt  servants  [of  Christ],  by  whose  ministration  you  fermVto^make 
believed?  and  was  it  not  the  Lord  who  gave  to  each  of  JiacherV  ^the 

6  them  the  measure  of  his  success  ?  I  planted,  Apollos  ifo^sfna^parties! 
watered ;  but  it  was  God  who  made  the  seed  to  grow. 

7  So  that  he  who  plants  is  nothing,  nor  he  who  waters, 

8  but  God  alone  who  gives  the  growth.  But  the  planter  and  the 
waterer  are  one  together ;  and  each  will  receive  the  wages  due  to 

9  him,  according  to  his  work.    For  we  are  God's  fellow-laborers,  and 

10  you  are  God's  husbandry.  You  are  God's  building ;  God  gave  me 
the  gift  of  grace  whereby  like  a  skilful  architect  I  have  laid  a  founda- 
tion ;  and  on  this  foundation  another  builds ;  but  let  each  take  heed 

11  what  that  is  which  he  builds  thereon — ["thereon,"  I  say,]  for  other 
foundation  can  no  man  lay,  than  that  already  laid,  which  is  "  Jesus 

12  THE  Christ."  But  on  this  foundation  one  man  may  raise  a  temple 
of  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious  marbles ;  another,  a  building  of 

13  wood,  hay,  and  stubble.  But  in  due  time  each  man's  work  will  be 
made  manifest ;  for  the  day  [of  the  Lord's  coming]  will  show  of  what 
sort  it  is ;  because  that  day  will  be  revealed  with  fire,  and  the  fire 

14  will  test  each  builder's  work.  He  whose  building  stands  unharmed, 
shall  receive  payment  for  his  labor ;  but  he  whose  work  is  burned 

15  down,  shall  forfeit  his  reward  ;  yet  he  shall  not  himself  be  destroyed ; 
but  shall  be  saved  as  one  who  scarcely  escapes  through  the  flames. 

16  Know  ye  not  yourselves  that  you  are  God's  temple,  ^he  church  is 
and  that  you  form  a  shrine  wherein  God's  Spirit  dwells?  ^^^'^  temple. 

17  If  any  man  shall  do  hurt  to  the  temple  of  God,  God  shall  do  hurt 
to  him  ;  for  the  temple  of  God  is  holy ;  and  holy  therefore  are  ye. 

18  Let  none  of  you  deceive  himself;  if  any  man  among  intellectual 
you  is  held  wise  in  the  wisdom  of  this  passing  world,  Bpint  ^"4^  un- 
let him  make  himself  a  fool  [in  the  world's  judgment],  christian. 

19  that  so  he  may  become  truly  wise.  For  the  wisdom  of  this  world  is 
foolishness  with  God,  as  it  is  written,  "iZe  taketh  the  wise  in  their  own 

20  craftiness,^'  And  again,  "  The  Lord  knoweth  the  thoughts  of  the  wise  that 

21  they  are  vain.''    Therefore  let  none  of  you  make  his  boast  in  men ; 

22  for  all  things  are  yours;  both  Paul  and  Apollos,  and  Cephas, 

23  and  the  whole  world  itself ;  both  life  and  death,  things  present  and 
things  to  come — all  are  yours — but  you  are  Christ's ;  and  Christ  is 
God's. 


406         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


IV. 

1  Look  therefore  on  us  as  servants  of  Christ,  and  stewards  Christ's  apos- 
charged  to  dispense  the  knowledge  of  the  mysteries  of  stewards ;  tlia't 

2  God.    Moreover,  it  is  but  required  in  a  steward  faith- 

minister  is  liot 

3  fully  to  administer  his  master's  wealth.    Yet  to  me  it 

matters  nothing  how  I  may  be  judged  by  you,  or  by  the  doom  of 

4  man  ;  nay,  I  judge  not  even  myself.  For  although  I  know  not  that 
I  am  guilty  of  unfaithfulness,  yet  my  own  sentence  will  not  suffice  to 
justify  me;  but  I  must  be  tried  by  the  judgment  of  my  Lord. 

5  Therefore  judge  nothing  hastily,  until  the  coming  of  our  Lord  and 
Master ;  for  he  shall  bring  to  light  the  darkest  counsels,  and  make 
manifest  the  inmost  secrets  of  men's  hearts ;  and  then  God  shall  give 
to  each  the  praise  which  he  deserves. 

6  But  these  things,  brethren,  I  have  represented  under  Contrast  ba- 
the persons  of  myself  and  ApoUos,  for  your  sakes ;  that  exaUatiof/^of 
so  you  may  learn  not  to  think  of  yourselves  above  that  phtiosop?ri c^ai 
which  has  now  been  written,  and  that  you  may  cease  to  abasenfem  ^of 
pufi'  yourselves  up  in  the  cause  of  one  against  another.  Seal^^  ^ 

7  For  ^'ho  makes  thee  to  differ  from  another?  What 

hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  receive  ?  and  how  then  canst  thou  boast 

8  of  it,  as  if  thou  hadst  won  it  for  thyself?  But  ye,  forsooth,  have 
eaten  to  the  full  [of  spiritual  food],  ye  are  rich  [in  knowledge],  ye 
have  seated  yourselves  upon  your  throne,  and  have  no  longer  need 
of  me.    Would  that  you  were  indeed  enthroned,  that  I  too  might 

9  reign  with  you.  For,  as  to  us  the  apostles,  I  think  that  God  has 
set  us  forth  last  of  all,  like  criminals  condemned  to  die,  to  be  gazed  at 

10  in  a  theatre  by  the  whole  world,  both  men  and  angels.  We  for 
Christ's  sake  are  fools,  while  you  join  faith  in  Christ  with  worldly 
wisdom ;  we  are  weak,  while  you  are  strong ;  you  are  honorable, 

11  while  we  are  outcasts ;  even  to  the  present  hour  we  bear  hunger  and 
thirst,  and  nakedness  and  stripes,  and  have  no  certain  dwelling- 

12  place,  and  toil  with  our  own  hands  for  daily  bread ;  curses  we 
answer  with  blessings,  persecution  with  patience,  railings  with  good 

13  words.    We  are  counted  the  refuse  of  the  earth,  the  very  ofFscouring 

14  of  all  things,  unto  this  day.    I  write  not  thus  to  reproach  you,  but  as 

15  a  father  I  chide  the  children  whom  I  love.  For  though  you  may 
have  ten  thousand  guardians-  to  lead  you  towards  the  school  of 
Christ,  you  can  have  but  one  father ;  and  I  it  was  who  begat  you  in 

16  Christ  Jesus,  by  the  glad  tidings  which  I  brought.  I  beseech  you, 
therefore,  become  followers  of  me. 

17  For  this  cause  I  have  sent  to  you  Timotheus,  my  Mission  of 
beloved  son,  who  has  been  found  faithful  in  the  service  whi  ning  to  "the 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


407 


of  our  Lord,  and  he  shall  put  you  in  remembrance  of  disobedient 

^  ^      *  ^  faciion  at  Oor- 

the  path  wherein  I  walked  in  fellowship  with  Christ,  as  i"^^- 

18  I  still  teach  evervw^here  in  all  the  churches.  Now  some  of  you  have 
been  filled  with  arrogance,  and  imagine  that  I  am  not  coming  to  visit 

19  you.  But  I  shall  be  with  you  shortly,  if  the  Lord  will ;  and  then  I 
shall  meet  these  arrogant  boasters,  and  shall  learn  their  power,  not 

20  by  their  w^ords,  but  by  their  deeds.    For  mighty  deeds,  not  empty 

21  words,  are  the  tokens  of  God's  kingdom.  What  is  your  desire? 
Must  I  come  to  you  with  the  rod  of  punishment,  or  in  the  spirit  of 
love  and  gentleness  ? 

V. 

1  It  is  commonly  reported  that  there  is  fornication  Judgment  on 

^      ,  .  the  incestuous 

among  you,  and  such  fornication  as  is  not  so  much  as  person, 
named  even  among  the  heathen,  that  a  man  should  have  his  father's 

2  wife.  And  you,  forsooth,  have  been  puffed  up  with  arrogance,  when 
you  ought  rather  to  have  been  filled  with  shame  and  sorrow,  and  so 
to  have  put  out  from  among  you  the  man  who  has  done  this  deed. 

3  For  me — being  present  w^ith  you  in  spirit,  although  absent  in  body — 
I  have  already  passed  sentence  as  if  I  were  present  with  you,  upon 

4  him  who  has  thus  sinned ;  and  I  decree  in  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  that  you  convene  an  assembly,  and  when  you,  and  my 
spirit  with  you,  are  gathered  together,  with  the  power  of  our  Lord 

5  Jesus  Christ,  that  you  deliver  over  to  Satan  the  man  who  has  thus 
sinned,  for  the  destruction  of  his  fleshly  lusts,  that  his  spirit  may  be 

6  saved  in  the  day  of  our  Lord  Jesus.  Truly  you  have  no  ground  for 
boasting;  know  ye  not  that  '^a  little  leaven  leaveneth  the  whole 

7  lump  "  ?  Cast  out  therefore  the  old  leaven,  that  your  body  may  be 
renewed  throughout,  even  as  now  [at  this  paschal  season]  you  are 
without  taint  of  leaven ;  for  Christ  himself  is  our  Paschal  Lamb, 

8  who  has  been  slain  for  us ;  therefore  let  us  keep  the  feast,  not  with 
the  old  leaven,  the  leaven  of  vice  and  wickedness,  but  with  the  un- 
leavened bread  of  purity  and  truth. 

9  I  enjoined  you  in  my  letter  not  to  keep  company  with  open  and  fla- 

10  fornicators ;  yet  I  meant  not  altogether  to  bid  you  fore-  fj-s  °^must^"be 
go  intercourse  with  the  men  of  this  world  who  may  be  the  c^iu^cu?^ 
fornicators,  or  lascivious,  or  extortioners,  or  idolaters ; 

11  for  so  you  would  be  forced  to  go  utterly  out  of  the  world.  But  my 
meaning  was,  that  you  should  not  keep  company  with  any  man  who, 
bearing  the  name  of  a  brother,  is  either  a  fornicator,  or  lascivious,  or 
an  idolater,  or  a  railer,  or  a  drunkard,  or  an  extortioner;  with  such 

12  a  man,  I  say,  you  must  not  so  much  as  eat.  For  what  need  have  I 
to  judge  those  who  are  without  the  Church  ?    Is  it  not  your  part  to 


408 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


13  judge  those  who  are  within  it?  But  those  who  are  without  are  for 
God's  judgment.  And  for  yourselves,  "  Ye  shall  cast  out  the  evil  one 
from  the  midst  of  your 

VL 

1  Can  there  be  any  of  you  who  dare  to  bring  their  Li  ligation  be- 
private  differences  into  the  courts  of  law,  to  be  judged  tilns^muTt  not 
by  the  wicked,  and  not  rather  submit  them  to  the  arbi-  [ifto^  ^heatnen 

2  tration  of  Christ's  people?  Know  ye  not  that  Christ's  existe'nc^e'i8 
people  shall  judge  the  world?  and  if  you  are  called  to  ^P^'^^^f 

sit  in  judgment  on  the  universe,  are  you  unfit  to  decide  even  the 

3  most  trifling  matters  ?    Know  ye  not  that  we  shall  judge  angels  ? 

4  how  much  more,  then,  the  affairs  of  this  life !  If,  therefore,  you 
have  disputes  to  settle  which  concern  the  affairs  of  this  life,  give  the 

5  arbitration  of  them  to  the  very  least  esteemed  in  your  Church.  I 
speak  to  your  shame.  Can  it  be  that  in  your  whole  body,  there  is 
not  so  much  as  one  man  wise  enough  to  arbitrate  between  his  breth- 

6  ren,  but  must  brother  go  to  law  with  brother,  and  that  in  the  courts 

7  of  the  unbelievers  ?  Nay,  farther,  you  are  in  fault,  throughout,  in 
having  such  disputes  at  all.    Why  do  you  not  rather  submit  to 

8  wrong?  Why  not  rather  suffer  yourselves  to  be  defrauded ?  Nay, 
you  are  yourselves  wronging  and  defrauding  others,  and  that  too 

9  your  brethren.  Know  ye  not  that  wrong-doers  shall  No  immorality 
not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God?  Be  not  deceived —  with  true 
neither  fornicators,  nor  idolaters,  nor  adulterers,  nor 

10  self-defilers,  nor  sodomites,  nor  robbers,  nor  wantons,  nor  drunkards, 

11  nor  railers,  nor  extortioners,  shall  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  And 
such  were  some  of  you ;  but  you  have  washed  away  your  st-ains, — 
you  have  been  hallowed,  you  have  been  justified  by  your  fellowship 
with  the  Lord  Jesus,  whose  name  you  bear,  and  by  the  indwelling 
Spirit  of  our  God. 

12  [But  some  of  you  say] — "All  things  are  lawful  for  Antinomian 
me."  [Be  it  so ;]  but  not  all  things  are  good  for  me ;  morauty^*  ^^J. 
though  all  things  are  in  my  power,  they  shall  not  bring 

13  me  under  their  power.  "  Meat  is  for  the  belly,  and  the  belly  for 
meat,"  though  death  will  soon,  by  God's  ordinance,  put  an  end  to 
both ;  but  the  body  is  not  for  fornication,  but  for  the  Lord  J esus ; 

14  and  the  Lord  Jesus  for  the  body ;  and  as  God  raised  our  Lord  Jesus 

15  from  the  grave,  so  he  will  raise  us  also  by  his  mighty  power.  Know 
ye  not  that  your  bodies  are  the  members  of  Christ's  body  ?  Shall  I 
then  take  the  members  of  Christ,  and  make  them  the  members  of 

16  an  harlot  ?  God  forbid.  Know  ye  not,  that  he  who  joins  himself 
to  an  harlot  becomes  one  body  with  her  ?    As  it  is  written,  "  They 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


409 


17  twain  shall  be  one  flesh"    But  he  who  joins  himself  to  Christ,  be- 

18  comes  one  with  Christ  in  spirit.  Flee  fornication.  [It  is  true,  in- 
deed, that]  all  sin  springs,  not  from  the  body,  but  from  the  soul ;  yet 

19  the  fornicator  sins  against  his  own  body.  Know  ye  not  that  your 
bodies  are  temples  of  the  Holy  Spirit  which  dwells  within  you, 

20  which  ye  have  received  from  God  ?  And  you  are  not  your  own,  for 
you  were  bought  with  a  price.  Glorify  God,  therefore,  not  in  your 
spirit  only,  but  in  your  body  also,  since  both  are  his. 

1  As  to  the  questions  which  you  have  asked  me  in  your  Answers  to 
letter,  this  is  my  answer.    It  is  good  for  a  man  to  re-  cQvnlug^ mar'. 

2  main  unmarried.  Nevertheless,  to  avoid  fornication,  vo^^ceT^wilh 
let  every  man  have  his  own  wife,  and  every  woman  her  ^^/'^^^^^  ^'cltll 

3  own  husband.    Let  the  husband  live  in  the  intercourse     mixed  mar- 

riage, 

of  affection  with  his  wife,  and  likewise  the  wife  with  her 

husband.    The  wife  has  not  dominion  over  her  own  body,  but  the 

4  husband ;  and  so  also  the  husband  has  not  dominion  over  his  own 

5  body,  but  the  wife.  Do  not  separate  one  from  the  other,  unless  it  be 
with  mutual  consent  for  a  time,  that  you  may  give  yourselves  without 
disturbance  to  fasting  and  prayer,  with  the  intent  of  shortly  living 
again  together,  lest  through  your  fleshly  passions,  Satan  should  tempt 

6  you  to  sin.  But  in  speaking  thus,  I  mean  not  to  command  mar- 
riage, but  only  to  permit  it.    For  I  would  that  all  men  were  as  I 

7  am ;  but  men  have  different  gifts  from  God,  one  this,  another  that. 

8  But  to  the  unmarried  and  to  the  widows,  I  say  that  it  would  be  good 
for  them  if  they  should  remain  in  the  state  wherein  I  myself  also 

9  am ;  yet  if  their  desires  do  not  allow  them  to  remain  contented  in 
this  state,  let  them  marry ;  for  it  is  better  to  marry  than  to  be  tempt- 

10  ed  by  sinful  desires.   To  the  married,  not  I,  but  the  liOrd  Jesus  him- 

11  self  gives  commandment,  that  the  wife  leave  not  her  husband  (but 
if  she  have  already  left  him,  let  her  remain  single,  or  else  be  recon- 
ciled with  him)  ;  likewise  also,  that  the  hu^and  put  not  away  his 

12  wife.  But  for  the  cases  which  follow,  my  decisions  are  given  not  by 
the  Lord  J esus,  but  by  myself  If  any  of  the  brethren  be  married 
to  an  unbelieving  wife,  let  him  not  put  her  away,  if  she  be  content 

13  to  remain  with  him;  neither  let  a  believing  wife  leave  an  unbeliev- 

14  ing  husband  who  is  willing  to  remain  with  her ;  for  the  unbelieving 
husband  is  hallowed  by  union  with  his  believing  wife,  and  the  un- 
believing wife  by  union  with  her  believing  husband ;  for  otherwise 

15  your  children  would  be  unclean,  but  now  they  are  holy.  But  if  the 
unbelieving  husband  or  wife  seeks  for  a  divorce,  let  it  be  not  hin- 
dered ;  for  in  such  cases,  the  believing  husband  or  wife  is  not  bound 
to  remain  under  the  yoke.    But  the  call  whereby  God  called  us,  is  a 


410 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


16  call  of  peace  [and  should  not  lead  to  household  strife].    For  thou 
who  art  the  wife  of  an  unbeliever,  how  knowest  thou  wli ether  thou 
mayest  save  thy  husband  ?  or  thou  Avho  art  the  husband,  whetl 
thou  mayest  save  thy  wife  ? 

17  Only  let  no  man  seek  to  quit  that  condition  which  General  mie. 
God  had  allotted  to  him  when  he  was  called  by  the  ve?ts  siumJ not 
Lord  Jesus.    This  rule  I  give  in  all  the  churches.  \ife^'S-hei*ein 

18  Thus,  if  any  man,  at  the  time  when  he  was  called,  bore  ^conver- 
the  mark  of  circumcision,  let  him  not  efface  it ;  and 

again,  if  he  was  uncircumcised  at  the  time  of  his  calling,  let  him 

19  not  receive  circumcision.  It  matters  nothing  whether  we  be  cir- 
cumcised or  uncircumcised,  but  only  whether  we  keep  the  commands 

20  of  God.    Let  each  abide  in  the  condition  which  he  held  when  he 

21  was  first  called.  Wast  thou  in  slavery  at  the  time  of  thy  calling  ? 
Care  not  for  it.    Nay,  though  thou  have  power  to  gain  thy  freedom, 

22  seek  rather  to  remain  content.  For  the  slave  who  has  been  called 
into  fellowship  with  Christ,  is  Christ's  freedman ;  and  so  also,  the 

23  freeman  Avho  has  been  called,  is  Christ's  slave ;  for  he  has  paid  a 
price  for  you  all ;  beware  lest  you  bind  upon  yourselves  the  yoke  of 

24  slavery  to  man.  Brethren,  let  each  of  you  continue  in  the  state 
wherein  he  was  called,  and  therein  abide  with  God. 

25  Concerninsr  your  virsrin  daughters  I  have  no  com-  Answer  to 

o  °  °  questions  about 

mand  to  orive  you  from  the  Lord  Jesus,  but  I  give  mv  V'^  disposal  of 
judgment,  as  one  who  has  been  called  by  our  Lord's  marriage. 

26  mercy,  to  be  his  faithful  servant.  I  think,  then,  that  it  is  best,  by 
reason  of  the  trials  which  are  nigh  at  hand,  for  all  to  be  unmarried ; 

27  [so  that  I  would  say  to  each]  "  If  thou  art  bound  to  a  wife,  seek  not 

28  separation ;  but  if  thou  art  free,  seek  not  marriage  ;  yet  if  thou  wilt 
marry,  thou  mayest  do  so  without  sin.'*  So  likewise  if  your  virgin 
daughters  marry,  it  is  no  sin ;  but  they  who  will  marry  will  have 

29  earthly  sorrows  to  endure,  and  these  I  would  spare  you.  But  this  I 
say,  brethren,  the  time  is  short ;  meanwhile  it  behoves  them  that 

30  have  wives  to  be  as  though  they  had  none ;  and  them  that  weep  as 
though  they  wept  not,  and  them  that  rejoice  as  though  they  rejoiced 

31  not,  and  them  that  buy  as  though  they  possessed  not,  and  them  that 
use  this  world  as  not  abusing  it ;  for  the  world,  with  all  its  outward 

32  show,  is  passing  away.  But  I  would  have  you  free  from  earthly 
care.    The  desires  of  the  unmarried  man  are  fixed  upon  the  Lord 

33  Jesus,  and  he  strives  to  please  the  Lord.  But  the  desires  of  the  hus- 
band are  fixed  upon  worldly  things,  striving  to  please  his  wife. 

34  Likewise  also  the  wife  has  this  difference  from  the  virgin ;  the  cares 
of  the  virgin  are  fixed  upon  the  Lord,  that  she  may  become  holy 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


411 


both  in  body  and  in  spirit ;  but  the  cares  of  the  wife  are  fixed  upon 

35  worldly  things,  striving  to  please  her  husband.  Now  this  1  say  for 
your  own  profit ;  not  that  I  may  entangle  you  in  a  snare ;  but  that  I 
may  help  you  to  serve  the  Lord  Jesus  with  a  seemly  and  undivided 

36  service.  But  if  any  man  thinks  that  he  is  treating  his  virgin 
daughter  in  an  unseemly  manner,  by  leaving  her  unmarried  beyond 
the  flower  of  her  age,  and  if  need  so  require,  let  him  act  according 

37  to  his  will ;  he  may  do  so  without  sin  ;  let  them  marry.  But  he  who 
is  firm  in  his  resolve,  and  is  not  constrained  to  marry  his  daughter, 
but  has  the  power  of  carrying  out  his  will,  and  has  determined  to 

38  keep  her  unmarried,  does  well.  Thus  he  Avho  gives  his  daughter 
in  marriage  does  well,  but  he  who  gives  her  not  in  marriage  does 
better. 

39  The  wife  is  bound  by  the  law  of  wedlock  so  long  as  Marriage  of 
her  husband  lives ;  but  after  his  death  she  is  free  to 

marry  whom  she  will,  provided  that  she  choose  one  of  the  brethren 

40  in  Christ.  Yet  she  is  happier  if  she  remain  a  widow,  in  my  judg- 
ment ;  and  I  think  that  I,  no  less  than  others,  have  the  Spirit  of  God. 

VIIL 

1  As  to  the  question  concerning  meats  which  have  Answer  to 
been  sacrificed  to  idols,  we  know— (for  "  we  all  have  cen^ng"^  meats 
knowledge,"  but  knowledge  puflTs  up,  while  love  builds ;  ^^^^-^^^to  idols. 

2  and  if  any  man  prides  himself  on  his  knowledge,  he  knows  nothing 

3  yet  as  he  ought  to  know ;  but  whosoever  loves  God,  of  him  God  hath 

4  knowledge) — we  know  (I  say)  that  an  idol  has  not  any  true  being, 

5  and  that  there  is  no  other  God  but  one.  For  though  there  be  some 
who  are  called  gods,  either  celestial  or  terrestrial,  and  though  we  see 

6  men  worship  many  gods  and  many  lords,  yet  to  us  there  is  but  one 
God,  the  Father,  from  whom  are  all  things,  and  unto  whom  we  live ; 
and  one  Lord,  Jesus  Christ,  by  whom  the  life  of  all  things,  and  our 

7  life  also,  is  sustained.  But  it  is  not  true  that  "  all  have  knowledge  " 
[in  this  matter]  ;  on  the  contrary,  there  are  some  who  still  have  a 
conscientious  fear  of  the  idol,  and  who  think  that  the  meat  sacrificed 
belongs  to  a  false  god,  so  that,  if  they  eat  it,  their  conscience  being 

8  weak,  is  defiled.  It  is  true  that  our  food  cannot  change  our  place  in 
God's  sight ;  with  him  we  gain  nothing  by  eating,  nor  lose  by  not 

9  eating.  But  beware  lest,  perchance,  by  this  exercise  of  your  rights 
you  should  cast  a  stumbling-block  in  the  path  of  your  weaker 

10  brethren.  For  if  one  of  them  see  thee,  who  boastest  of  thy  know- 
ledge, feasting  in  an  idol's  temple,  will  not  he  be  encouraged  to  eat 
the  meat  which  has  been  offered  in  sacrifice,  although  the  weakness 


412  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


]  1  of  his  conscience  condemns  the  deed  ?  And  tlms,  through  the  know- 
ledge whereof  thou  boastcst,  will  thy  weaker  brother  perish,  for 

12  whom  Christ  died.    Nay,  when  you  sin  thus  against  your  brethren, 

13  and  wound  their  weaker  conscience,  you  sin  against  Christ.  Where- 
fore, if  my  eating  cast  a  stumbling-block  in  my  brother's  path,  I 
will  eat  no  flesh  while  the  world  stands,  lest  thereby  I  cause  my 
brother's  fall. 

IX. 

1  Am  I  indeed    no  true  apostle  "  ?  Am  I  indeed  "  sub-  ge  vindicates 

^  his  claim  to  the 

ject  to  man's  authority  "  ?    Have  I  indeed   never  seen  apostolic  office 

,    .  1  M  r»     y-«        •     1       1.11  against  his  Ju- 

Jesus  C^hrist  our  Lord"?    Can  it  be  denied  that  you  daizing  detrac- 

2  are  the  fruits  of  my  labor  in  the  Lord?  If  to  others  plains  hi  a 
I  am  no  true  apostle,  yet  at  least  I  am  such  to  you ;  for  some^^'or^^the 
you  are  yourselves  the  seal  which  stamps  the  reality  of  fieges^.^^^ 

3  my  apostleship,  by  the  will  of  Christ ;  this  is  my  answer  to  those 

4  who  question  my  authority.    Do  they  deny  my  right  to  be  main- 

5  tained  [by  my  converts]  ?  Do  they  deny  my  right  to  carry  a 
believing  wife  with  me  on  my  journeys,  like  the  rest  of  the  apostles, 

6  and  the  brethren  of  the  Lord,  and  Cephas  ?  Or  do  they  think  that 
I  and  Barnabas  alone  have  no  right  to  be  maintained,  except  by  the 

7  labor  of  our  own  hands  ?  What  soldier  ever  serves  at  his  private 
cost?    What  husbandman  plants  a  vineyard  without  sharing  in  its 

8  fruit?  What  shepherd  tends  a  flock  without  partaking  of  their 
milk  ?  And  is  this  the  rule  of  man  only,  or  is  it  not  also  commanded 

9  in  the  law  of  God?    Yea,  in  the  book  of  Moses'  Law  it  is  written, 

10  "  Thou  shah  not  muzzle  the  ox  that  treadelh  out  the  corn^  Are  oxen 
the  objects  of  God's  care,  or  is  it  not  altogether  for  man's  sake  that 
he  so  speaks  ?  For  our  sake  doubtless,  it  was  written ;  declaring 
that  the  ploughman  ought  to  plough,  and  the  thresher  to  thresh,  with 

11  hope  to  share  in  the  produce  of  his  toil.  If,  then,  I  have  sown  for 
you  the  seed  of  spiritual  gifts,  it  would  be  no  great  thing  if  I  were  to 

12  reap  some  harvest  from  your  earthly  gifts.  If  others  share  this  right 
over  you,  how  much  more  should  I?  Yet  I  have  not  used  my  right, 
but  forbear  from  every  claim,  lest  I  should  by  any  means  hinder  the 

13  course  of  Christ's  glad  tidings.  Know  ye  not  that  they  who  perform 
the  service  of  the  temple,  live  upon  the  revenues  of  the  temple,  and 
they  who  minister  at  the  altar  share  with  it  in  the  sacrifices  thereon 

14  ofiered  ?    So  also  the  Lord  Jesus  ordained  that  they  whom  he  sent 

15  forth  to  publish  his  glad  tidings,  should  be  maintained  thereby.  But 
I  have  not  exercised  any  of  these  rights,  nor  do  I  write  this  that  I 
myself  may  profit  by  it.  For  I  had  rather  die  than  suffer  the  ground 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


413 


16  of  my  boasting  to  be  taken  from  me.  For,  althougli  I  proclaim 
Christ^s  glad  tidings,  yet  this  gives  me  no  ground  of  boasting ;  for  1 

17  am  compelled  to  do  so  by  order  of  my  Master.  Yea,  woe  is  me  if  I 
proclaim  it  not.  For  were  my  service  given  of  my  own  free  choice, 
I  might  claim  wages  to  reward  my  labor ;  but  since  I  serve  by  com- 
pulsion, I  am  [a  slave  with  no  claim  to  wages]  a  steward  whose  post 
obliges  him  to  dispense  his  master's  bread  to  his  fellow-servants. 

18  What  then  is  my  wage  ?  It  is  to  bear  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ,  and 
to  bring  it  free  of  cost  to  those  who  hear  me,  without  using  the  full 

19  right  which  belongs  to  my  ministration.  Therefore,  althougli  free 
from  the  authority  of  all  men,  I  made  myself  the  slave  of  all,  that  I 

20  might  gain  the  most.  To  the  Jews  I  became  as  a  Jew,  that  I  might 
gain  the  Jews ;  to  those  under  the  Law  as  though  I  were  under  the 

21  Law,  that  I  might  gain  those  under  the  Law ;  with  those  who  were 
free  from  the  Law,  I  lived  as  one  who  is  free  from  the  Law  (not  that 
I  was  without  law  before  God,  but  under  the  law  of  Christ),  that  I 

22  might  gain  those  who  were  free  from  the  Law.  With  those  who  were 
weak,  I  lived  as  if  I  were  weak  myself,  that  I  might  gain  the  weak. 
I  have  become  all  tilings  to  all  men,  that  by  all  means  I  might  save 

23  some.    And  this  I  do  to  spread  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ,  that  I 

24  myself  may  share  therein  with  those  who  hear  me.  For  you  know 
that  in  the  races  of  the  stadium,  though  all  may  run,  yet  but  one  can 

25  gain  the  prize  ; — (so  run  that  you  may  win.) — And  every  man  who 
strives  in  the  matches,  trains  himself  by  all  manner  of  self-restraint ; 
yet  they  do  it  to  win  a  crown  of  fading  leaves, — we,  a  crown  that 

26  cannot  fade.  I,  therefore,  run  not  like  the  racer  who  is  uncertain  of 
his  goal ;  I  fight,  not  as  the  pugilist  who  strikes  out  against  the  air ; 

27  but  I  bring  my  body  into  bondage,  crushing  it  with  heavy  blows,  lest, 
perchance,  having  called  others  to  the  contest,  I  should  myself  fail 
shamefully  of  the  prize. 


1  But  you,  brethren,  I  call  to  remember  our  forefathers  J  jj^^  a^aln  warns 
how  they  all  were  guarded  by  the  pillar  of  the  cloud,  againsr^imSo! 

2  and  all  passed  safely  through  the  sea.  And  [as  you  ^^/j^J'^^  the 
were  baptized  unto  Christ]  they  all,  through  the  cloud,  £"^^.3*^^^j^"[eut 
and  through  the  sea,  were  baptized  unto  Moses.    And  people. 

3  all  of  them  alike  ate  the  same  spiritual  food,  and  all  drank  of  the 

4  same  spiritual  stream  ;  for  they  drank  from  the  spiritual  rock,  whose 

5  waters  followed  them :  but  that  rock  was  Christ.  Yet  [though  all 
received  these  gifts],  few  only  continued  in  God's  favor,  and  the  rest 

6  were  struck  down  and  perished  in  the  wilderness.  Now  these  things 


414 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


were  shadows  of  our  own  case,  that  we  might  learn  not  to  lust  after 

7  sinful  pleasures,  as  they  lusted.  Nor  be  ye  idolaters,  as  were  some 
of  them ;  as  it  is  written,  "  The  people  sat  down  to  eat  and  drink,  and 

8  rose  up  to  play"  Neither  let  us  commit  fornication,  as  some  of  them 

9  committed,  and  fell  in  one  day  tliree-and-twenty  tliousand.  Neither 
let  us  try  the  long-suffering  of  Christ,  as  did  some  of  them,  who 

10  w^re  destroyed  by  the  fiery  serpents.  Nor  murmur  against  those 
who  are  set  over  you,  as  some  of  them  murmured,  and  were  slain  by 

11  the  destroying  angel.  Now  all  these  things  befell  them  as  shadows 
of  that  which  was  to  come  ;  and  they  were  written  for  our  warning, 

J  2  who  live  in  the  end  of  the  ages.    Wherefore,  let  him  wlio  thinks 

13  that  he  stands  firm,  watch  heedfully  lest  he  fall.  No  trial  has  come 
upon  you  beyond  man's  power  to  bear ;  and  God  is  faithful  to  his 
promises,  and  will  not  suffer  you  to  be  tried  beyond  your  strength, 
but  will  with  every  trial  provide  the  way  of  escape,  that  you  may 
be  able  to  sustain  it. 

14  Wherefore,  my  beloved  children,  have  no  fellowship  They  must  re- 

15  with  idolatry.    I  speak  as  to  reasonable  men;  use  iTwJhip ^^^fth 

16  your  own  judgment  upon  that  which  I  say.    When  we  ^^^^^^^y- 
drink  the  cup  of  blessing,  which  we  bless,  are  we  not  all  partakers 
in  the  blood  of  Christ  ?    When  we  break  the  bread,  are  we  not  all 

17  partakers  in  the  body  of  Christ  ?    For  as  tlie  bread  is  one,  so  we,  the 

18  many,  are  one  body;  for  of  that  one  bread  we  all  partake.  Or, 
again,  if  you  look  to  the  carnal  Israel,  do  you  not  see  that  those  who 
eat  of  the  sacrifices  are  in  partnership  with  the  altar  [and  identified 

19  with  the  worship]  ?  What  would  I  say  then  ?  that  an  idol  has  any 
real  being ?  or  that  meat  ofiered  to  an  idol  is  really  changed  thereby? 

20  Not  so ;  but  I  say,  that  when  the  heathen  offer  their  sacrifices,  they 
are  sacrificing  to  demons,  and  not  to  God ;  and  I  would  not  have  you 

21  become  partners  with  the  demons.  You  cannot  drink  the  cup  of 
the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  cup  which  has  poured  libation  to 

22  demons ;  you  cannot  eat  at  the  table  of  the  Lord,  and  at  the  table  of 
demons.  Or  would  we  provoke  our  Lord  to  jealousy?  Ai*e  we 
stronger  than  he  ? 

23  [But  some  one  will  say  again]  "  All  things  are  lawful  They  must  de- 
fer me."  Nay,  but  not  all  things  are  good  for  me ;  e^en  in- 
though  all  things  are  lawful,  not  all  things  build  up  the  u^if^thS.'  fn- 

24  Church.    Let  no  man  seek  his  own,  but  every  man  icJencle'of t^heir 

25  his  neighbor's  good.    Whatever  is  sold  in  market,  you  ^/^f^^^^ 
may  eat,  nor  need  you  ask  for  conscience'  sake  whence 

26,  27  it  came ;  "i^br  the  earth  ?>  the  Lord\%  and  the  fidness  thereof."  And 
if  any  unbeliever  invites  you  to  a  feast,  and  you  are  disposed  to  go,  eat 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


415 


of  all  that  is  set  before  you»  asking  no  questions  for  conscience*  sake ; 

28  but  if  one  of  the  guests  should  say  to  you  concerning  any  dish,  "  This 
has  been  offered  to  an  idol,"  do  not  eat  of  that  dish,  for  the  sake  of 

29  him  who  pointed  it  out,  and  for  the  sake  of  conscience.  Thy  neigh- 
bor's conscience,  I  say,  not  thine  own ;  for  [thou  may  est  truly  say] 
"  Why  is  my  freedom  condemned  by  the  conscience  of  another  ?  and 

30  if  I  thankfully  partake,  why  am  I  called  a  sinner  for  that  which  I 
eat  with  thanksgiving  ?" 

31  Therefore,  whether  you  eat  or  drink,  or  whatsoever  you  do,  do  all 

32  so  that  God  may  be  praised  and  his  glory  manifested.  Let  no  act  of 
yours  give  cause  of  stumbling,  either  to  Jews  or  Gentiles,  or  to 

33  the  Church  of  God.  For  so  I  also  strive  to  please  all  men  in  all 
things,  not  seeking  my  own  good,  but  the  good  of  all,  that  they  may 
be  saved. 

XI. 

1  I  beseech  you,  therefore,  to  follow  my  example,  as  I  follow  the 
example  of  Christ. 

2  My  brethren,  whereas  "  you  are  always  mindful  of  Censure  on  the 
my  teaching,  and  that  you  keep  unchanged  the  rules  men^^p^^arTng 

3  which  I  delivered  to  you,"  in  this  I  praise  you.  But  I  fts^embues"  for 
would  have  you  know  that  as  Christ  is  the  head  of  ^^^^^^  ^^"'^^p* 
every  man,  and  God  the  head  of  Christ,  so  the  man  is  the  head  of 

4  the  woman.  If  a  man  were  to  stand  up  in  the  congregation  to  pray 
or  to  prophesy  with  a  veil  over  his  head,  he  would  bring  shame  upon 

5  his  head  [by  wearing  the  token  of  subjection].  But  if  a  woman 
stands  forth  to  pray  or  to  prophesy,  with  her  head  unveiled,  she 

6  brings  shame  upon  her  own  head,  as  much  as  if  she  were  shaven.  I 
say,  if  she  cast  off  her  veil,  let  her  shave  her  head  at  once ;  but  if  it 
is  shameful  for  a  woman  to  be  shorn  or  shaven,  let  her  keep  a  veil 

7  upon  her  head.  For  a  man  ought  not  to  veil  his  head,  since  he  is 
the  likeness  of  God,  and  the  manifestation  of  God's  glory.    But  the 

8  woman^s  part  is  to  manifest  her  husband's  glory.    For  the  man  was 

9  not  made  from  the  woman,  but  the  woman  from  the  man.  Nor  was 
the  man  created  for  the  sake  of  the  woman,  but  the  woman  for  the 

10  sake  of  the  man.    Therefore,  the  woman  ought  to  wear  a  sign  of  sub- 

1 1  jection  upon  her  head,  because  of  the  angels.  Nevertheless,  in  their 
fellowship  with  the  Lord  Jesus,  man  and  woman  may  not  be  sepa- 

12  rated  the  one  from  the  other.  For  as  woman  is  sprung  from  man, 
80  is  man  also  born  of  woman ;  and  both  alike,  together  with  all 

13  tilings  else,  are  spning  from  God.  But  I  beseech  you  to  judge  of  this 
matter  by  your  own  feeling.    Is  it  seemly  for  a  woman  with  her 

14  head  unveiled  to  offer  prayers  to  God?    Or  does  not  even  Nature 


416 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


itself  teach  you  that  long  hair  is  a  disgrace  to  a  man,  but  a  glory  to  a 
15, 16  woman  ?  for  her  hair  has  been  given  her  for  a  veil.    But  if  any 
one  thinks  to  be  contentious  in  defence  of  such  a  custom,  let  him 
know  that  it  is  disallowed  by  me,  and  by  all  the  churclies  of  God. 

17  [I  said  that  I  praised  you  for  keeping  the  rules  which      cens^ire  on 

-  Ti,T         •  «i.      their  profana- 

were  delivered  to  you ; J  but  1  praise  you  not  for  this  t  ion  cf  the 
which  I  now  declare  to  you,  that  your  solemn  assem-         ^  upper. 

18  blies  are  for  evil  rather  than  good.  For  first  I  liear  that  there  are 
divisions  among  you,  which  show  themselves  when  your  congrega- 

19  tion  is  met  together;  and  this  I  partly  believe.  For  there  must 
needs  be  not  divisions  only,  but  also  adverse  sects  among  you,  that 

20  so  the  good  may  be  tested  and  made  known.  Moreover,  those  among 
you  who  meet  [peaceably]  together,  are  not  really  met  to  eat  the 

21  Lord's  Supper;  for  each  begins  to  eat  what  he  has  brought  for  his 
own  supper,  before  anything  has  been  given  to  others ;  so  that  while 

22  some  are  hungry,  others  are  drunken.  Have  you  then  no  houses 
for  your  feasts  ?  or  do  you  come  to  show  contempt  for  the  congrega- 
tion of  God's  people,  and  to  shame  the  poor  ?    What  can  I  say  to 

23  you  ?  Shall  I  praise  you  in  this  ?  I  praise  you  not.  For  I  myself 
received  from  the  Lord  that  which  I  delivered  to  you,  how  that  the 

24  Lord  Jesus  in  the  night  when  he  was  betrayed,  took  bread,  and  when 
he  had  given  thanks,  he  brake  it,  and  said,  "  Take,  eat ;  this  is  my 

25  body  J  which  is  broken  for  you:  this  do  in  remembrance  of  we."  In  the 
same  manner  also  he  took  the  cup,  after  supper,  saying,  "  This  cup  is 
the  new  covenant  in  my  blood :  this  do  ye,  as  often  as  ye  drink  it,  in  re- 

26  membrance  of  me."  For  as  often  as  you  eat  this  bread,  and  drink  this 
cup,  you  openly  show  forth  the  Lord's  death  until  he  shall  come 

27  again.  Therefore,  whosoever  shall  eat  this  bread  or  drink  this  cup 
of  the  Lord  unworthily,  shall  be  guilty  of  profaning  the  body  and 

28  blood  of  the  Lord.    But  let  a  man  examine  himself,  and  so  let  him 

29  eat  of  this  bread  and  drink  of  this  cup.  For  he  who  eats  and  drinks 
of  it  unworthily,  eats  and  drinks  a  judgment  against  himself,  since 
he  makes  no  difference  between  the  Lord's  body  and  common  food. 

30  For  this  cause  many  of  you  are  weak  and  sickly,  and  some  sleep  the 

31  sleep  of  death.    For  if  we  would  rightly  judge  ourselves,  we  should 

32  not  be  judged  by  God.  But  when  we  are  judged,  we  are  cbjil^ined 
by  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  we  may  not  be  condemned  together  with  the 

33  world.  Therefore,  my  brethren,  when  you  meet  for  the  Lord's  Sup- 
per, let  none  begin  to  eat  by  himself  while  he  leaves  others  unpro- 

34  vided;  and  if  any  one  is  hungry,  let  him  eat  at  home,  lest  your 
meetings  should  bring  judgment  upon  you.  The  other  matters  I  wiU 
set  in  order  when  I  come. 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


417 


XII. 

1  Concerning  those  who  exercise  spiritual  gifts,  breth-  On  the  Rpnituai 

o  T  J     •     ^  •  V      1  ^-u  *    Silts  generally. 

2  ren,  I  desire  to  remove  your  ignorance,    lou  know  that 

in  the  days  of  your  heathenism  you  were  blindly  led  astray  to  wor- 
ship dumb  and  senseless  idols  [by  those  who  pretended  to  gifts  from 

3  heaven].  This  test  therefore  I  give  you,  to  guide  your  judgment; 
no  man  Avho  is  inspired  by  the  Spirit  of  God  can  call  Jesus  accursed  ; 
and  no  man  can  say  that  Jesus  is  the  Lord,  unless  he  be  inspired  by 

4  the  Ploly  Spirit.  Moreover,  there  are  varieties  of  spiritual  gifts,  but 
6  the  same  Spirit  gives  them  all ;  and  they  are  given  for  various  min- 

6  istrations,  but  all  to  serve  the  same  Lord  Jesus;  and  the  inward 
working  whereby  they  are  wrought  is  various,  but  they  are  all 
wrought  in  every  one  of  those  who  receive  them,  by  the  working  of 

7  the  same  God.    But  the  gift  whereby  the  Spirit  becomes  manifest  is 

8  given  to  each  for  the  profit  of  all.  To  one  is  given  by  the  Spirit  the 
utterance  of  wisdom,  to  another  the  utterance  of  knowledge  accord- 

9  ing  to  the  working  of  the  same  Spirit.  To  another  the  power  of 
faith  through  the  same  Spirit.    To  another  gifts  of  healing  through 

10  the  same  Spirit.  To  another  the  powers  which  work  miracles ;  to 
another  the  gift  of  prophecy ;  to  another  the  discernment  of  spirits  ; 
to  another  varieties  of  tongues;  to  another  the  interpretation  of 

11  tongues.  But  all  these  gifts  are  wrought  by  the  working  of  that  one 
and  the  same  Spirit,  who  distributes  them  to  each  according  to  his 

12  will.    For  as  the  body  is  one,  and  has  many  members,  and  as  all  the 

13  members,  though  many,  are  one  body ;  so  also  is  Christ.  For  in  the 
communion  of  one  Spirit  we  all  were  baptized  into  one  body,  whether 
we  be  Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether  slaves  or  freemen,  and  were  all  made 

14  to  drink  of  the  same  Spirit.    For  the  body  is  not  one  member,  but 

15  many.    If  the  foot  should  say,  "  I  am  not  the  hand,  therefore  I  belong 

16  not  to  the  body/'  does  it  thereby  sever  itself  from  the  body  ?  Or  if  the 
ear  should  say,  "  I  am  not  the  eye,  therefore  I  belong  not  to  the  body,'' 

17  does  it  thereby  sever  itself  from  the  body  ?  If  the  whole  body  were 
an  eye,  where  would  be  the  hearing?    If  the  whole  body  were  an 

18  ear,  where  would  be  the  smelling?    But  now  God  has  j)laced  the 

19  members  severally  in  the  body  according  to  liis  will.    If  all  were 

20  one  member,  where  would  be  the  body  ?    But  now,  though  the  meni- 

21  bers  are  many,  yet  the  body  is  one.  And  the  eye  cannot  say  to  the 
hand,  "  I  have  no  need  of  thee ;"  nor  again  the  head  to  the  feet,  "  I 

22  have  no  need  of  you."    Nay,  those  parts  of  the  body  which  are 

23  reckoned  the  feeblest  are  the  most  necessary,  and  those  parts  which 
we  hold  the  least  honorable,  we  clothe  with  the  more  abundant  honor, 

24  80  that  the  less  beautiful  parts  are  clad  with  the  greater  beauty ;  and 

27 


418 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


those  which  are  beautiful  need  not  our  adornment.  But  God  has 
tempered  the  body  together,  and  given  to  the  lowlier  parts  the  higher 

25  honor,  that  there  should  be  no  division  in  the  body,  but  that  all  its 
parts  should  feel,  one  for  the  other,  a  common  sympathy.   And  thus, 

26  if  one  member  suffer,  every  member  suffers  with  it ;  or  if  one  mem- 

27  ber  be  honored,  every  member  rejoices  with  it.    Now  ye  are  together 

28  the  body  of  Christ,  and  each  one  of  you  a  separate  member.  And 
God  has  set  the  members  in  the  Church,  some  in  one  place,  and  some 
in  another:  first,  apostles;  secondly,  prophets;  thirdly,  teachers; 
afterward  miracles;  then  gifts  and  healing ;  serviceable  ministrations  ; 

29  gifts  of  government ;  varieties  of  tongue.     Can  all  be  apostles  ? 

30  Can  all  be  prophets?  Can  all  be  teachers?  Can  all  work  miracles? 
Have  all  the  gifts  of  healing  ?  Do  all  speak  with  tongues  ?  Can  all 
interpret  the  tongues  ?    But  I  would  have  you  delight  in  the  best 

31  gifts ;  and  moreover,  beyond  them  all,  I  will  show  you  a  path  where- 
in to  walk. 

XIII. 

1  Thouffh  it  were  given  me  to  speak  in  all  the  tongues  „     .  . 

^  ,  Superiority  of 

of  men  and  angels,  if  I  have  not  love,  I  am  no  better  love  to  all  the 

^    ,  ,  -IT  11*1  extraordinary 

2  than  soundmg  brass,  or  a  tinklmg  cymbal.  And  |ift»^  of  the 
although  I  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  and  understand  * 

all  the  mysteries,  and  all  the  depths  of  knowledge ;  and  though  I 
have  the  fulness  of  faith,  so  that  I  could  remove  mountains ;  if  I  have 

3  not  love,  I  am  nothing.  And  though  I  sell  all  my  goods  to  feed  the 
poor,  and  though  I  give  my  body  to  be  burned,  if  I  have  not  love,  it 

4  profits  me  nothing.    Love  is  long-suffering ;  love  is  kind ;  love  en- 

5  vies  not ;  love  speaks  no  vaunts ;  love  shows  no  vanity ;  love  is  never 
uncourteous ;  love  is  never  selfish ;  love  is  not  easily  provoked ;  love 

6  bears  no  malice ;  love  rejoices  not  in  the  punishment  of  wickedness, 

7  but  rejoices  in  the  victory  of  truth ;  forbears  in  all  things ;  believes 

8  all  things,  hopes  all  things,  endures  all  things.  Love  shall  never 
pass  away ;  though  the  gift  of  prophecy  shall  vanish,  and  the  gift  of 
tongues  shall  cease,  and  the  gift  of  knowledge  shall  come  to  naught. 

9  For  our  knowledge  is  imperfect,  and  our  prophesying  is  imperfect. 

10  But  when  the  fulness  of  perfection  is  come,  then  all  that  is  imperfect 

11  shall  pass  away.  When  I  was  a  child,  my  words  were  childish,  my 
desires  were  childish,  my  judgments  were  childish  ;  but  being  grown 

12  a  man,  I  have  done  away  with  the  thoughts  of  childhood.  So  now 
we  see  darkly,  by  the  reflection  of  a  mirror,  but  then  face  to  face ; 
now  I  know  in  part,  but  then  shall  I  know  God,  even  as  now  I  am 

13  known  by  him.  Yet  while  other  gifts  sliall  pass  away,  these  three, 
faith,  hope,  and  love,  abide  for  ever ;  and  the  greatest  of  these  is  love. 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


419 


XIV. 

1  I  beseech  you  to  follow  earnestly  after  love ;  yet  I  j^j^^^^-Qj^g 
would  have  vou  delight  in  the  spiritual  srifts,  but  es-  the  exercise  of 

/       .  ,  V,      -     ^  ,  ,       the  gilt  of  pro- 

2  pecially  m  the  sift  of  prophecy.    For  he  who  speaks  phecy  and  the 

:  ,  ^    ^  ^    1     /.  gift  of  tongues 

m  a  tongue,  speaks  not  to  men  but  to  God ;  for  no  man 

3  understands  him,  but  with  his  spirit  he  utters  mysteries.  But  he 
who  prophesies  speaks  to  men  and  builds  them  up,  with  exhortation 

4  and  with  comfort.    He  who  speaks  in  a  tongue  builds  up  himself 

5  alone ;  but  he  who  prophesies  builds  up  the  Church.  I  wish  that 
you  all  had  the  gift  of  tongues,  but  rather  that  you  had  the  gift 
of  prophecy ;  for  he  who  prophesies  is  above  him  who  speaks  in 
tongues,  unless  he  interpret  the  sounds  he  utters,  that  the  Church  may 

6  be  built  up  thereby.  Now,  brethren,  if  when  I  came  to  you  I  were 
to  speak  in  tongues,  what  should  I  profit  you,  unless  I  should  also 
speak  either  in  revelation  or  in  knowledge,  either  in  prophesying  or 

7  in  teaching?  Even  if  the  lifeless  instruments  of  sound,  the  flute  or 
the  harp,  give  no  distinctness  to  their  notes,  how  can  we  understand 

8  their  music  ?    If  the  trumpet  utter  an  uncertain  note,  how  shall  the 

9  soldier  prepare  himself  for  the  battle  ?  So  also  if  you  utter  unintel- 
ligible words  with  your  tongue,  how  can  your  speech  be  understood  ? 

10  you  will  but  be  speaking  to  the  air.  It  may  be  that  the  tongues  in 
which  you  speak  are  among  the  many  languages  spoken  in  the  world, 

1 1  and  of  these  languages  none  is  without  meaning.  Now  if  I  know 
not  the  meaning  of  the  language,  I  shall  be  as  a  foreigner  to  him  that 

12  speaks  it,  and  he  will  be  accounted  a  foreigner  by  me.  Wherefore, 
I  beseecli  you  (since  you  delight  in  spiritual  gifts)  to  strive  that  your 

13  abundant  possession  of  them  may  build  up  the  Church.  Therefore, 
let  him  who  speaks  in  a  tongue,  pray  that  he  may  be  able  to  inter- 

14  pret  what  he  utters.    For  if  I  utter  prayers  in  a  tongue,  my  spirit 

15  indeed  prays,  but  my  understanding  bears  no  fruit.  What  follows, 
then?  I  will  pray  indeed  with  my  spirit,  but  I  will  pray  with  my 
understanding  also ;  I  will  sing  praises  with  my  spirit,  but  I  will  sing 

16  with  my  understanding  also.  For  if  thou,  with  thy  spirit,  offerest 
thanks  and  praise,  how  shall  the  Amen  be  said  to  thy  thanksgiving 
by  those  worshippers  who  take  no  part  in  the  ministrations,  ^hile 

1 7  they  are  ignorant  of  the  meaning  of  thy  words  ?    Thou  indeed  fitly 

18  oflerest  thanksgiving,  but  they  who  hear  thee  are  not  built  up.  I 
offer  thanksgivings  to  God  in  private,  speaking  in  tongues  to  hitii, 

19  more  than  any  of  you.  Yet  in  the  congregation  I  would  rather  speak 
five  words  with  my  understanding  so  as  to  instruct  others,  tlian  ten 

20  thousand  words  in  a  tongue.  Brethren,  be  not  children  in  under- 
standing ;  but  in  malice  be  children,  and  in  understanding  be  men. 


420         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


21  It  is  written  in  the  book  of  the  Law,  "  With  men  of  other  tongues  and 
other  lips  will  I  speak  unto  this  people;  and  yet  for  all  that  they  will  not 

22  hear  me,  saith  the  LordJ^  So  that  the  gift  of  tongues  is  a  sign  given 
to  men  in  a  state  of  unbelief;  whereas  the  gift  of  prophecy  belongs 

23  to  believers.  When,  therefore,  the  whole  congregation  is  assembled 
in  its  place  of  meeting,  if  all  the  brethren  speak  in  tongues,  and  if 
any  who  take  no  part  in  your  ministrations,  or  who  are  unbelievers, 
should  enter  your  assembly,  will  they  not  say  that  you  are  mad  ? 

24  But  if  all  exercise  the  gift  of  prophecy,  then  if  any  man  who  is  an 
unbeliever,  or  who  takes  no  part  in  your  ministrations,  should  enter 
the  place  of  meeting,  he  is  convicted  in  conscience  by  every  speaker  J 

25  he  feels  himself  judged  by  all,  and  the  secret  depths  of  his  heart  are 
laid  open ;  and  so  he  will  fall  upon  his  face  and  worship  God,  de- 
claring to  all  men  that  God  is  in  you  of  a  truth.    What  follows 

26  then,  brethren?  If,  when  you  are  met  together,  one  is  prepared  to 
sing  a  hymn  of  praise,  another  to  exercise  his  gift  of  teaching,  another 
his  gift  of  tongues,  another  to  deliver  a  revelation,  another  an  inter- 

27  pretation,  let  all  be  so  done  as  to  build  up  the  Church.  If  there  be 
any  who  speak  in  tongues,  let  not  more  than  two,  or  at  the  most  three, 
speak  [in  the  same  assembly]  ;  and  let  them  speak  in  turn ;  and  let 

28  the  same  interpreter  explain  the  words  of  all.  But  if  there  be  no 
interpreter,  let  him  who  speaks  in  tongues  keep  silence  in  the  con- 

29  gregation,  and  speak  in  private  to  himself  and  God  alone.  Of  those 
who  have  the  gift  of  prophecy,  let  two  or  three  speak  [in  each  assem- 

30  bly],  and  let  the  rest  judge;  but  if  another  of  them,  while  sitting  as 
hearer,  receives  a  revelation  calling  him  to  prophesy,  let  the  first  end 

31  his  discourse.  For  so  every  one  of  you  [who  have  received  the  gift] 
can  prophesy,  that  all  in  turn  may  receive  teaching  and  exhortation  ; 

32  (and  the  gift  of  prophecy  does  not  take  from  the  prophets  the  control 

33  over  their  own  spirits).  For  God  is  not  the  author  of  confusion,  but 
of  peace. 

34  In  your  congregation,  as  in  all  the  congregations  of  women 
Christ's  people,  the  women  must  keep  silence :  for  they  must  not  offici- 

.      ,  ,    .         1        1  ,  /    ate  publicly  in 

are  not  permitted  to  speak  in  public,  but  to  show  sub-  the  congrega- 

35  mission,  as  it  is  said  also  in  the  book  of  the  Law.  And 

if  they  wish  to  ask  any  question,  let  them  ask  it  of  their  own  husbands 
at  home ;  for  it  is  disgraceful  to  women  to  speak  publicly  in  the  con- 

36  gregation.  [Whence  is  your  claim  to  change  the  rules  delivered  to 
you?]    Was  it  from  you  that  the  word  of  God  was  first  sent  forth? 

37  or  are  you  the  only  Church  which  it  has  reached?  Nay,  if  any 
think  that  he  has  the  gift  of  prophecy,  or  that  he  is  a  spiritual  man, 
let  him  acknowledge  the  words  which  I  write  for  commands  of  the 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


421 


38  Lord  Jesus.  But  if  any  man  refuse  this  acknowledgment,  let  liim 
refuse  it  at  his  own  peril. 

39  Therefore,  brethren,  I  would  have  you  delight  in  the  gift  of  pro- 

40  phecy,  and  not  hinder  the  gift  of  tongues.  And  let  all  be  done  with 
decency  and  order. 

XV. 

1  Moreover,  brethren,  I  call  to  your  remembrance  that     The  doctrine 

,    ,  .of  the  resurrec- 

which  I  declared  to  you  as  the  fflad  tidinsrs  of  Christ,  tion  of  the  dead 

established 

which  you  tlien  received,  and  wherein  you  now  stand  against  its  im- 

2  firm ;  by  which  also  you  are  saved  if  you  still  hold  it  P^^"^^^* 

3  fast,  unless  indeed  you  believed  in  vain.    For  the  first  thing  which 
I  taught  you  was  that  which  I  had  myself  been  taught,  that  Christ 

4  died  for  our  sins  as  the  Scriptures  had  foretold,  and  that  he  was 
buried,  and  that  he  rose  the  third  day  from  the  dead,  according  to  the 

6  Scriptures ;  and  that  he  was  seen  by  Cephas,  and  then  by  the  Twelve ; 

6  after  that  he  was  seen  by  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once,  of 
whom  the  greater  part  are  living  at  this  present  time,  but  some  are 

7  fallen  asleep.    Next  he  was  seen  by  James,  and  then  by  all  the  apos- 

8  ties ;  and  last  of  all  he  was  seen  by  me  also,  who  am  placed  among 

9  the  rest  as  it  were  by  an  untimely  birth ;  for  I  am  the  least  of  the 
apostles,  and  am  not  worthy  to  be  called  an  apostle,  because  I  per- 

10  secuted  the  Church  of  God.  But  by  the  grace  of  God,  I  am  what  I 
am ;  and  his  grace,  which  was  bestowed  upon  me,  was  not  fruitless ; 
but  I  labored  more  abundantly  than  all  the  rest ;  yet  not  I,  but  the 

11  grace  of  God  which  was  with  me.  So  then,  whether  proclaimed  by 
me,  or  by  them,  this  is  the  truth  which  we  declare,  and  this  is  the 
truth  which  you  believed. 

12  If  then  this  be  our  tidings,  that  Christ  is  risen  from  the  dead,  how 
is  it  that  some  among  you  say.  There  is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead  ? 

13,  14  But  if  the  dead  rise  not,  then  Christ  is  not  risen ;  and  if  Christ 
be  not  risen,  vain  is  the  glad  tidings  which  we  proclaim,  and  vain 

15  the  faith  with  which  you  heard  it.  Moreover,  we  are  found  guilty 
of  false  witness  against  God  ;  because  we  bore  witness  of  God  that  he 
raised  Christ  from  the  dead,  whom  he  did  not  raise,  if  indeed  the 

16  dead  rise  not.    For  if  there  be  no  resurrection  of  the  dead,  Christ 

17  himself  is  not  risen.    And  if  Christ  be  not  risen,  your  faith  is  vain, 

18  you  are  still  in  your  sins.    Moreover,  if  this  be  so,  they  who  have 

19  fallen  asleep  in  Christ,  perished  when  they  died.  Yea,  if  in  this  life 
only  we  have  hope  in  Christ,  we  are  of  all  men  most  miserable. 

20  But  now,  Christ  is  risen  from  the  dead ;  and  he  rose  to  be  the  first- 

21  fruits  of  all  who  sleep.    For  since  by  man  came  death,  by  man  came 

22  also  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.    For  as,  in  Adam,  all  men  die,  so, 


422         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OP  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


23  in  Christ,  shall  all  be  raised  to  life.  But  each  in  his  own  order ;  a« 
the  first-fruits  of  all  Christ  is  already  risen  ;  afterward  they  who  are 

24  Christ's  shall  rise,  at  his  appearing ;  finally,  the  end  shall  come, 
when  he  shall  give  up  his  kingdom  to  God  his  Father,  having  de- 

25  stroyed  all  other  powers  which  claim  rule  and  sway.  For  his  king- 
dom must  last  "  till  he  hath  put  all  enemies  under  his  feet  J'    And  last 

26  of  his  enemies,  death  also  shall  be  destroyed.    For  "God  hath  put  aU 

27  things  under  his  feetJ^  But  in  that  saying,  "  all  things  are  put  under 
hiniy"  it  is  manifest  that  God  is  excepted,  who  put  all  things  under 

28  him.  And  when  all  things  are  made  subject  to  him,  then  shall  the 
Son  also  subject  himself  to  Him  who  made  them  subject,  that  God 
may  be  all  in  all. 

29  Again,  what  will  become  of  those  who  cause  themselves  to  be  bap- 
tized for  the  dead,*  if  the  dead  never  rise  again  ?  Why  then  do  they 
submit  to  baptism  for  the  dead  ? 

30  And  I  too,  why  do  I  expose  my  life  every  hour  to  deadly  peril  ? 

31  I  am  daily  at  the  point  of  death,  I  protest  by  my  very  boasting 
thereof,  which  I  make  [not  in  myself,  but]  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord 

32  and  Master.  If  I  have  fought  (so  to  speak)  with  beasts  at  Ephesus, 
what  am  I  profited  if  the  dead  rise  not  ?  "  Let  us  eat  and  drink,  for 
to-morrow  we  die^    Beware  lest  you  be  led  astray ;  "  Converse  with 

33  evil  men  corrupts  good  mannersJ^    Change  your  drunken  revellings 

34  into  the  sobriety  of  righteousness,  and  live  no  more  in  sin ;  for  some 
of  you  know  not  God ;  I  speak  this  to  your  shame. 

35  But  some  disputer  will  say,  "  How  are  the  dead  raised  up  ?  and 

36  with  what  body  do  they  rise  ? "    Thou  fool,  the  seed  which  thou 

37  sowest  is  not  quickened  into  life  till  it  hath  partaken  of  death.  And 
that  seed  which  thou  sowest  has  not  the  same  body  with  the  plant 

*  The  only  meaning  which  the  Greek  seems  to  admit  here  is  a  reference  to 
the  practice  of  submitting  to  baptism  instead  of  some  person  who  had  died 
nnbaptized.  Yet  this  explanation  is  liable  to  very  great  difficulties.  (1)  How 
strange  that  Paul  should  refer  to  such  a  superstition  without  rebuking  it! 
(2)  If  such  a  practice  did  exist  in  the  apostolic  Church,  how  can  we  account 
for  its  being  discontinued  in  the  period  which  followed,  when  a  magical  effi- 
cacy was  more  and  more  ascribed  to  the  material  act  of  baptism  ?  Yet  the 
practice  was  never  adopted  except  by  some  obscure  sects  of  Gnostics,  who 
Bcem  to  have  founded  their  custom  on  this  very  passage.  The  explanations 
which  have  been  adopted  to  avoid  the  difficulty,  such  as  "over  the  graves  of 
the  dead  "  or  **in  the  name  of  the  dead  (meaning  Christ),"  etc.,  are  all  inad- 
missible, as  being  contrary  to  the  analogy  of  the  language.  On  the  whole, 
therefore,  the  passage  must  be  considered  to  admit  of  no  satisfactory  expla- 
nation. It  alludes  to  some  practice  of  the  Corinthians  which  has  not  been 
recorded  elsewhere,  and  of  which  every  other  trace  has  perished. 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


423 


which  will  spring  from  it,  but  it  is  mere  grain,  of  wheat,  or  wliatever 
38  else  it  may  chance  to  be.    Bat  God  gives  it  a  body  according  to  his 
will,  and  to  every  seed  the  body  of  its  own  proper  plant.    For  all 
flesh  is  not  the  same  flesh  [but  each  body  is  fitted  to  the  place  it 
89  fills]  ;  the  bodies  of  men,  and  of  beasts,  of  birds,  and  of  fishes,  difier 

40  the  one  from  the  other.  And  there  are  bodies  which  belong  to 
heaven,  and  bodies  which  belong  to  earth  ;  but  in  brightness  and  in 

41  beauty  the  heavenly  differ  from  the  earthly.  The  sun  is  more  glori- 
ous than  the  moon,  and  the  moon  is  more  glorious  than  the  stars, 
and  one  star  excels  another  in  the  glory  of  its  brightness.  So  will 
it  be  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead  [they  will  be  clothed  with  a 

42  body  fitted  to  their  lot]  ;  it  is  sown  in  corruption,  it  is  raised  in 

43  incorruption ;  it  is  sown  in  dishonor,  it  is  raised  in  glory ;  it  is  sown 

44  in  weakness,  it  is  raised  in  power ;  it  is  sown  a  natural  body,  it  is 
raised  a  spiritual  body ;  for  as  there  are  natural  bodies,  so  there  are 

45  also  spiritual  bodies.  And  so  it  is  written,  "  The  first  man  Adam  was 
made  a  living  soul"  whereas  the  last  Adam  was  made  a  life-giving 

46, 47  spirit.  But  the  spiritual  comes  not  till  after  the  natural.  The 
first  man  was  made  of  earthly  clay,  the  second  man  was  the  Lord 

48  from  heaven.    As  is  the  earthly,  such  are  they  also  that  are  earthly ; 

49  and  as  is  the  heavenly,  such  are  they  also  that  are  heavenly ;  and  as 
we  have  borne  the  image  of  the  earthly,  we  shall  also  bear  the  image 

60  of  the  heavenly.  But  this  I  say,  brethren,  that  flesh  and  blood*  cannot 
*  The  importance  of  the  subject  justifies  our  quoting  at  some  length  the 
admirable  remarks  of  Dr.  Burton  (formerly  regius  professor  of  divinity  at 
Oxford)  on  this  passage,  in  the  hope  that  his  high  reputation  for  learning 
and  for  unblemished  orthodoxy  may  lead  some  persons  to  reconsider  the  loose 
and  unscriptural  language  which  they  are  in  the  habit  of  using.  After  re- 
gretting that  some  of  the  early  Fathers  have  (when  treating  of  the  resuvrec' 
tion  of  the  body)  appeared  to  contradict  these  words  of  Paul,  Dr.  Burton  con- 
tinues as  follows  : 

*^  It  is  nowhere  asserted  in  the  New  Testament  that  we  shall  rise  again 
with  our  bodies.  Unless  a  man  will  say  that  the  stalk,  the  blade,  and  the  ear 
of  corn  are  actually  the  same  thing  with  the  single  grain  which  is  put  into 
the  ground,  he  cannot  quote  Paul  as  saying  that  we  shall  rise  again  with  the 
same  bodies ;  or  at  least  he  must  allow  that  the  future  body  may  only  be  like 
to  the  present  one,  inasmuch  as  both  come  under  the  same  genus — i.  e.  we 
ipeak  of  human  bodies,  and  we  speak  of  heavenly  bodies.  But  Paul's  words 
do  not  warrant  us  in  saying  that  the  resemblance  between  the  present  and 
future  body  will  be  greater  than  between  a  man  and  a  star,  or  between  a  bird 
and  a  fish.  Nothing  can  be  plainer  than  the  expression  which  he  uses  in  the 
first  of  these  two  analogies.  Thou  sowest  not  that  body  that  shall  be  (xv.  37). 
Ue  says  also,  with  equal  plainness,  of  the  body,  It  is  sown  a  natural  body,  U 


424         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,  neither  can  corruption  inherit  incorrup- 
51  tion.  Behold,  I  declare  to  you  a  mystery :  we  shall  not  all  sleep,  but 
62  we  shall  all  be  changed,  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  at 

the  sound  of  the  last  trumpet ;  for  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the 

53  dead  shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be  changed.  For 
this  corruptible  must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put 
on  immortality. 

54  But  when  this  corruptible  is  clothed  with  incorruption,  and  this 
mortal  is  clothed  with  immortality,  then  shall  be  brought  to  pass  the 

55  saying  which  is  written,   Death  is  swallowed  up  in  victory  J*   "  0  deathy 

56  where  is  thy  sting "  0  grave,  where  is  thy  victory  f'*    The  sting  of 

57  death  is  sin,  and  the  strength  of  sin  is  the  law ;  but  thanks  be  to 
God,  who  gives  to  us  victory,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

58  Therefore,  my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye  steadfast,  immovable,  always 
abounding  in  the  work  of  the  Lord ;  knowing  that  your  labor  is  not 
in  vain,  in  the  Lord. 

XVI. 

1  Concerning  the  collection  for  Christ's  people  [at  Directions  con 
Jerusalem],  I  would  have  you  follow  the  same  plan,  lectimr for  ^th* 
which  I  have  enjoined  upon  the  churches  of  Galatia.  tianaf 

2  Upon  the  first  day  of  the  week,  let  each  of  you  set 

apart  whatever  his  gains  may  enable  him  to  spare ;  that  there  may 

3  be  no  need  to  make  collections  when  I  come.  And  when  I  am  witb 
you,  whomsoever  you  shall  judge  to  be  fitted  for  the  trust,  I  wil) 

4  furnish  with  letters,  and  send  them  to  carry  your  benevolence  to  Je- 
ts raised  a  spiritual  body :  there  is  a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spirituat 
body  (v.  44).  These  words  require  to  be  examined  closely,  and  involve  re- 
motely a  deep  metaphysical  question.  In  common  language,  the  terms  body 
and  spirit  are  accustomed  to  be  opposed,  and  are  used  to  represent  two  things 
which  are  totally  distinct.  But  Paul  here  brings  the  two  expressions  to- 
gether, and  speaks  of  a  spiritual  body.  Paul  therefore  did  not  oppose  body 
to  spirit ;  and  though  the  looseness  of  modern  language  may  allow  us  to  do 
so,  and  yet  to  be  correct  in  our  ideas,  it  may  save  some  confusion  if  we  con- 
sider spirit  as  opposed  to  matter,  and  if  we  take  body  to  be  a  generic  term, 
which  comprises  both.  A  body,  therefore,  in  the  language  of  Paul,  is  some- 
thing which  has  a  distinct  individual  existence.  .  .  .  Paul  tells  us  that  every 
individual,  when  he  rises  again,  will  have  a  spiritual  body;  but  the  remarks 
which  I  have  made  may  show  how  different  is  the  idea  conveyed  by  these 
words  from  the  notions  which  some  persons  entertain,  that  we  shall  rise  again 
with  the  same  identical  body.  Paul  appears  effectually  to  preclude  this  no- 
tion when  he  says,  Flesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  Qod"  (ver. 
60). — Burton's  Lectures,  pp.  429-431. 


THE  APOSTLE'S  PLANS. 


425 


rusalem ;  or  if  there  shall  seem  sufficient  reason  for  me  also  to  go 
6  thither,  they  shall  go  with  me.    But  I  will  visit  you  PauVs  future 
after  I  have  passed  through  Macedonia  (for  through 

6  Macedonia  I  shall  pass) ;  and  perhaps  I  shall  remain  with  you,  or 
even  winter  with  you,  that  you  may  forward  me  on  my  farther  jour- 

7  ney,  whithersoever  I  go.    For  I  do  not  wish  to  see  you  now  for  a 
passing  visit ;  but  I  hope  to  stay  some  time  with  you,  if  the  Lord 

8, 9  permit.    But  I  shall  remain  at  Ephesus  until  Pentecost,  for  a 
door  is  opened  to  me  both  great  and  effectual ;  and  there  are  many 

10  adversaries  [against  whom  I  must  contend].    If  Tim-  Timotheus. 
otheus  come  to  you,  be  careful  to  give  him  no  cause  of  fear,  for  he  is 

11  laboring,  as  I  am,  in  the  Lord^s  work.  Therefore,  let  no  man  despise 
him,  but  forward  him  on  his  way  in  peace,  that  he  may  come  hither 
to  me ;  for  I  expect  him,  and  the  brethren  with  him. 

12  As  regards  the  brother  ApoUos,  I  urged  him  much  Apoiioa. 

to  visit  you  with  the  brethren  [who  bear  this  letter]  ;  nevertheless, 
he  was  resolved  not  to  come  to  you  at  this  time,  but  he  will  visit  you 
at  a  more  convenient  season. 

13  Be  watchful,  stand  firm  in  faith,  be  manful  and  stout-  Exhortations. 

14  hearted.    Let  all  you  do  be  done  in  love. 

15  You  know,  brethren,  that  the  house  of  Stephanas  Stephanas, 
were  the  first-fruits  of  Achaia,  and  that  they  have  taken  and  Achaicus. 

16  on  themselves  the  task  of  ministering  to  Chrisf  s  people.  I  exhort 
you,  therefore,  to  show  submission  towards  men  like  these,  and 

17  towards  all  who  work  laboriously  with  them.    I  rejoice  in  the  com- 

18  ing  of  Stephanas,  and  Fortunatus,  and  Achaicus,  for  they  have  sup- 
plied all  which  you  needed ;  since  they  have  lightened  my  spirit 
and  yours.  Kender,  therefore,  to  such  men  the  acknowledgment  of 
their  worth. 

19  The  churches  of  Asia  salute  you .  Aquila  and  Pris-  Salutations 
cilia  send  their  loving  salutation  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  ince  of  Asia. 

20  togetlier  with  the  Church  which  assembles  at  their  house.  All  the 
brethren  here  salute  you.  Salute  one  another  with  the  kiss  of  holi- 
ness. 

21  I,  Paul,  add  this  my  salutation  with  my  own  hand.  Autograph 

22  Let  him  who  loves  not  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  ac- 
cursed.    The  Lord  comeih, 

23,24  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you.  My  love  be 
with  you  all  in  Christ  Jesus. 

In  the  concluding  part  of  this  letter  we  have  some  indication 
of  the  apostle's  plans  for  the  future.    He  is  looking  forward  to  a 


426 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


journey  through  Macedonia  (xvi.  5),  to  be  succeeded  by  a  visit  to 
Oorinth  (ib.  2-7),  and  after  this  he  thinks  it  probable  he  may  pro- 
ceed to  Jerusalem  (ib.  3,  4).  In  the  Acts  of  the.  Apostles  the  same 
intentions  are  expressed,  with  a  stronger  purpose  of  going  to  Jeru- 
salem (xix.  21),  and  with  the  additional  conviction  that  after 
passing  through  Macedonia  and  Achaia  and  visiting  Palestine  he 
"  must  also  see  Kome"  (ib.).  He  had  won  many  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Asia  Minor  and  Ephesus  to  the  faith,  and  now,  after  the  pro- 
spect of  completing  his  charitable  exertions  for  the  poor  Christians 
of  Judaea,  his  spirit  turns  towards  the  accomplishment  of  remoter 
conquests.  Far  from  being  content  with  his  past  achievements  or 
resting  from  his  incessant  labors,  he  felt  that  he  was  under  a  debt 
of  perpetual  obligation  to  all  the  Gentile  world.  Thus  he  expresses 
himself,  soon  after  this  time,  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Roman  Chris- 
tians, whom  he  had  long  ago  desired  to  see  (Rom.  i.  10-15),  and 
w^hom  he  hopes  at  length  to  visit,  now  that  he  is  on  his  way  to 
Jerusalem,  and  looks  forward  to  a  still  more  distant  and  hazardous 
journey  to  Spain  (xv.  22-29).  The  path  thus  dimly  traced  before 
him  as  he  thought  of  the  future  at  Ephesus,  and  made  more  clearly 
visible  when  he  wrote  the  letter  at  Corinth,  was  made  still  more 
evident  as  he  proceeded  on  his  course.  Yet  not  without  forebod- 
ings of  evil  and  much  discouragement  and  mysterious  delays  did 
the  apostle  advance  on  his  courageous  career.  But  we  are  antici- 
pating many  subjects  which  will  give  a  touching  interest  to  sub- 
sequent passages  of  this  history.  Important  events  still  detain  us 
in  Ephesus.  Though  Paul's  companions  had  been  sent  before  in 
the  direction  of  his  contemplated  journey  (Acts  xix.  22),  he  still 
resolved  to  stay  till  Pentecost  (1  Cor.  xvi.  8).  A  "great  door"  was 
open  to  him,  and  there  were  "  many  adversaries"  against  whom 
he  had  yet  to  contend. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  EPHESUS. — TEMPLE  OF  DIANA. — HER  IMAGE 
AND  WORSHIP. — POLITICAL  CONSTITUTION  OF  EPHESUS. — ^THE 
ASIARCHS. — DEMETRIUS  AND  THE  SILVERSMITHS. — ^TUMULT  IN 
THE  THEATRE. — SPEECH  OF  THE  TOWN-CLERK. — PAUL'S  DE- 
PARTURE. 

The  boundaries  of  the  province  of  Asia  and  the  position  of  its 
chief  city,  Ephesus,  have  already  been  placed  before  the  reader.  It 
is  now  time  that  we  should  give  some  description  of  the  city  itself, 
with  a  notice  of  its  characteristic  religious  institutions  and  its 
political  arrangements  under  the  empire. 

No  cities  were  ever  more  favorably  placed  for  prosperity  and 
growth  than  those  of  the  colonial  Greeks  in  Asia  Minor.  They 
had  the  advantage  of  a  coast-line  full  of  convenient  harbors,  and 
of  a  sea  which  was  favorable  to  the  navigation  of  that  day,  and  by 
the  long  approaches  formed  by  the  plains  of  the  great  Western 
rivers  they  had  access  to  the  inland  trade  of  the  East.  Two  of 
these  rivers  have  been  more  than  once  alluded  to — the  Hermus 
and  the  Mseander.  The  valley  of  the  first  was  bounded  on  the 
south  by  the  ridge  of  Tmolus;  that  of  the  second  was  bounded  on 
the  north  by  Messogis.  In  the  interval  between  these  two  moun- 
tain-ranges was  the  shorter  course  of  the  river  Cayster.  A  few 
miles  from  the  sea  a  narrow  gorge  is  formed  by  Mount  Pactyas  on 
the  south,  which  is  the  western  termination  of  Messogis,  and  by 
the  precipices  of  Gallesus  on  the  north,  the  pine-clad  summits  of 
which  are  more  remotely  connected  with  the  heights  of  Tmolus. 
This  gorge  separates  the  upper  "Caystrian  meadows"  from  a  small 
alluvial  plain  by  the  sea.  Partly  on  the  long  ridge  of  Coressus, 
which  is  tbe  southern  boundary  of  this  plain,  partly  on  the  de- 
tached circular  eminence  of  Mount  Prion,  and  partly  on  the  plain 
itself,  near  the  windings  of  the  Cayster  and  about  the  edge  of  the 
harbor,  were  the  buildings  of  the  city.  Ephesus  was  not  so  dis- 
tinguished in  early  times  as  several  of  her  Ionian  sisters,  and  some 

427 


428 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


of  them  outlived  her  glory.  But  though  Phocgea  and  Miletus  sent 
out  more  colonies,  and  Smyrna  has  ever  remained  a  flourishing 
city,  yet  Ephesus  had  great  natural  advantages,  which  were  duly 
developed  in  the  age  of  which  we  are  writing.  Having  easy  access 
through  the  defiles  of  Mount  Tmolus  to  Sardis,  and  thence  up  the 
valley  of  the  Hermus  far  into  Phrygia,  and  again  by  a  similar  pass 
through  Messogis  to  the  Mseander,  being  connected  with  the  great 
road  through  Iconium  to  the  Euphrates,  it  became  the  metropolis 
of  the  province  of  Asia  under  the  Eomans,  and  the  chief  emporium 
of  trade  on  the  nearer  side  of  Taurus.  The  city  built  by  Androclus 
and  his  Athenian  followers  was  on  the  slope  of  Coressus,  but  grad- 
ually it  descended  into  the  plain  in  the  direction  of  the  temple  of 
Diana.  The  Alexandrian  age  produced  a  marked  alteration  in 
Ephesus,  as  in  most  of  the  great  towns  in  the  East,  and  Lysimachus 
extended  his  new  city  over  the  summit  of  Prion  as  well  as  the 
heights  of  Coressus.  The  Roman  age  saw,  doubtless,  a  still  further 
increase  both  of  the  size  and  magnificence  of  the  place.  To  attempt 
to  reconstruct  it  from  the  materials  which  remain  would  be  a  difficult 
task — far  more  difficult  than  in  the  case  of  Athens,  or  even  An- 
tioch — but  some  of  the  more  interesting  sites  are  easily  identified. 
Those  who  walk  over  the  desolate  site  of  the  Asiatic  metropolis 
see  piles  of  ruined  edifices  on  the  rocky  sides  and  among  the 
thickets  of  Mount  Prion ;  they  look  out  from  its  summit  over  the 
confused  morass  which  once  was  the  harbor,  where  Aquila  and 
Priscilla  landed ;  and  they  visit  in  their  deep  recesses  the  dripping 
marble-quarries,  where  the  marks  of  the  tools  are  visible  still.  On 
the  outer  edge  of  the  same  hill  they  trace  the  enclosure  of  the 
stadium,  which  may  have  suggested  to  Paul  many  of  those  images 
with  which  he  enforces  Christian  duty  in  the  first  letter  written 
from  Ephesus  to  Corinth.  Farther  on,  and  nearer  Coressus,  the 
remains  of  the  vast  theatre  (the  outline  of  the  enclosure  is  still 
distinct,  though  the  marble  seats  are  removed)  show  the  place 
where  the  multitude,  roused  by  Demetrius,  shouted  out  for  two 
hours  in  honor  of  Diana.  Below  is  the  Agora,  through  which  the 
mob  rushed  up  to  the  well-known  place  of  meeting.  And  in  the 
valley  between  Prion  and  Coressus  is  one  of  the  gymnasia,  where 
the  athletes  were  trained  for  transient  honors  and  a  perishable 
garland.  Surrounding  and  crowning  the  scene  are  the  long  Hel- 
lenic walls  of  Lysimachus,  following  the  ridge  of  Coressus.  On  a 
spur  of  the  hill  they  descend  to  an  ancient  tower,  which  is  still 


THE  TEMPLE  OF  DIANA. 


429 


called  tlie  prison  of  Panl.  The  name  is  doubtless  legendary, 
but  Paul  may  have  stood  here  and  looked  over  the  city  and  the 
plain,  and  seen  the  Cayster  winding  towards  him  from  the  base 
of  Gallesus.  Within  his  view  was  another  eminence,  detached 
from  the  city  of  that  day,  but  which  became  the  Mohammedan 
town  when  ancient  Ephesus  was  destroyed,  and  nevertheless  pre- 
serves in  its  name  a  record  of  another  apostle,  the  "disciple" 
John. 

But  one  building  at  Ephesus  surpassed  all  the  rest  in  magnifi- 
cence and  in  fame.  This  was  the  temple  of  Artemis  or  Diana, 
which  glittered  in  brilliant  beauty  at  the  head  of  the  harbor,  and 
was  reckoned  by  the  ancients  as  one  of  the  wonders  of  the  world. 
The  sun,  it  was  said,  saw  nothing  in  his  course  more  magnificent 
than  Diana's  temple.  Its  honor  dated  from  remote  antiquity. 
Leaving  out  of  consideration  the  earliest  temple,  which  was  con- 
temporaneous with  the  Athenian  colony  under  Androclus,  or  even 
yet  more  ancient,  we  find  the  great  edifice,  which  was  anterior  to 
the  Macedonian  period,  begun  and  continued  in  the  midst  of 
the  attention  and  admiration  both  of  Greeks  and  Asiatics.  The 
foundations  were  carefully  laid,  with  immense  substructions,  in  the 
marshy  ground.  Architects  of  the  highest  distinction  were  em- 
ployed. The  quarries  of  Mount  Prion  supplied  the  marble.  All 
the  Greek  cities  of  Asia  contributed  to  the  structure,  and  Croesus, 
the  king  of  Lydia,  himself  lent  his  aid.  The  work  thus  begun 
before  the  Persian  war  was  slowly  continued  even  through  the 
Peloponnesian  war,  and  its  dedication  was  celebrated  by  a  poet 
contemporary  with  Euripides.  But  the  building,  which  had  been 
thus  rising  through  the  space  of  many  years,  was  not  destined  to 
remain  long  in  the  beauty  of  its  perfection.  The  fanatic  Hero- 
stratus  set  fire  to  it  on  the  same  night  in  which  Alexander  was 
born.  This  is  one  of  the  coincidences  of  history  on  which  the 
ancient  world  was  fond  of  dwelling,  and  it  enables  us  with  more 
distinctness  to  pursue  the  annals  of  "Diana  of  the  Ephesians*" 
The  temple  was  rebuilt  with  new  and  more  sumptuous  magnifi- 
cence. The  ladies  of  Ephesus  contributed  their  jewelry  to  the 
expense  of  the  restoration.  The  national  pride  in  the  sanctuary 
was  so  great  that  when  Alexander  offered  the  spoils  of  his  Eastern 
campaign  if  he  might  inscribe  his  name  on  the  building,  the 
honor  was  declined.  The  Ephesians  never  ceased  to  embellish 
the  shrine  of  their  goddess,  continually  adding  new  decorations 


430         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

and  subsidiary  buildings,  with  statues  and  pictures  by  the  most 
famous  artists.  This  was  the  temple  that  kindled  the  enthusiasm 
of  PauPs  opponents  (Acts  xix.),  and  was  still  the  rally ing-point 
of  heathenism  in  the  days  of  John  and  Polycarp.  In  the  second 
century  we  read  that  it  was  united  to  the  city  by  a  long  colonnade. 
But  soon  after  it  was  plundered  and  laid  waste  by  the  Goths  who 
came  from  beyond  the  Danube  in  the  reign  of  Gallienus.  It  sunk 
entirely  into  decay  in  the  age  when  Christianity  was  overspreading 
the  empire,  and  its  remains  are  to  be  sought  for  in  mediaeval 
buildings,  in  the  columns  of  green  jasper  which  support  the  dome 
of  Sophia,  or  even  in  the  naves  of  Italian  cathedrals. 

Thus  the  temple  of  Diana  of  Ephesus  saw  all  the  changes  of 
Asia  Minor  from  Croesus  to  Constantine.  Though  nothing  now 
remains  on  the  spot  to  show  us  what  or  even  where  it  was,  there  is 
enough  in  its  written  memorials  to  give  us  some  notions  of  its 
appearance  and  splendor.  The  reader  will  bear  in  mind  the  cha- 
racteristic style  which  was  assumed  by  Greek  architecture,  and 
which  has  suggested  many  of  the  images  of  the  New  Testament. 
It  was  quite  different  from  the  lofty  and  ascending  form  of  those 
buildings  which  have  since  arisen  in  all  parts  of  Christian  Europe, 
and  essentially  consisted  in  horizontal  entablatures  resting  on 
vertical  columns.  In  another  respect  also  the  temples  of  the 
ancients  may  be  contrasted  with  our  churches  and  cathedrals. 
They  were  not  roofed  over  for  the  reception  of  a  large  company 
of  worshippers,  but  were  in  fact  colonnades  erected  as  subsidiary 
decorations  round  the  cell  which  contained  the  idol,  and  were, 
through  a  great  part  of  their  space,  open  to  the  sky.  The  colon- 
nades of  the  Ephesian  Diana  really  constituted  an  epoch  in  the 
history  of  art,  for  in  them  was  first  matured  that  graceful  Ionic 
style  the  feminine  beauty  of  which  was  more  suited  to  the  genius 
of  the  Asiatic  Greek  than  the  sterner  and  plainer  Doric  in  which 
the  Parthenon  and  Propylsea  were  built.  The  scale  on  which  the 
temple  was  erected  was  magnificently  extensive.  It  was  four 
hundred  and  twenty-five  feet  in  length  and  two  hundred  and 
twenty  in  breadth,  and  the  columns  were  sixty  feet  high.  The 
number  of  columns  was  one  hundred  and  twenty-seven,  each  of 
them  the  gift  of  a  king;  and  thirty-six  of  them  were  enriched 
with  ornament  and  color.  The  folding  doors  were  of  cypress- 
wood,  the  part  which  was  not  open  to  the  sky  was  roofed  over 
with  cedar,  and  the  staircase  was  formed  of  the  wood  of  one  single 


THE  IMAGE  AND  WORSHIP  OF  DIANA. 


431 


vine  from  the  island  of  Cyprus.  The  value  and  fame  of  the  tem- 
ple were  enhanced  by  its  being  the  treasury  in  which  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  wealth  of  Western  Asia  was  stored  up.  It  is  probable 
that  there  was  no  religious  building  in  the  world  in  which  was 
concentrated  a  greater  amount  of  admiration,  enthusiasm,  and 
superstition. 

If  the  temple  of  Diana  at  Ephesus  was  magnificent,  the  image 
enshrined  within  the  sumptuous  enclosure  was  primitive  and  rude. 
We  usually  conceive  of  this  goddess,  when  represented  in  art,  as 
the  tall  huntress  eager  in  pursuit,  like  the  statue  in  the  Louvre. 
Such  was  not  the  form  of  the  Ephesian  Diana,  though  she  was 
identified  by  the  Greeks  with  their  own  mountain-goddess,  whose 
figure  we  often  see  represented  on  the  coins  of  this  city.  What 
amount  of  fusion  took  place  in  the  case  of  this  worship  between 
Greek  and  Oriental  notions  we  need  not  inquire.  The  image  may 
have  been  intended  to  represent  Diana  in  one  of  her  customary 
characters  as  the  deity  of  fountains,  but  it  reminds  us  rather  of 
the  idols  of  the  far  East,  and  of  the  religions  which  love  to  repre- 
sent the  life  of  all  animated  beings  as  fed  and  supported  by  the 
many  breasts  of  Nature.  The  figure  which  assumed  this  em- 
blematic form  above  was  terminated  below  in  a  shapeless  block. 
The  material  was  wood.  A  bar  of  metal  was  in  each  hand.  The 
dress  was  covered  with  mystic  devices,  and  the  small  shrine  where 
it  stood  within  the  temple  was  concealed  by  a  curtain  in  front. 
Yet,  rude  as  the  image  was,  it  was  the  object  of  the  utmost  venera- 
tion. Like  the  Palladium  of  Troy,  like  the  most  ancient  Minerva 
of  the  Athenian  Acropolis,  like  the  Paphian  Venus  or  Cybele  of 
Pessinus  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  like  the  Ceres  in 
Sicily  mentioned  by  Cicero,  it  was  believed  to  have  "  fallen  down 
from  the  sky"  (Acts  xix.  35).  Thus  it  was  the  object  of  the 
greater  veneration  from  the  contrast  of  its  primitive  simplicity 
with  the  modern  and  earthly  splendor  which  surrounded  it;  and 
it  was  the  model  on  which  the  images  of  Diana  were  formed  for 
worship  in  other  cities. 

One  of  the  idolatrous  customs  of  the  ancient  world  was  the  use 
of  portable  images  or  shrines,  which  were  little  models  of  the 
more  celebrated  objects  of  devotion.  They  were  carried  in  pro- 
cessions, on  journeys  and  military  expeditions,  and  sometimes  set 
up  as  household  gods  in  private  houses.  Pliny  says  that  this  was 
the  case  with  the  temple  of  the  Cnidian  Venus;  and  other  heathen 


432  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

writers  make  allusion  to  the  "shrines"  of  the  Ephesian  Diana 
which  are  mentioned  in  the  Acts  (xix.  24).  The  material  might 
be  wood,  or  gold,  or  "  silver."  The  latter  material  was  that  which 
employed  the  hands  of  the  workmen  of  Demetrius.  From  the 
expressions  used  by  Luke,  it  is  evident  that  an  extensive  and 
lucrative  trade  grew  up  at  Ephesus  from  the  manufacture  and 
sale  of  these  shrines.  Few  of  those  who  came  to  Ephesus  would 
willingly  go  away  without  a  memorial  of  the  goddess  and  a  model 
of  her  temple;  and  from  the  wide  circulation  of  these  works  of  art 
over  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  and  far  into  the  interior  it 
might  be  said,  with  little  exaggeration,  that  her  worship  was 
recognized  by  the  "  whole  world  "  (Acts  xix.  27). 

The  ceremonies  of  the  actual  worship  at  Ephesus  were  con- 
ducted by  the  members  of  a  twofold  hierarchy.  And  here  again 
we  see  the  traces  of  Oriental  rather  than  Greek  influences.  The 
megabyzi^  the  priests  of  Diana,  were  eunuchs  from  the  interior, 
under  one  at  their  head  who  bore  the  title  of  high  priest  and 
ranked  among  the  leading  and  most  influential  personages  of  the 
city.  Along  with  these  priests  were  associated  a  swarm  of  virgin 
priestesses,  consecrated,  under  the  name  of  melisscBj  to  the  service 
of  the  deity,  and  divided  into  three  classes,  and  serving,  like  the 
priests,  under  one  head;  and  with  the  priests  and  priestesses 
would  be  associated  (as  in  all  the  great  temples  of  antiquity)  a 
great  number  of  slaves,  who  attended  to  the  various  duties  con- 
nected with  the  worship,  down  to  the  care  of  sweeping  and  clean- 
ing the  temple.  This  last  phrase  leads  us  to  notice  an  expression 
used  in  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  concerning  the  connection  of 
Ephesus  with  the  temple  of  Diana.    The  term  ^^neocoros/^  or 

tempk-stveeper^'  [vetoKopog^  xix.  85),  originally  an  expression  of 
humility,  and  applied  to  the  lowest  menials  engaged  in  the  care 
of  the  sacred  edifice,  became  afterward  a  title  of  the  highest 
honor,  and  was  eagerly  appropriated  by  the  most  famous  cities. 
This  was  the  case  with  Ephesus  in  reference  to  her  national  god- 
dess.   The  city  was  personified  as  Diana's  devotee.    The  title 

neocoros was  boastfully  exhibited  on  the  current  coins.  Even 
the  free  people  of  Ephesus  were  sometimes  named  neocoros,^* 
Thus,  the  town-clerk  could  with  good  reason  begin  his  speech  by 
the  question,  "  What  man  is  there  that  knows  not  that  the  city  of 
the  Ephesians  is  neocoros  of  the  great  goddess  Diana  and  of  the 
image  which  came  down  from  heaven  ?  " 


GOVERNMENT  OF  EPHESUS. 


433 


The  temple  and  the  temple-seryices  remained  under  the  Eomans 
as  they  had  been  since  the  period  of  Alexander.  If  any  change 
had  taken  place,  greater  honor  was  paid  to  the  goddess  and  richer 
magnificence  added  to  her  sanctuary  in  proportion  to  the  wider 
extent  to  w^hich  her  fame  had  been  spread.  Asia  was  always  a 
favored  province,  and  Ephesus  must  be  classed  among  those  cities 
of  the  Greeks  to  which  the  conquerors  were  willing  to  pay  dis- 
tinguished respect.  Her  liberties  and  her  municipal  constitution 
were  left  untouched  when  the  province  was  governed  by  an  officer 
from  Eome.  To  the  general  remarks  which  have  been  made  be- 
fore in  reference  to  Thessalonica,  concerning  the  position  of  free  or 
autonomous  cities  under  the  empire,  something  more  may  be  added 
here,  inasmuch  as  some  of  the  political  characters  of  Ephesus  ap- 
pear on  the  scene  which  is  described  in  the  sacred  narrative. 

We  have  said,  in  the  passage  above  alluded  to,  that  free  cities 
under  the  empire  had  frequently  their  senate  and  assembly.  There 
is  abundant  proof  that  this  was  the  case  at  Ephesus.  Its  old  con- 
stitution was  democratic,  as  we  should  expect  in  a  city  of  the 
lonians  and  as  we  are  distinctly  told  by  Xenophon ;  and  this  con- 
stitution continued  to  subsist  under  the  Eomans.  The  senate,  of 
which  Josephus  speaks,  still  met  in  the  senate-house,  which  is 
alluded  to  by  another  writer,  and  the  position  of  which  was  prob- 
ably in  the  Agora  below  the  theatre.  We  have  still  more  frequent 
notices  of  the  demuSj  or  people,  and  its  assembly.  Wherever  its 
customary  place  of  meeting  might  be  when  legally  and  regularly 
convoked  (hvofio)  tKKlTjaiaj  Acts  xix.  39),  the  theatre  would  be  an 
obvious  place  of  meeting  in  the  case  of  a  tumultuary  gathering 
like  that  which  will  presently  be  brought  before  our  notice. 

Again,  like  other  free  cities,  Ephesus  had  its  magistrates,  as 
Thessalonica  had  its  politarchs  and  Athens  its  archons.  Among 
those  which  our  sources  of  information  bring  before  us  are  several 
with  the  same  titles  and  functions  as  in  Athens.  One  of  these  was 
that  officer  who  is  described  as  ^Hoion- cleric''^  in  the  authorized  ver- 
sion of  the  Bible  [ypaiifiarevg^  Acts  xix.  35).  Without  being  able 
to  determine  his  exact  duties,  or  to  decide  whether  another  term, 
such  as  "  chancellor  or  "  recorder,''  would  better  describe  them 
to  us,  we  may  assert,  from  the  parallel  case  of  Athens  and  from  the 
Ephesian  records  themselves,  that  he  was  a  magistrate  of  great 
authority  in  a  high  and  very  public  position.  He  had  to  do  with 
state  paj ers ;  he  was  keeper  of  the  archives ;  he  read  what  was  of 
28 


434  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

moment  before  the  senate  and  assembly;  he  was  present  when 
money  was  deposited  in  the  temple ;  and  when  letters  were  sent 
to  the  people  of  Ephesus  they  were  officially  addressed  to  him. 
Thus  we  can  readily  account  for  his  name  appearing  so  often  on 
the  coinn  of  Ephesus.  He  seems  sometimes  to  have  given  the 
name  to  the  year,  like  the  archons  at  Athens  or  the  consuls  at 
Rome.  Hence  no  magistrate  was  more  before  the  public  at 
Ephesus.  His  very  aspect  was  familiar  to  all  the  citizens,  and 
no  one  was  so  likely  to  be  able  to  calm  and  disperse  an  angry  and 
excited  multitude.    (See  Acts  xix.  35-41.) 

If  we  turn  now  from  the  city  to  the  province  of  which  it  was 
the  metropolis,  we  are  under  no  perplexity  as  to  its  relation  to 
the  imperial  government.  From  coins  and  from  inscriptions,  from 
secular  writers  and  Scripture  itself  (Acts  xix.  38),  we  learn  that 
Asia  was  a  proconsular  province.  We  shall  not  stay  to  consider 
the  question  which  has  been  raised  concerning  the  usage  of  the 
plural  in  this  passage  of  the  Acts,  for  it  is  not  necessarily  implied 
that  more  than  one  proconsul  was  in  Ephesus  at  the  time.  But 
another  subject  connected  with  the  provincial  arrangements  re- 
quires a  few  words  of  explanation.  The  Eoman  citizens  in  a 
province  were,  in  all  legal  matters,  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the 
proconsul,  and  for  the  convenient  administration  of  justice  the 
whole  country  was  divided  into  districts,  each  of  which  had  its 
own  assize-town  [forum  or  conventus).  The  proconsul  at  stated 
seasons  made  a  circuit  through  these  districts,  attended  by  his  in- 
terpreter (for  all  legal  business  in  the  empire  was  conducted  in 
Latin),  and  those  who  had  subjects  of  litigation  or  other  cases 
requiring  the  observance  of  legal  forms  brought  them  before  him 
or  the  judges  whom  he  might  appoint.  Thus  Pliny,  after  the  true 
Roman  spirit,  in  his  geographical  description  of  the  empire  is  al- 
ways in  the  habit  of  mentioning  the  assize-towns  and  the  extent 
of  the  shires  which  surrounded  them.  In  the  province  of  Asia  he 
takes  especial  notice  of  Sardis,  Smyrna,  and  Ephesus,  and  enume- 
rates the  various  towns  which  brought  their  causes  to  be  tried  at 
these  cities.  The  official  visit  of  the  proconsul  to  Ephesus  was 
necessarily  among  the  most  important ;  and  the  town-clerk,  in 
referring  to  the  presence  of  the  proconsuls,  could  remind  his 
fellow-citizens  in  the  same  breath  that  it  was  the  very  time  of 
the  assizes  [dyopaloL  ayovrat^  Acts  xix.  38). 

We  have  no  information  as  to  the  time  of  the  year  at  which  the 


THE  aRTEMISIAN  FESTIVAL. 


435 


Epbesian  assizes  were  held.  If  the  meeting  took  place  in  spring, 
they  would  then  be  coincident  with  the  great  gathering  which  took 
place  at  the  celebration  of  the  national  games.  It  seems  that  the 
ancient  festival  of  the  united  lonians  had  merged  into  that  which 
was  held  in  honor  of  the  Epbesian  Diana.  The  whole  month  of 
May  was  consecrated  to  the  glory  of  the  goddess,  and  the  month 
itself  received  from  her  the  name  of  Artemision.  The  Artemisian 
festival  was  not  simply  an  Epbesian  ceremony,  but  w^as  fostered  by 
the  sympathy  and  enthusiasm  of  all  the  surrounding  neighborhood. 
As  the  temple  of  Diana  was  called  "  the  temple  of  Asia,'^  so  this 
gathering  w^as  called  "  the  common  meeting  of  Asia."  From  the 
towns  on  the  coast  and  in  the  interior  the  lonians  came  up  with 
their  wives  and  children  to  witness  the  gymnastic  and  musical 
contests,  and  to  enjoy  the  various  amusements  which  made  the 
days  and  nights  of  May  one  long  scene  of  revelry.  To  preside 
over  these  games,  to  provide  the  necessary  expenses,  and  to  see 
that  due  order  was  maintained,  annual  officers  were  appointed 
by  election  from  the  whole  province.  About  the  time  of  the  vernal 
equinox  each  of  the  principal  towns  within  the  district  called  Asia 
chose  one  of  its  wealthiest  citizens,  and  from  the  whole  number 
thus  returned  ten  were  finally  selected  to  discharge  the  duty  of 
asiarchs.  We  find  similar  titles  in  use  in  the  neighboring  provinces, 
and  read  in  books  or  on  inscriptions  and  coins  of  hithyniarchs,  yala- 
tarchSj  lyciarchs^  and  syriarchs.  But  the  games  of  Asia  and  Ephesus 
were  pre-eminently  famous,  and  those  who  held  there  the  office  of 
^'presidents  of  the  games"  were  men  of  high  distinction  and  exten- 
sive influence.  Receiving  no  emolument  from  their  office,  but  being 
required  rather  to  expend  large  sums  for  the  amusement  of  the 
people  and  their  own  credit,  they  were  necessarily  persons  of 
wealth.  Men  of  consular  rank  were  often  willing  to  receive  the 
appointment,  and  it  was  held  to  enhance  the  honor  of  any  other 
magistracies  with  which  they  might  be  invested.  They  held  for 
the  time  a  kind  of  sacerdotal  position,  and  when,  robed  in  man- 
tles of  purple  and  crowned  with  garlands,  they  assumed  the  duty 
of  regulating  the  great  gymnastic  contests  and  controlling  the 
tumultuary  crowd  in  the  theatre,  they  might  literally  be  called  the 
"chiefs  of  Asia"  (Acts  xix.  31). 

These  notices  of  the  topography  and  history  of  Ephesus,  of  its 
religious  institutions  and  political  condition  under  the  empire, 
may  serve  to  clear  the  way  for  the  narrative  which  we  must  now 


436 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


pursue.  We  resume  the  history  at  the  twenty-second  verse  of  the 
nineteenth  chapter  of  the  Acts,  where  we  are  told  of  a  continued 
stay  in  Asia  after  the  burning  of  the  books  of  the  magicians. 
Paul  was  indeed  looking  forward  to  a  journey  through  Macedonia 
and  Achaia,  and  ultimately  to  Jerusalem  and  Rome,  and  in  anti- 
cipation of  his  departure  he  had  sent  two  of  his  companions  into 
Macedonia  before  him.  The  events  which  had  previously  occurred 
have  already  shown  us  the  great  effects  which  his  preaching  had 
produced  both  among  the  Jews  and  Gentiles.  And  those  which 
follow  show  us  still  more  clearly  how  wide  a  "  door'^  had  been 
thrown  open  to  the  progress  of  the  gospel.  The  idolatrous  prac- 
tices of  Ephesus  were  so  far  endangered  that  the  interests  of  one  of 
the  prevalent  trades  of  the  place  were  seriously  affected ;  and  mean- 
while Paul's  character  had  risen  so  high  as  to  obtain  influence 
over  some  of  the  wealthiest  and  most  powerful  personages  in  the 
province.  The  scene  which  follows  is  entirely  connected  with  the 
religious  observances  of  the  city  of  Diana.  The  Jews  fall  into  the 
background.  Both  the  danger  and  safety  of  the  apostle  originate 
with  the  Gentiles. 

It  seems  to  have  been  the  season  of  spring  when  the  occurrences 
took  place  which  are  related  by  Luke  at  the  close  of  his  nineteenth 
chapter.  We  have  already  seen  that  he  purposed  to  stay  at  Ephe- 
sus "till  Pentecost;"  and  it  has  been  stated  that  May  was  the 
"month  of  Diana,"  in  which  the  great  religious  gathering  took 
place  to  celebrate  the  games.  If  this  also  was  the  season  of  the 
provincial  assize  (which,  as  we  have  seen,  is  highly  probable),  the 
city  would  be  crowded  with  various  classes  of  people.  Doubtless, 
those  who  employed  themselves  in  making  the  portable  shrines 
of  Diana  expected  to  drive  a  brisk  trade  at  such  a  time,  and  when 
they  found  that  the  sale  of  these  objects  of  superstition  was  seri- 
ously diminished,  and  that  the  preaching  of  Paul  was  the  cause 
of  their  merchandise  being  depreciated,  "  no  small  tumult  arose 
concerning  that  way"  in  which  the  new  teacher  was  leading  his 
disciples  (v.  23).  A  certain  Demetrius,  a  master-manufacturer  in 
the  craft,  summoned  together  his  workmen,  along  with  other 
artisans  who  were  occupied  in  trades  of  the  same  kind — among 
whom  we  may  reckon  with  great  probability  "Alexander  the  cop- 
persmith" (2  Tim.  iv.  14),  against  whom  the  apostle  warned  Tim- 
othy at  a  later  period — and  addressed  to  them  an  inflammatory 
speech.  It  is  evident  that  Paul,  though  he  had  made  no  open  and 


TUMULT  IN  THE  THEATRE. 


437 


calumnious  attack  on  the  divinities  of  the  place,  as  was  admitted 
below  (v.  37),  had  said  something  like  what  he  had  said  at  Athens — 
that  we  ought  not  to  suppose  that  the  Deity  is  "  like  gold  or  silver 
carved  with  the  art  and  device  of  man"  (Acts  xvii.  29),  and  that 
"they  are  no  gods  that  are  made  with  hands"  (v.  26).  Such  ex- 
pressions, added  to  the  failure  in  the  profits  of  those  who  were 
listening,  gave  sufficient  materials  for  an  adroit  and  persuasive 
speech.  Demetrius  appealed  first  to  the  interest  of  his  hearers, 
and  then  to  their  fanaticism.  He  told  them  that  their  gains  were 
in  danger  of  being  lost,  and,  besides  this,  that  "  the  temple  of  the 
great  goddess  Diana"  (to  which  we  can  imagine  him  pointing  as 
he  spoke)  was  in  danger  of  being  despised,  and  that  the  honor  of 
their  national  divinity  was  in  jeopardy,  whom  not  only  "all  Asia," 
but  "all  the  civilized  world,"  had  hitherto  held  in  the  highest 
veneration.  Such  a  speech  could  not  be  lost  when  thrown  like 
fire  on  such  inflammatory  materials.  The  infuriated  feeling  of 
the  crowd  of  assembled  artisans  broke  out  at  once  into  a  cry  in 
honor  of  the  divine  patron  of  their  city  and  their  craft — "Great 
is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians  !" 

The  excitement  among  this  important  and  influential  class  of 
operatives  was  not  long  in  spreading  through  the  whole  city. 
The  infection  seized  upon  the  crowds  of  citizens  and  strangers, 
and  a  general  rush  was  made  to  the  theatre,  the  most  obvious 
place  of  assembly.  On  their  way  they  seem  to  have  been  foiled 
in  the  attempt  to  lay  hold  of  the  person  of  Paul,  though  they 
hurried  with  them  into  the  theatre  two  of  the  companions  of  his 
travels,  Caius  and  Aristarchus,  whose  home  was  in  Macedonia.  A 
^ense  of  the  danger  of  his  companions  and  a  fearless  zeal  for  the 
truth  urged  Paul,  so  soon  as  this  intelligence  reached  him,  to 
hasten  to  the  theatre  and  present  himself  before  the  people;  but 
the  Christian  disciples  used  all  their  efforts  to  restrain  him.  ler- 
haps  their  anxious  solicitude  might  have  been  unavailing  on  this 
occasion,  as  it  was  on  one  occasion  afterward,  had  not  other  in- 
fluential friends  interposed  to  preserve  his  safety.  And  now  is 
seen  the  advantage  which  is  secured  to  a  righteous  cause  by  the 
upright  character  and  unflinching  zeal  of  its  leading  champ: :n. 
Some  of  the  asiarchs,  whether  converted  to  Christianity  or  not, 
had  a  friendly  feeling  towards  the  apostle,  and  well  knowing  Ihe 
passions  of  an  Ephesian  mob  when  excited  at  one  of  the  festivals 
of  Asia,  they  sent  an  urgent  message  to  him  to  prevent  him  from 


438  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


venturing  into  the  scene  of  disorder  and  danger.  Thus  he  reluc- 
tantly consented  to  remain  in  privacy,  while  the  mob  crowded 
violently  into  the  theatre,  filling  the  stone  seats  tier  above  tier, 
and  rending  the  air  with  their  confused  and  fanatical  cries. 

It  was  indeed  a  scene  of  confusion,  and  never  perhaps  was  the 
character  of  a  mob  more  simply  and  graphically  expressed  than 
when  it  is  said  that  "  the  majority  knew  not  why  they  were  come 
together (v.  32).  At  length  an  attempt  was  made  to  bring  the 
expression  of  some  articulate  words  before  the  assembly.  This 
attempt  came  from  the  Jews,  who  seem  to  have  been  afraid  lest 
they  should  be  implicated  in  the  odium  which  had  fallen  on  the 
Christians.  By  no  means  unwilling  to  injure  the  apostle's  cause, 
they  were  yet  anxious  to  clear  themselves,  and  therefore  they  "put 
Alexander  forward  "  to  make  an  apologetic  speech  to  the  multi- 
tude. If  this  man  was  really,  as  we  have  suggested,  "Alexander 
the  coppersmith,"  he  might  naturally  be  expected  to  have  influence 
with  Demetrius  and  his  fellow-craftsmen.  But  when  he  stood  up 
and  "raised  his  hand"  to  invite  silence,  he  was  recognized  im- 
mediately by  the  multitude  as  a  Jew.  It  was  no  time  for  making 
distinctions  between  Jews  and  Christians,  and  one  simultaneous 
cry  arose  from  every  moutli,  "  Great  is  Diana  of  the  Ephesians ! " 
and  this  cry  continued  for  two  hours. 

The  excitement  of  an  angry  multitude  v/ears  out  after  a  time, 
and  a  period  of  reaction  comes  when  they  are  disposed  to  listen  to 
words  of  counsel  and  reproof.  And,  whether  we  consider  the 
official  position  of  the  town-clerk  or  the  character  of  the  man  as 
indicated  by  his  speech,  we  may  confidently  say  that  no  one  in  the 
city  was  so  well  suited  to  appease  this  Ephesian  mob.  The  speech 
is  a  pattern  of  candid  argument  and  judicious  tact.  He  first 
allays  the  fanatical  passions  of  his  listeners  by  this  simple  appeal: 
"Is  it  not  notorious  everywhere  that  this  city  of  the  Ephesians  is 
neocoros  of  the  great  goddess  Diana  and  of  the  image  that  came 
down  from  the  sky  ?  "  The  contradiction  of  a  few  insignificant 
strangers  could  not  affect  what  was  notorious  in  all  the  world. 
Then  he  bids  them  remember  that  Paul  and  his  companions  had 
not  been  guilty  of  approaching  or  profaning  the  temple,  or  of 
outraging  the  feelings  of  the  Ephesians  by  calumnious  expressions 
against  the  goddess.  And  then  he  turns  from  the  general  subject 
to  the  case  of  Demetrius,  and  points  out  that  the  remedy  for  any 
injustice  was  amply  provided  by  the  assizes  which  were  then  going 


Paul's  departure  from  ephesus. 


439 


on,  or  by  an  appeal  to  the  proconsul.  And,  reserving  the  most 
efficacious  argument  to  the  last,  he  reminded  them  that  such  an 
uproar  exposed  the  city  to  the  displeasure  of  the  Eomans;  for, 
however  great  were  the  liberties  allowed  to  an  ancient  and  loyal 
city,  it  was  well  known  to  thew^hole  population  that  a  tumultuous 
meeting  which  endangered  the  public  peace  would  never  be 
tolerated.  So,  having  rapidly  brought  his  arguments  to  a  climax, 
he  tranquillized  the  w^hole  multitude  and  pronounced  the  technical 
words  which  declared  the  assembly  dispersed  (Acts  xix.  41).  The 
stone  seats  were  gradually  emptied,  the  uproar  ceased  (ib.  xx.  1), 
and  the  rioters  dispersed  to  their  various  occupations  and  amuse- 
ments. 

Thus,  God  used  the  eloquence  of  a  Greek  magistrate  to  protect 
his  servant,  as  before  he  had  used  the  right  of  Eoman  citizenship 
and  the  calm  justice  of  a  Roman  governor.  And,  as  in  the  cases 
of  Philippi  and  Corinth,  the  narrative  of  Paul's  sojourn  at  Ephesus 
concludes  with  the  notice  of  a  deliberate  and  affectionate  farewell. 
The  danger  was  now  over.  With  gratitude  to  that  heavenly 
Master  who  had  watched  over  his  life  and  his  works,  and  with  a 
recognition  of  that  love  of  his  fellow-Christians  and  that  favor  of 
the  "chief  of  Asia''  which  had  been  the  instruments  of  his  safety, 
he  gathered  together  the  disciples  (Acts  xx.  1),  and  in  one  last 
affectionate  meeting — most  probably  in  the  school  of  Tyrannus — 
he  gave  them  his  farewell  salutations,  commended  them  to  the 
grace  of  God,  and  parted  from  them  with  tears. 

This  is  the  last  authentic  account  which  we  possess,  if  we  except 
the  meeting  at  Miletus  (Acts  xx. ),  of  any  personal  connection  of 
Paul  with  Ephesus.  The  other  historical  associations  of  Chris- 
tianity with  this  city  are  connected  with  a  different  apostle  and  a 
later  period  of  the  Church.  Legend  has  been  busy  on  this  scene 
M'  apostolic  preaching  and  suffering.  Without  attempting  to 
unravel  what  is  said  concerning  others  who  have  lived  and  died 
at  Ephesus,  we  are  allowed  to  believe  that  the  robber-haunts  in 
tlie  mountains  around  have  witnessed  some  passages  in  the  life  of 
John,  that  he  spent  the  last  year  of  the  first  century  in  this 
''metropolis  of  the  Asiatic  churches,''  and  that  his  body  rests 
among  the  sepulchres  of  Mount  Prion.  Here  we  may  believe 
that  the  Gospel  and  Epistles  were  written  which  teach  us  that 
*']ove"  is  greater  than ''faith  and  hope"  (1  Cor.  xiii.  18),  and 


440  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

here,  thougli  tlie  "candlestick"  is  removed,  according  to  tlie 
prophetic  word  (Eev.  ii.  5),  a  monument  yet  survives,  in  the  hill 
strewn  with  the  ruins  of  many  centuries,  of  him  who  was  called 
"  John  the  Theologian  "  because  he  emphatically  wrote  of  the 
"  divinity  of  our  Lord." 


CHAPTEK  XVII. 


PAUL  AT  TROAS. — HE  PASSES  OVER  TO  MACEDONIA. — CAUSES 
OF  HIS  DEJECTION. — HE  MEETS  TITUS  AT  PHILIPPI. — WRITES 
"the  second  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS." — COLLECTION 
FOR  THE  POOR  CHRISTIANS  IN  JUD^A. — JOURNEY  BY  ILLYR- 
ICUM  TO  GREECE. 

After  his  mention  of  the  affectionate  parting  between  Paul  and 
the  Christians  of  Ephesus,  Luke  tells  us  very  little  of  the  apostle's 
proceedings  during  a  period  of  nine  or  ten  months — that  is,  from 
the  early  summer  of  the  year  A.  D.  57  to  the  spring  of  A.  D.  68. 
All  the  information  which  we  find  in  the  Acts  concerning  this 
period  is  comprised  in  the  following  words :  "  He  departed  to  go 
into  Macedonia,  and  when  he  had  gone  over  those  parts,  and  had 
given  them  much  exhortation,  he  came  into  Greece,  and  there 
abode  three  months."  Were  it  not  for  the  information  supplied 
by  the  Epistles,  this  is  all  we  should  have  known  of  a  period  wbich 
was,  intellectually  at  least,  the  most  active  and  influential  of 
Paul's  career.  These  letters,  however,  supply  us  with  many 
additional  incidents  belonging  to  this  epoch  of  his  life,  and,  what 
is  more  important,  they  give  us  a  picture  drawn  by  his  ow^n  hand 
of  his  state  of  mind  during  an  anxious  and  critical  season;  they 
bring  him  before  us  in  his  weakness  and  in  his  strength,  in  his 
sorrow  and  in  his  joy;  they  show  us  the  causes  of  his  dejection 
and  the  source  of  his  consolation. 

In  the  first  place,  we  thus  learn  what  we  should,  a  priori,  have 
expected,  that  he  visited  Alexandria  Troas  on  his  way  from 
Ephesus  to  Macedonia.  In  all  probability  he  travelled  from  the 
one  city  to  the  other  by  sea,  as  we  know  he  did  on  his  return  in 
the  following  year.  Indeed,  in  countries  in  such  a  stage  of 
civilization  the  safest  and  most  expeditious  route  from  one  point 
of  the  coast  to  another  is  generally  by  water  rather  than  by  land ; 
for  the  "perils  in  the  sea,"  though  greater  in  those  times  than  in 
ours,  yet  did  not  so  frequently  impede  the  voyager  as  the  "perils 

441 


442  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

of  rivers  and  "  perils  of  robbers  "  which  beset  the  traveller  by 
land. 

We  are  not  informed  who  were  Paul's  companions  in  this  jour- 
ney, but  as  we  find  that  Tychicus  and  Trophimus  (both  Ephesians) 
were  with  him  at  Corinth  (Acts  xx.  4)  during  the  same  apostolic 
])rogress,  and  returned  thence  in  his  company,  it  seems  probable 
that  they  accompanied  him  at  his  departure.  We  find  both  of  them 
remaining  faithful  to  him  through  all  the  calamities  which  fol- 
lowed ;  both  exerting  themselves  in  his  service  and  executing  his 
orders  to  the  last;  both  mentioned  as  his  friends  and  followers 
almost  with  his  dying  breath. 

In  such  company  Paul  come  to  Alexandria  Troas.  We  have 
already  described  the  position  and  character  of  this  city,  whence 
the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  had  set  forth  when  first  he  left  Asia  to 
fulfil  his  mission — the  conversion  of  Europe.  At  that  time  his 
visit  seems  to  have  been  very  short,  and  no  results  of  it  are  re- 
corded, but  now  he  remained  for  a  considerable  time;  he  had 
meant  to  stay  long  enough  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  church  (see 
2  Cor.  ii.  12),  and  would  have  remained  still  longer  than  he  did 
had  it  not  been  for  the  non-arrival  of  Titus,  whom  he  had  sent  to 
Corinth  from  Ephesus  soon  after  the  despatch  of  the  First  Epistle; 
the  object  of  his  mission  was  connected  with  the  great  collection 
now  going  on  for  the  Hebrew  Christians  at  Jerusalem,  but  he  was 
also  enjoined  to  enforce  the  admonitions  of  Paul  upon  the  Church 
of  Corinth,  and  endeavor  to  defeat  the  effc)rts  of  their  seducers ; 
and  then  to  return  with  a  report  of  their  conduct,  and  especially 
of  the  effect  upon  them  of  the  recent  Epistle.  Titus  w^as  desired 
to  come  through  Macedonia,  and  to  rejoin  Paul  (probably)  at 
Troas,  where  the  latter  had  intended  to  arrive  shortly  after  Pente- 
cost ;  but  now  that  he  was  forced  to  leave  Ephesus  prematurely, 
he  had  resolved  to  wait  for  Titus  at  Troas,  expecting,  however,  his 
speedy  arrival.  In  this  expectation  he  was  disappointed;  week 
after  week  passed,  but  Titus  came  not.  The  tidings  which  Paul 
expected  by  him  were  of  the  deepest  interest ;  it  w^as  to  be  hoped 
that  he  would  bring  news  of  the  triumph  of  good  over  evil  at 
Corinth,  yet  it  might  be  otherwise;  the  Corinthians  might  have 
forsaken  the  faith  of  their  first  teacher  and  rejected  his  messenger. 
While  waiting  in  this  uncertainty  Paul  appears  to  have  suffered 
all  the  sickness  of  hope  deferred:  ^'My  spirit  had  no  rest,  because 
1  found  not  Titus  my  brother.'^    Nevertheless,  his  personal  anx- 


THE  CHURCH  IN  PHILIPPI. 


443 


iety  did  not  prevent  his  laboring  earnestly  and  successfully  in 
his  Master's  service.  He  '^published  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ'' 
there  as  in  other  places,  probably  preaching,  as  usual  in  the  first 
instance,  to  the  Jews  in  the  synagogue.  He  met  with  a  ready 
hearing;  **a  door  was  opened  to  him  in  the  Lord."  And  thus 
was  laid  the  foundation  of  a  church  which  rapidly  increased,  and 
which  we  shall  find  him  revisiting  not  long  afterward.  At  present, 
indeed,  he  was  compelled  to  leave  it  prematurely,  for  the  necessity 
of  meeting  Titus  and  learning  the  state  of  things  at  Corinth  urged 
him  forward.  He  sailed,  therefore,  once  more  from  Troas  to  Mace- 
donia (a  voyage  already  described  in  our  account  of  his  former 
journey),  and,  landing  at  Neapolis,  proceeded  immediately  to 
Philippi. 

We  might  have  supposed  that  the  warmth  of  affection  with 
which  he  was  doubtless  welcomed  by  his  converts  here  would 
have  soothed  the  spirit  of  the  apostle  and  restored  his  serenity ; 
for,  of  all  the  churches  which  he  founded,  the  Philippians  seem 
to  have  been  the  most  free  from  fault  and  the  most  attached  to 
himself.  In  the  Epistle  which  he  wrote  to  them  we  find  no  cen- 
sure and  much  praise;  and  so  zealous  was  their  love  for  I'aul  that 
they  alone  (of  all  the  churches  which  he  founded)  forced  him  from 
the  very  beginning  to  accept  their  contributions  for  his  support. 
Twice  while  he  was  at  Thessalonica,  immediately  after  their  own 
conversion,  they  had  sent  relief  to  him.  Again  they  did  the 
same  while  he  was  at  Corinth,  working  for  his  daily  bread  in  the 
manufactory  of  Aquila.  And  we  shall  find  them  afterward  cheer- 
ing his  Roman  prison  by  similar  proofs  of  their  loving  remem- 
brance. We  might  suppose  from  this  that  they  were  a  wealthy 
church ;  yet  such  a  supposition  is  contradicted  by  the  words  of 
Paul,  who  tells  us  that  "  in  the  heavy  trial  which  had  proved  their 
steadfastness  the  fulness  of  their  joy  had  overflowed  out  of  the 
depth  of  their  poverty  in  the  richness  of  their  liberality."  In  fact, 
they  had  been  exposed  to  very  severe  persecution  from  the  first. 
"Unto  them  it  was  given,"  so  Paul  reminds  them  afterward,  "in 
the  behalf  of  Christ,  not  only  to  believe  on  him,  but  also  to  suffer 
for  his  sake."  Perhaps  already  their  leading  members  had  been 
prosecuted  under  the  Eoman  law  upon  the  charge  which  proved 
so  fatal  in  after  times — of  propagating  a  "  new  and  illegal  religion" 
(religio  nova  et  illicita) ;  or  if  this  had  not  yet  occurred,  still  it  is 
obvious  how  severe  must  have  been  the  loss  inflicted  by  the  aliena- 


444  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

tion  of  friends  and  connections;  and  this  would  be  especially  the 
case  with  the  Jewish  converts — such  as  Lydia — who  were  probably 
the  only  wealthy  members  of  the  community,  and  whose  sources 
of  wealth  were  derived  from  the  commercial  relations  which  bound 
together  the  scattered  Jews  throughout  the  empire.  What  they 
gave,  therefore,  w^as  not  out  of  their  abundance,  but  out  of  their 
penury ;  they  did  not  grasp  tenaciously  at  the  wealth  which  was 
slipping  from  their  hands,  but  they  seemed  eager  to  get  rid  of 
what  still  remained.  They  "remembered  the  words  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  how  he  said,  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.'' 
Paul  might  have  addressed  them  as  another  apostle  addressed 
some  who  were  like-minded  with  them :  "  Ye  had  compassion  of 
me  in  my  bonds,  and  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  your  goods, 
knowing  that  ye  have  in  heaven  a  better  and  an  enduring  sub- 
stance.'' 

Such  w^ere  the  zealous  and  loving  friends  who  now  embraced 
their  father  in  the  faith,  yet  the  warmth  of  their  welcome  did  not 
dispel  the  gloom  which  hung  over  his  spirit,  although  amongst 
them  he  found  Timotheus  also,  his  "beloved  son  in  the  Lord,'* 
the  most  endeared  to  him  of  all  his  converts  and  companions. 
The  whole  tone  of  the  Second  Epistle  to  Corinth  shows  the  de- 
pression under  which  he  was  laboring ;  and  he  expressly  tells  the 
Corinthians  that  this  state  of  feeling  lasted  not  only  at  Troas,  but 
also  after  he  reached  Macedonia.  "When  first  I  came  into  Mace- 
donia," he  says,  "  my  flesh  had  no  rest ;  without  were  fightings, 
within  were  fears."  And  this  had  continued  until  "God,  who 
comforts  them  that  are  cast  down,  comforted  me  by  the  coming 
of  Titus." 

It  has  been  sometimes  supposed  that  this  dejection  was  occa- 
sioned by  an  increase  of  the  chronic  malady  under  w4nch  Paul 
suffered,  and  it  seems  not  unlikely  that  this  cause  may  have  con- 
tributed to  the  result.  He  speaks  much,  in  the  Epistle  written 
from  Philippi,  of  the  frailty  of  his  bodily  health ;  and  in  a  very 
affecting  passage  he  describes  the  earnestness  with  which  he  had 
besought  his  Lord  to  take  from  him  this  "thorn  in  the  flesh,"  this 
disease  which  continually  impeded  his  efforts  and  shackled  his 
energy.  We  can  imagine  how  severe  a  trial  to  a  man  of  his 
ardent  temper  such  a  malady  must  have  been.  Yet  this  alone 
would  scarcely  account  for  his  continued  depression,  especially 
after  the  assurance  he  had  received  that  the  grace  of  Christ  was 


TIDINGS  FROM  CORINTH. 


445 


Bufficient  for  him — that  the  vessel  of  clay  was  not  too  fragile  for 
the  Master's  work — that  the  weakness  of  his  body  would  but  the 
more  manifest  the  strength  of  God's  Spirit.  The  real  weight 
which  pressed  upon  him  was  the  "  care  of  all  the  churches  the 
real  cause  of  his  grief  was  the  danger  which  now  threatened  the 
souls  of  his  converts,  not  in  Corinth  only  or  in  Galatia,  but  every- 
where throughout  the  empire.  We  have  already  described  the 
nature  of  this  danger  and  seen  its  magnitude ;  we  have  seen  how 
critical  was  the  period  through  which  the  Christian  Church  was 
now  passing.  The  true  question  (which  Paul  was  enlightened  to 
comprehend)  was  no  less  than  this — whether  the  catholic  Church 
should  be  dwarfed  into  a  Jewish  sect;  whether  the  religion  of 
spirit  and  of  truth  should  be  supplanted  by  the  worship  of  letter 
and  of  form.  The  struggle  at  Corinth,  the  result  of  which  he 
was  now  anxiously  awaiting,  was  only  one  out  of  many  similar 
struggles  between  Judaism  and  Christianity.    These  were  the 

fightings  without"  which  filled  him  with  fears  within these 
were  the  agitations  which  "gave  his  flesh  no  rest''  and  troubled 
him  on  every  side.'' 

At  length  the  long-expected  Titus  arrived  at  Philippi,  and  re- 
lieved the  anxiety  of  his  master  by  better  tidings  than  he  hoped 
to  hear.  The  majority  of  the  Corinthian  Church  had  submitted 
to  the  injunctions  of  Paul,  and  testified  the  deepest  repentance  for 
the  sins  into  which  they  had  fallen.  They  had  passed  sentence 
of  excommunication  upon  the  incestuous  person,  and  they  had 
already  contributed  towards  the  collection  for  the  poor  Christians 
of  Palestine.  But  there  was  still  a  minority  whose  opposition 
seemed  to  have  been  rather  embittered  than  humbled  by  the  sub- 
mission which  the  great  body  of  the  Church  had  thus  yielded. 
They  proclaimed  in  a  louder  and  more  contemptuous  tone  than 
ever  their  accusations  against  the  apostle.  They  charged  him'  with 
craft  in  his  design,  and  with  selfish  and  mercenary  motives — a 
charge  which  they  probably  maintained  by  insinuating  that  he  was 
personally  interested  in  the  great  collection  which  he  was  raising. 
We  have  seen  what  scrupulous  care  Paul  took  to  keep  his  integrity 
in  this  matter  above  every  shade  of  suspicion,  and  we  shall  find 
still  further  proof  of  this  as  we  proceed.  Meanwhile,  it  is  obvious 
how  singularly  inconsistent  this  accusation  was  in  the  mouths  of 
those  who  eagerly  maintained  that  Paul  could  be  no  true  apostle 
because  he  did  not  demand  support  from  the  churches  which  he 


446 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


founded.  The  same  opponents  accused  him  likewise  of  egregious 
vanity  and  of  cowardly  weakness ;  they  declared  that  he  was  con- 
tinually threatening  without  striking,  and  promising  without  per- 
forming; always  on  his  way  to  Corinth,  but  never  venturing  to 
come;  and  that  he  was  as  vacillating  in  his  teaching  as  in  his 
^;ractice,  refusing  circumcision  to  Titus,  yet  circumcising  Timothy; 
a  Jew  among  the  Jews  and  a  Gentile  among  the  Gentiles. 

it  is  an  important  question  to  which  of  the  divisions  of  the 
Corinthian  Church  these  obstinate  opponents  of  Paul  belonged. 
From  the  notices  of  them  given  by  Paul  himself,  it  seems  certain 
that  they  were  Judaizers  (see  Cor.  xx.  22),  and,  still  further,  that 
they  were  of  the  Christine  section  of  that  party  (see  2  Cor.  xi.  7). 
It  also  appears  that  they  were  headed  by  an  emissary  from  Pales- 
tine (o  £px<^j^£voc,  2  Cor.  xi.  4)  who  had  brought  letters  of  com- 
mendation from  some  members  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  and 
who  boasted  of  his  pure  Hebrew  descent  and  his  especial  connec- 
tion with  Christ  himself.  Paul  calls  him  a  false  apostle,  a  minister 
of  Satan  disguised  as  a  minister  of  righteousness,  and  hints  that 
he  was  actuated  by  corrupt  motives.  He  seems  to  have  behaved 
at  Corinth  with  extreme  arrogance,  and  to  have  succeeded  by  his 
overbearing  conduct  in  impressing  his  partisans  with  a  conviction 
of  his  importance  and  of  the  truth  of  his  pretensions.  They  con- 
trasted his  confident  bearing  with  the  timidity  and  self-distrust 
which  had  been  shown  by  Paul.  And  they  even  extolled  his  per- 
sonal advantages  over  their  first  teacher,  comparing  his  rhetoric 
with  Paul's  inartificial  speech,  his  commanding  appearance  with 
the  insignificance  of  Paul's  "bodily  presence.'' 

Titus,  having  delivered  to  Paul  this  mixed  intelligence  of  the 
state  of  Corinth,  was  immediately  directed  to  return  thither  (in 
company  with  two  deputies  specially  elected  to  take  charge  of 
their  contribution  by  the  Macedonian  churches)  in  order  to  con- 
tinue the  business  of  the  collection.  Paul  made  him  the  bearer 
of  another  letter,  which  is  addressed  (still  more  distinctly  than  the 
First  Epistle)  not  to  Corinth  only,  but  to  all  the  churches  in  the 
whole  province  of  Achaia,  including  Athens  and  Cenchrese,  and 
perhaps  also  Sicyon,  Argos,  Megara,  Patrse,  and  other  neighboring 
towns;  all  of  which  probably  shared  more  or  less  in  the  agitation 
which  so  powerfully  affected  the  Christian  community  at  Corinth. 
The  twofold  character  of  this  Epistle  is  easily  explained  by  the 
existence  of  the  majority  and  minority  which  we  have  described 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


447 


in  the  Corinthian  Church.  Towards  the  former  the  Epistle  over- 
flows with  love;  towards  the  latter  it  abounds  with  warning  and 
menace.  The  purpose  of  the  apostle  was  to  encourage  and  tran- 
quillize the  great  body  of  the  Church,  but  at  the  same  time  he  was 
constrained  to  maintain  his  authority  against  those  who  persisted 
in  despising  the  commands  of  Christ  delivered  by  his  mouth.  It 
was  needful,  also,  that  he  should  notice  their  false  accusations, 
and  that  (undeterred  by  the  charge  of  vanity  which  they  brought) 
he  should  vindicate  his  apostolic  character  by  a  statement  of  facts 
and  a  threat  of  punishment  to  be  inflicted  on  the  contumacious. 
With  these  objects  he  wrote  as  follows : 

SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 
I. 

1  Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  God,  Salutation, 
and  Timotheus  the  brother,  to  the  Church  of  God  which  is  in  Cor- 
inth, and  to  all  Christ's  people  throughout  the  whole  province  of 
Achaia. 

2  Grace  be  unto  you  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father,  and  from  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

3  Thanks  be  to  God  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Thanksgiving 

4  Christ,  the  Father  of  compassion,  and  the  God  of  all  an'ce  troni  great 
comfort,  who  consoles  me  in  all  my  tribulation,  thereby  couluiar  Asia?" 
enabling  me  to  comfort  those  who  are  in  any  affliction, 

with  the  same  comfort  wherewith  I  am  myself  comforted  by  God. 

5  For  as  the  sufferings  of  Christ  have  come  upon  me  above  measure, 

6  so  by  Christ  also  my  consolation  is  above  measure  multiplied.  But 
if,  on  the  one  hand,  I  am  afflicted,  it  is  for  your  consolation  and  sal- 
vation (which  works  within  you  a  patient  endurance  of  the  same  suf- 
ferings which  I  also  suffer ;  so  that  my  hope  is  steadfast  on  your 

7  behalf) ;  and  if,  on  the  other  hand,  I  am  comforted,  it  is  for  your 
consolation,  because  I  know  that  as  you  partake  of  my  sufferings, 

8  so  you  partake  also  of  my  comfort.  For  I  would  have  you  know, 
brethren,  concerning  the  tribulation  which  befell  me  in  the  province 
of  Asia,  that  I  was  exceedingly  pressed  down  by  it  beyond  my 

9  strength  to  bear,  so  as  to  despair  even  of  life.  Yea,  by  my  own  self 
I  was  already  doomed  to  death;  that  I  might  rely  no  more  upon 

JO  myself,  but  upon  God  who  raises  the  dead  to  life,  and  who  delivered 
11  me  from  a  death  so  grievous,  and  does  yet  deliver  me;  in  whom  I 
have  hope  that  he  will  still  deliver  me  for  the  time  to  come ;  you  also 


448 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


helping  me  by  your  supplications,  that  thanksgivings  may  from  many 
tongues  be  offered  up  on  my  behalf,  for  the  blessing  gained  to  me  by 
many  prayers. 

12  For  this  day  is  my  boast,  the  testimony  of  my  con-  Self-defence 

.-11  11        11  n    against  accu.-a- 

science,  that  I  have  dealt  with  the  world,  and  above  all  tion  ot  douoJe- 

with  you,  in  godly  honesty  and  singleness  of  mind,  not 

in  the  strength  of  carnal  wisdom,  but  in  the  strength  of  God's  grace. 

13  For  I  write  nothing  else  to  you  but  what  you  read  openly,  yea  and 
what  you  acknowledge  inwardly,  and  I  hope  that  even  to  the  end 

14  you  will  acknowledge,  as  some  of  you  have  already  acknowledged, 
that  I  am  your  boast,  even  as  you  are  mine,  in  the  day  of  our  Lord 
Jesus. 

15  And  in  this  confidence  it  was  my  wish  to  come  first  Reason  for  the 
to  you,  that  afterward  you  might  have  a  second  benefit,  of  ^lus"  vSit  "to 

16  For  I  meant  to  go  by  you  into  Macedonia,  and  to  re- 

turn  from  Macedonia  to  you,  and  by  you  to  be  forwarded  on  my  way 

17  to  Judaea.  Am  I  accused  then  of  forming  this  purpose  in  levity  and 
caprice  ?  or  is  my  purpose  carnal,  to  please  all,  by  saying  at  once  both 

18  yea  and  nay  ?    Yet  as  God  is  faithful,  my  words  to  you  are  no  [de- 

19  ceitful]  mixture  of  yea  and  nay.  For  when  the  Son  of  God,  Jesus 
Christ,  was  proclaimed  among  you  by  us  (by  me,  I  say,  and  Silvanus, 
and  Timotheus),  in  him  was  found  no  wavering  between  yea  and  nay, 

20  but  in  him  was  yea  alone ;  for  all  the  promises  of  God  have  in  him 
the  yea  [which  seals  their  truth],  and  in  him  the  Amen  [which  ac- 
knowledges their  fulfilment),  uttered  to  the  praise  of  God  by  our 

21  voice.    But  God  is  he  who  keeps  both  us  and  you  steadfast  to  his 

22  Anointed,  and  we  also  are  anointed  by  him.  And  he  has  set  the 
mark  of  his  own  seal  upon  us,  and  has  given  us  his  Spirit  to  dwell  in 

23  our  hearts,  as  the  earnest  of  his  promises.  But  for  my  own  part,  I 
call  God  to  witness,  as  my  soul  shall  answer  for  it,  that  I  gave  up 
my  puj'pose  of  visiting  Corinth  because  I  wished  to  spare  you  pain. 

24  I  speak  not  as  though  your  faith  was  enslaved  to  my  authority,  but 
because  I  desire  to  help  your  joy ;  for  your  faith  [I  know]  is  stead- 
fast. 

II. 

1,2  But  I  determined  not  again  to  visit  you  in  grief,  for  if  I  cause  you 
grief,  who  is  there  to  cause  me  joy,  but  those  whom  I  have  grieved? 

3  And  for  this  very  reason  I  wrote  to  you  instead  of  coming,  that  I 
might  not  receive  grief  from  those  who  ought  to  give  me  joy ;  and  I 

4  confide  in  you  all  that  my  joy  is  yours.  For  I  wrote  to  you  out  of 
much  afiliction  and  anguish  of  heart,  with  many  tears ;  not  to  pain 
you,  but  that  you  might  know  the  abundance  of  my  love. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


449 


5  As  concerns  him  who  has  caused  the  pain,  it  is  not  Pardon  of  the 

^  incestuous  per- 

me  that  he  has  pained,  but  some  of  you ;  [some,  I  say,]  son. 

6  that  I  may  not  press  too  harshly  upon  all.  For  the  offender  himself, 
this  punishment,  which  has  already  been  inflicted  on  him  by  the  sen- 

7  tence  of  the  majority,  is  sufficient  without  increasing  it.  On  the  con- 
trary, you  ought  rather  to  forgive  and  comfort  him,  lest  he  should 

8  be  overwhelmed  by  the  greatness  of  his  sorrow.    Wherefore  I  beseech 

9  you  fully  to  restore  him  to  your  love.  For  the  very  end  which  I 
sought  when  I  wrote  before,  was  to  test  you  in  this  matter,  and  learn 

10  whether  you  would  be  obedient  in  all  things.    But  whomsoever  you 

11  forgive,  I  forgive  also ;  for  whatever  I  have  forgiven,  I  have  forgiven 
on  your  account  in  the  sight  of  Christ,  that  we  may  not  be  robbed 
[of  our  brother]  by  Satan ;  for  we  are  not  ignorant  of  his  devices. 

12  When  I  had  come  to  Troas  to  publish  the  glad  cause  of  his 
tidings  of  Christ,  and  a  door  was  opened  to  me  in  the 

13  Lord,  I  had  no  rest  in  my  spirit  because  I  found  not  Titus  my  brother ; 
so  that  I  parted  from  them,  and  came  from  thence  into  Macedonia. 

14  But  thanks  be  to  God  who  leads  me  on  from  place  to  place  in  the 
train  of  his  triumph,  to  celebrate  his  victory  over  the  enemies  of 
Christ ;  and  by  me  sends  forth  the  knowledge  of  him,  a  steam  of  fra- 

15  grant  incense,  throughout  the  world.  For  Christ's  is  the  fragrance 
which  I  offer  up  to  God,  whether  among  those  in  the  way  of  salva- 

16  tion,  or  among  those  in  the  way  of  perdition ;  but  to  these  it  is  an 
odor  of  death,  to  those  of  life. 

17  And  [if  some  among  you  deny  my  sufficiency],  who  ^^J[®nn\?^  *^in 
then  is  sufficient  for  these  thin<)js  ?    For  I  seek  no  prof-  wtiich  he  dis- 

^  ^  charc^ed  his 

it  (like  most)  by  setting  the  word  of  God  to  sale,  but  office, 
I  speak  from  a  single  heart,  from  the  command  of  God,  contrasted^with 

.  T,  1  .     ^  11        1  .        .  1    ^.t    .  that  of  the  Mo- 

as  m  God  s  presence,  and  m  fellowship  with  Christ.       saic  dispensa- 
tion. 

III. 

1  Will  you  say  that  I  am  again  beginning  to  commend  myself?  Or 
think  you  that  I  need  letters  of  commendation  (like  some  other  men) 

2  either  to  you,  or  from  you  ?  Nay,  ye  are  yourselves  my  letter  of 
commendation,  a  letter  written  on  my  lieart,  known  and  read  by  all 

3  men ;  a  letter  coming  manifestly  from  Christ,  and  committed  to  my 
charge ;  written  not  with  ink,  but  with  the  spirit  of  the  living  God ; 
not  ux)on  tablets  of  stone,  but  upon  the  fleshly  tablets  of  the  heart. 

4  But  through  Christ  have  I  this  confidence  before  God ;  not  thinking 

5  myself  sufficient  to  gain  wisdom  by  my  own  reasonings,  as  if  it  came 

6  from  myself,  but  drawing  my  sufficiency  from  God.  For  he  it  is  who 
has  made  me  suffice  for  the  ministration  of  a  new  covenant,  a  cove- 

29 


450 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


nant  not  of  letter,  but  of  spirit;  for  tlie  letter  gives  the  doom  of 

7  death,  but  tlie  spirit  gives  the  power  of  life.  Yet  if  a  glory  was 
shed  upon  the  ministration  of  the  Law  of  death  (a  Law  written  in  let- 
ters, and  graven  upon  stones),  so  that  the  children  of  Israel  could 
not  fix  their  eyes  on  the  face  of  Moses,  for  the  glory  of  his  counte- 

8  nance,  although  its  brightness  was  soon  to  fade ;  how  far  more  glorious 

9  must  the  ministration  of  the  spirit  be.  For  if  the  ministration  of 
doom  had  glory,  far  more  must  the  ministration  of  righteousness 

10  abound  in  glory.  Yea,  that  which  then  was  glorified  with  bright- 
ness, is  now  turned  into  darkness,  by  the  surpassing  glory  wherewith 

11  it  is  compared.  For  if  a  glory  shone  upon  that  which  was  doomed 
to  pass  away,  much  more  shall  glory  rest  upon  that  which  remains 

12  for  ever.    Therefore,  having  this  hope  [in  the  abiding  glory  of  the 

13  new  covenant],  I  speak  and  act  without  disguise;  and  not  like 
Moses,  who  spread  a  veil  over  his  face,  that  the  children  of  Israel 

14  might  not  see  the  end  of  that  fading  brightness.  But  their  minds 
were  blinded  ;  yea  to  this  day,  when  they  read  in  their  synagogues 
the  ancient  covenant,  the  same  veil  rests  thereon,  nor  can  they  see 

1 5  beyond  it  that  the  Law  is  done  away  in  Christ ;  but  even  now,  when 

16  Moses  is  read  in  their  hearing,  a  veil  lies  upon  their  heart.  But 

17  when  they  turn  to  the  I^ord  Jesus,  the  veil  is  rent  away.  Now  the 
Lord  is  the  Spirit ;  and  where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  abides,  there 

18  bondage  gives  place  to  freedom  ;  and  we  all,  while  with  face  unveiled 
we  behold  as  in  a  mirror  the  brightness  of  our  Lord's  glory,  are  our- 
selves transformed  into  the  same  likeness;  and  the  glory  which 
shines  upon  us  is  reflected  by  us,  even  as  it  proceeds  from  the  Lord, 
the  Spirit. 

IV. 

1  Therefore  having  this  ministry,  I  discharge  it  with  no  faint-hearted 

2  fears,  remembering  the  mercy  which  I  received.  I  have  renounced 
the  secret  dealings  of  shame,  I  walk  not  in  the  paths  of  cunning,  I 
adulterate  not  God's  message ;  but  openly  setting  forth  the  truth,  as 
in  the  sight  of  God,  I  commend  myself  to  the  conscience  of  all  men. 

3  But  if  there  be  still  a  veil  which  hides  my  glad  tidings  from  some 
who  hear  me,  it  is  among  those  who  are  in  the  way  of  perdition ; 

4  whose  unbelieving  minds  the  God  of  this  passing  world  has  blinded, 
and  shut  out  the  light  of  the  glad  tidings,  even  the  glorious  bright- 

5  ness  of  Christ,  who  is  the  image  of  God.  For  I  proclaim  not  myself, 
but  Christ  Jesus  as  Lord  and  Master,  and  myself  your  bondsman  for 

6  the  sake  of  Jesus.  For  God,  who  called  forth  light  out  of  darkness, 
has  caused  liis  light  to  shine  in  my  heart,  that  the  knowledge  of  his 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


451 


glory  manifested  in  tlie  face  of  Jesus  Christ  might  be  shed  forth 
[upon  others  also]. 

7  But  this  treasure  is  lodged  in  a  body  of  fragile  clay,  in  sicknens  and 

,  ,         ,  in  danger  his 

that  so  the  surpassing  might  which  aids  me  should  be  strength  is 

1  T  11  1  ^'""^  '''^^  power 

8  God  s,  and  not  my  own.    i  am  hard  pressed,  yet  not  of  Christ  and 

9  crushed;  helpless,  yet  not  hopeless;  persecuted,  yet  eknncariiil.  ^ 

10  not  forsaken  ;  cast  down,  yet  not  destroyed.  I  bear  about  continually 
in  my  body  the  dying  of  Jesus,  that  the  life  also  of  Jesus  might  in 

11  my  body  be  shown  forth.  For  I,  in  the  midst  of  life,  am  daily  given 
over  to  death  for  the  sake  of  Jesus,  that  in  my  dying  flesh  the  life 
whereby  Jesus  conquered  death  might  show  forth  its  power. 

12  So  then  death  working  in  me,  works  life  in  you.    Yet  having  the 

13  same  spirit  of  faith  whereof  it  is  written,    I  had  faith,  and  therefore 

14  have  I  spoken/^  I  also  have  faith,  and  therefore  speak.  For  I  know 
that  He  who  raised  our  Lord  Jesus  from  the  dead,  shall  raise  me 
also  by  Jesus,  and  shall  call  me  into  his  presence  togetlier  with  you ; 

15  for  all  my  sufferings  are  on  your  behalf,  that  the  mercy  which  has 
abounded  above  them  all,  might  call  forth  your  thankfulness ;  that 
so  the  fulness  of  praise  might  be  poured  forth  to  God,  not  by  myself 

16  alone,  but  multiplied  by  many  voices.  Wherefore  I  faint  not ;  but 
though  my  outward  man  decays,  yet  my  inward  man  is  renewed  from 

17  day  to  day.    For  my  light  afflictions,  which  last  but  for  a  moment, 

18  work  for  me  a  weight  of  glory,  immeasurable  and  eternal.  Mean- 
while I  look  not  to  things  seen,  but  to  things  unseen  :  for  the  things 
that  are  seen  pass  away;  but  the  things  that  are  unseen  endure 
for  ever. 

V. 

1  Yea,  I  know  that  if  the  tent  which  is  my  earthly  house  be  de- 
stroyed, I  have  a  mansion  built  by  God,  a  house  not  made  with  hands, 

2  eternal,  in  the  heavens.  And  for  this  I  groan  with  earnest  longings, 
desiring  to  cover  my  earthly  raiment  with  the  robes  of  my  heavenly 

3  marLsion.    (If  indeed  I  shall  be  found  still  clad  in  my  fleshly  gar- 

4  ment.)  For  we  who  are  dwelling  in  the  tent,  groan  and  are  bur- 
dened ;  not  desiring  to  put  off*  our  earthly  clothing,  but  to  put  over 
it  our  heavenly  raiment,  that  this  our  dying  nature  miglit  be  swal- 

5  lowed  up  by  life.  And  He  who  has  prepared  me  for  this  very  end 
is  God,  who  has  given  me  the  Spirit  as  the  earnest  of  my  hope. 

6  Therefore,  in  all  my  perils  I  am  of  good  courage,  knowing  that  while 

7  my  home  is  in  the  body  I  am  in  banishment  from  my  Lord ;  (for  I 

8  walk  by  faith,  not  by  sight).  Yea,  my  heart  fails  me  not,  but  I  would 
gladly  suffer  banishment  from  the  body,  and  have  my  home  with 

9  Christ.    Therefore  I  strive  earnestly  that,  whether  in  banishment  or 


452 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


10  at  home,  I  may  be  pleasing  in  his  sight.  For  we  must  all  be  made 
manifest  without  disguise  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  that 
each  may  receive  according  to  that  which  he  has  done  in  the  body, 
either  good  or  evil. 

11  Knowing  therefore  the  fearfulness  of  the  Lord's  His  earnestness 
judgment,  though  I  seek  to  win  men,  yet  my  upright-  sense'^of  his  re- 
ness  is  manifest  in  the  sight  of  God ;  and  I  hope  also  ch7ist!^^^\'viiose 
that  it  is  manifested  by  the  witness  of  your  consciences.  be^s^^^amT  by 

12  I  write  not  thus  to  repeat  my  own  commendation,  but  whom  hiswhiie 
that  I  may  furnish  you  with  a  ground  of  boasting  on  cilaugVd^^ 
my  behalf,  that  you  may  have  an  answer  for  those 

whose  boasting  is  in  the  outward  matters  of  sight,  not  in  the  inward 

1 3  possessions  of  the  heart.    For  if  I  be  mad,  it  is  for  God's  cause ;  if 

14  sober,  it  is  for  yours.  For  the  love  of  Christ  constrains  me,  because 
I  thus  judge,  that  if  one  died  for  all,  then  his  death  was  their  death ; 

15  and  that  he  died  for  all,  that  the  living  might  live  no  longer  to  them- 
selves, but  to  him,  who,  for  their  sakes,  died  and  rose  again. 

16  I  therefore,  from  henceforth,  view  no  man  carnally ;  yea,  though 
once  my  view  of  Christ  was  carnal,  yet  now  it  is  no  longer  carnal. 

17  Whosoever,  then,  is  in  Christ,  is  created  anew ;  his  old  being  has 

18  passed  away,  and  behold,  all  has  become  new.  But  all  comes,  from 
God,  for  he  it  is  who  reconciled  me  to  himself  by  Jesus  Christ,  and 

19  charged  me  with  the  ministry  of  reconciliation;  for  God  was  in 
Christ  reconciling  the  world  to  himself,  reckoning  their  sins  no  more 
against  them,  and  he  made  it  my  task  to  bear  the  message  of  recon- 

20  ciliation.  Therefore  I  am  an  ambassador  for  Christ,  as  though  God 
besought  you  by  my  voice ;  in  Christ's  stead  I  beseech  you,  be  ye 

21  reconciled  to  God.  For  Him  who  knew  no  sin  God  struck  with  the 
doom  of  sin  on  our  behalf ;  that  we  might  be  changed  into  the  right- 
eousness of  God  in  Christ. 

VI. 

1  Moreover,  as  working  together  with  him,  I  also  exhort  you,  that 

2  the  grace  which  you  have  received  from  God  be  not  in  vain.  For 
he  saith,  "  I  have  heard  thee  in  an  acceptable  time,  and  in  the  day  of 
salvation  have  I  succored  thee  J'  Behold,  now  is  the  acceptable  time  j 
behold,  now  is  the  day  of  salvation. 

^,  Meanwhile  I  take  heed  to  give  no  cause  of  stumb-  vindication  of 
ling,  lest  blame  sliould  be  cast  on  the  ministration  with  wliich  he 

4  wlierein  I  serve ;  but  in  all  things  I  commend  myself  hj's^  d  li't  yt'fnd 
as  one  who  ministers  to  God's  service ;  in  patient  en-  affection  o/  his 

5  durance,  in  afllictions,  in  necessities,  in  straitness  of  converts, 
distress,  in  stripes,  in  imprisonments,  in  tumults,  in  labors,  in  sleep- 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


6  less  watchings,  in  hunger  and  thirst ;  in  purity,  in  knowledge,  in 
long-suffering,  in  kindness,  in  [the  gifts  of]  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  love 

7  unfeigned ;  speaking  the  word  of  truth,  working  with  the  power  of 
God,  figliting  with  the  weapons  of  righteousness,  both  sword  and 

8  shield ;  through  good  report  and  evil,  through  honor  and  through 

9  infamy;  counted  as  a  deceiver,  yet  being  true;  as  unknown  [by 
men],  yet  acknowledged  [by  God]  ;  as  ever  dying,  yet  behold  I  live ; 

10  as  chastened  by  suffering,  yet  not  destroyed ;  as  sorrowful,  yet  ever 
filled  with  joy  ;  as  poor,  yet  making  many  rich ;  as  having  nothing, 
yet  possessing  all  things. 

11  Corinthians,  my  mouth  has  spoken  to  you  freely — my  heart  has 

12  opened  itself  fully  towards  you.   You  find  no  narrowness  in  my  love, 

13  but  the  narrowness  is  in  your  own.  I  pray  you  therefore  in  return 
for  my  affection  (I  speak  as  to  my  children),  let  your  hearts  be  opened 
in  like  manner. 

14  Cease  to  yoke  yourselves  unequally  in  ill-matched  Exhortation  to 
intercourse  with  unbelievers ;  for  what  fellowship  has  daiziifg'^  party 
righteousness  with  unrighteousness?  what  communion  toThmfairfei- 

15  has  light  with  darkness?  what  concord  has  Christ  with  ^^^^^^^^  ^[cl! ^ 
Belial  ?  what  partnership  has  a  believer  with  an  un- 

16  believer?  what  agreement  has  the  temple  of  God  with  idols?  For 
ye  are  yourselves  a  temple  of  the  living  God,  as  God  said,  I  will 
dwell  in  them,  and  walk  in  them,  and  1  will  be  their  God,  and  they  shall 

17  he  my  peopleJ'  Wherefore,  Come  out  from  among  them,  arid  be  ye 
separate,  saith  the  Lord,  and  touch  not  the  unclean  thing,  and  I  will 

18  receive  you.'''  And  ^'  I  will  he  unto  you  a  father,  and  ye  shall  be  my  sons 
and  daughters,  saith  the  Lord  Almighty. '' 

YIL 

1  Having  therefore  these  promises  (my  beloved  children),  let  us 
cleanse  ourselves  from  every  defilement,  either  of  flesh  or  spirit,  and 
perfect  our  holiness,  in  the  fear  of  God. 

2  Give  me  a  favorable  hearing.  I  have  wronged  no  Satisfaction  at 
man,  I  have  done  hurt  to  no  man,  I  have  defrauded  no  br^ougtt  ^b^y 

3  man  ;  yet  I  say  not  this  to  condemn  you  [as  though  I  hith!  ^^^^ 
had  myself  been  wronged  by  you],  for  I  have  said 

4  before  that  I  have  you  in  my  heart,  to  live  and  die  with  you.  Great 
is  my  freedom  towards  you,  great  is  my  boasting  of  you ;  I  am  filled 
with  the  comfort  wliich  you  have  caused  me ;  I  have  more  than  an 

5  overweight  of  joy,  for  all  the  affliction  which  has  befallen  me.  When 
first  I  came  into  Macedonia  my  flesh  had  no  rest,  but  I  was  troubled 

6  on  every  side ;  without  were  fightings,  within  were  fears.    But  God 


454 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


who  comforts  them  that  are  cast  down,  comforted  me  by  the  coming 

7  of  Titus ;  and  not  by  his  coming  only,  but  by  the  comfort  which  he 
felt  on  your  account,  and  the  tidings  which  he  brought  of  your  long- 
ing for  my  love,  your  mourning  for  my  reproof,  your  zeal  for  my  cause ; 

8  so  that  my  sorrow  has  been  turned  into  joy.  And  I  do  not  now  re- 
gret (although  I  did  before  regret)  that  I  wrote  the  letter  which  has 
given  you  pain  (for  I  see  that  you  were  pained  by  that  letter,  though 

9  it  was  but  for  a  season) ; — not  that  I  rejoice  in  your  sorrow,  but  be- 
cause it  led  you  to  repentance ;  for  the  sorrow  which  I  caused  you 
was  a  godly  sorrow ;  so  that  I  might  nowise  harm  you  [even  when  T 

10  grieved  you].  For  godly  sorrow  works  repentance  not  to  be  repented 
of,  leading  to  salvation  ;  but  worldly  sorrow  works  naught  but  death, 

11  Consider  what  was  wrought  among  yourselves  when  you  were  grieved 
with  a  godly  sorrow ;  what  earnestness  it  wrought  in  you,  yea,  what 
eagerness  to  clear  yourselves  from  blame,  what  indignation,  what 
fear,  what  longing,  what  zeal,  what  punishment  of  wrong.  You 
have  cleared  yourselves  altogether  from  every  stain  of  guilt  in  this 

12  matter.  Know,  therefore,  that  although  I  wrote  to  rebuke  you,  it 
was  not  so  much  to  punish  the  wrongdoer,  nor  to  avenge  him  who 
suffered  the  wrong,  but  that  my  earnest  zeal  for  you  in  the  sight  of 
God  might  be  manifest  to  yourselves. 

13  This,  therefore,  is  the  ground  of  my  comfort;  but  besides  my  con- 
solation on  your  account,  I  was  beyond  measure  rejoiced  by  the  joy 
of  Titus,  because  his  spirit  has  been  refreshed  by  the  conduct  of  you 
all. 

14  For  whatever  boast  of  you  I  may  have  made  to  him,  I  have  not  been 
put  to  shame.    But  as  all  I  ever  said  to  you  was  spoken  in  truth,  so 

15  also  my  boasting  of  you  to  Titus  has  been  proved  a  truth.  And  his 
heart  is  more  than  ever  drawn  towards  you,  while  he  calls  to  mind 
the  obedience  of  you  all,  and  the  anxiety  and  self-distrust  wherewith 

16  you  received  him.   I  rejoice  that  I  can  now  confide  in  you  altogether. 

VIII. 

1  I  desire,  brethren,  to  make  known  to  you  the  mani-  Explanations 

'  '  and  directions 

festation  of  God's  crrace,  which  has  been  given  in  the  concerning  the 

^   ,  .  .  .        collection  for 

2  churches  of  Macedonia.   For  in  the  heavy  trial  which  the  poor  chris- 

.    .        tians  in  Jerusa- 

has  proved  their  steadfastness,  the  fulness  of  their  joy  lem. 

has  overflowed  out  of  the  depth  of  their  poverty,  in  the  richness  of 

3  their  liberality.  They  have  given  (I  bear  them  witness)  not  only 
according  to  their  means,  but  beyond  their  means,  and  that  of  their 

4  own  free  will ;  for  they  besought  me  with  much  entreaty  that  they 
might  bear  their  part  in  the  grace  of  ministering  to  Christ^s  people 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


455 


5  And  far  beyond  my  hope,  tliey  gave  their  very  selves  to  the  Lord 

6  Jesus  first,  and  to  me  also,  by  the  will  of  God.  So  that  I  have  de- 
sired Titus  [to  revisit  you],  that  as  he  caused  you  to  begin  this  work, 
so  he  may  lead  you  to  finish  it,  that  this  grace  may  not  be  wanting  in 

7  you ;  but  that,  as  you  abound  in  all  gifts,  in  faith  and  utterance,  and 
knowledge  and  earnest  zeal,  and  in  the  love  which  joins  your  hearts 

8  with  mine,  so  you  may  abound  in  this  grace  also.  I  say  not  tliis  by 
way  of  command  ;  but  by  the  zeal  of  others  I  would  prove  the  reality 

9  of  your  love.  For  you  know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
how,  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  our  sakes  he  became  poor,  that  yon, 

10  by  his  poverty,  might  be  made  rich.  And  I  give  you  my  advice  in 
this  matter ;  for  it  becomes  you  to  do  thus,  inasmuch  as  you  began 
not  only  the  contribution,  but  the  purpose  of  making  it,  before  others, 

11  in  the  year  which  is  past.  Now,  therefore,  fulfil  your  purpose  by 
your  deeds,  that  as  you  then  showed  your  readiness  of  will,  so  now 

12  you  may  finish  the  work,  according  to  your  means.  For  if  there  be 
a  willing  mind,  the  gift  is  acceptable  when  measured  by  the  giver's 

13  power,  and  needs  not  to  go  beyond.  Nor  is  this  collection  made  that 
others  may  be  eased,  and  you  distressed,  but  to  make  your  burdens 

14  equal,  that,  as  now  your  abundance  supplies  their  need,  your  own 
need  may  at  another  time  be  relieved  in  equal  measure  by  their 

15  abundance,  as  it  is  written,  "IZe  that  gathered  much  had  nothing  over  ; 

16  and  he  that  gathered  little  had  no  lack.^^  But,  thanks  be  to  God,  tliat 
he  has  put  into  the  heart  of  Titus  the  same  zeal  as  I  have  on  your 

17  behalf;  for  he  not  only  has  consented  to  my  desire,  but  is  himself 

18  very  zealous  in  the  matter,  and  goes  to  you  of  his  own  accord.  And 
I  have  sent  as  his  companion  the  brother  who  is  with  him,  whose 
praise  in  publishing  the  glad  tidings  is  spread  throughout  all  tlie 

19  churches,  and  who  has  moreover  been  chosen  by  the  churches  [of 
Macedonia]  to  accompany  me  in  my  journey  (when  I  bear  this  gift, 
which  I  have  undertaken  to  administer) ;  that  our  Lord  Jesus  might 
be  glorified,  and  that  I  might  undertake  the  task  with  more  good 

20  will.  For  I  guard  myself  against  all  suspicion  which  might  be  cast 
upon  me  in  my  administration  of  this  bounty  with  which  I  am 

21  charged ;  being  careful  to  do  all  things  in  a  seemly  manner,  not 

22  only  in  the  sight  of  our  Lord,  but  also  in  the  sight  of  men.  The 
brother  whom  I  have  sent  likewise  with  them,  is  one  whom  I  have 
put  to  the  proof  in  many  trials,  and  found  always  zealous  in  the 
work,  but  who  is  now  yet  more  zealous  from  the  foil  trust  which  he 

23  has  in  you.  Concerning  Titus,  then  (on  the  one  hand),  he  is  part- 
ner of  my  lot,  and  fellow-laborer  with  me  for  your  good  ;  concerning 
our  brethren  (on  the  other  hand),  they  are  ambassadors  of  the 


456         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

24  clmrclies, — a  manifestation  of  the  glory  of  Christ.  I  beseech  you, 
therefore,  to  justify  my  boasting  on  your  behalf,  in  the  sight  of  the 
churches  whence  they  come,  by  proofs  of  your  love  to  them. 

IX. 

1  For  of  your  ministration  to  Chrisf  s  people  [at  Jerusalem]  it  is 
needless  that  I  should  write  to  you ;  since  I  know  the  forwardness  of 

2  your  mind,  and  boast  of  it  to  the  Macedonians,  saying  that  Achaia 
has  been  ready  ever  since  last  year ;  and  the  knowledge  of  your  zeal 

8  has  roused  the  most  of  them  to  follow  it.  But  I  have  sent  the  breth- 
ren, lest  my  report  of  you  in  this  matter  should  be  turned  into  an 
empty  boast ;  that  you  may  be  truly  ready,  as  I  have  declared  you 

4  to  be.  Lest  perchance  the  Macedonians,  who  may  come  with  me  to 
visit  you,  should  find  you  not  yet  ready,  and  so  shame  should  fall 
upon  me  (for  I  will  not  say  upon  you)  by  the  failure  of  this  boast, 

5  whereon  I  founded  my  appeal  to  them.  Therefore,  I  thought  it 
needful  to  desire  these  brethren  to  visit  you  before  my  coming,  and 
to  arrange  beforehand  the  completion  of  this  bounty  which  you  before 
promised  to  have  in  readiness ;  so  it  be  really  given  by  your  bounty, 

6  not  wrung  from  your  covetousness.  But  remember,  he  who  sows 
sparingly  shall  reap  sparingly ;  and  he  who  sows  bountifully  shall 

7  reap  bountifully.  Let  each  do  according  to  the  free  choice  of  his 
heart ;  not  grudgingly,  or  of  necessity ;  for  "  God  loveih  a  cheerful 

8  giver. '^^  And  God  is  able  to  give  you  an  overflowing  measure  of  all 
good  gifts,  that  all  your  wants  may  be  supplied,  and  you  may  give  of 

9  your  abundance  to  every  good  work.  As  it  is  written,  "  The  good  man 
hath  scattered  abroad,  he  hath  given  to  the  poor ;  his  righteousness  re- 

10  mainefhfor  everJ'  Now  may  He  who  furnisheth  "seec?  to  the  sower, 
and  bread  for  the  food  of  man/^  furnish  you  with  plenteous  store  of 

11  seed,  and  bless  your  righteousness  with  fruits  of  increase.  May  you 
be  enriched  with  all  good  things,  and  give  them  freely  with  single- 
ness of  mind  ;  causing  thanksgivings  to  God  from  those  to  whom  I 

12  bear  your  gifts.    For  the  administration  of  this  service  not  only  fills 
.  up  the  measure  of  the  necessities  of  Christ's  people,  but  also  over  • 

13  flows  beyond  it,  in  many  thanks  to  God;  while  they  praise  God  for 
the  proof  thus  given  of  the  obedience  wherewith  you  have  consented 
to  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ,  and  for  the  single-minded  liberality 

14  which  you  have  shown  both  to  them  and  to  all.  Moreover,  in  their 
prayers  for  you  they  express  the  earnest  longings  of  their  love  towards 
you,  called  forth  through  the  surpassing  grace  of  God  manifested  in 

15  you.    Thanks  be  to  God  for  his  unspeakable  gift. 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


457 


X. 

1  Now  1,  Paul,  myself  exhort  you  by  the  meekness  ^^^^""characl'iJ 
and  gentleness  of  Christ — (I,  who  am  mean,  forsooth,  ^"fj/^iJogy^o* 
and  lowly  in  outward  presence,  while  I  am  among  you,  the  false  teach- 

^  '  \        1  ^"^^  ^^^^  clepre- 

2  yet  treat  you  boldly  when  I  am  absent) — I  beseech  you  dated  him. 

(I  say),  that  you  will  not  force  me  to  show,  when  I  come,  the  bold 
reliance  on  my  own  authority,  wherewith  I  reckon  to  deal  with 

3  some  who  measure  me  by  the  standard  of  the  flesh.  For,  though 
living  in  the  flesh,  my  warfare  is  not  waged  according  to  the  flesh. 

4  For  the  weapons  which  I  wield  are  not  of  fleshly  weakness,  but 
mighty  in  the  strength  of  God  to  overthrow  the  strongholds  of  the 

6  adversaries.  Thereby  can  I  overthrow  the  reasonings  of  the  disputer, 
and  pull  down  the  lofty  bulwarks  which  raise  themselves  against  the 
knowledge  of  God,  and  bring  every  rebellious  thought  into  captivity 

6  and  subjection  to  Christ.  And  when  the  obedience  of  your  cluirch 
shall  be  complete,  I  am  still  ready  to  punish  all  those  who  remain 
disobedient. 

7  Do  you  look  at  matters  of  outward  advantage  ?  If  there  be  any 
among  you  who  boasts  that  he  belongs  above  the  rest- to  Christ,  I  bid 
him  once  more  to  consider  my  words,  that  if  he  belong  to  Christ,  so 

8  do  I  no  less.  For  although  I  were  to  boast  somewhat  highly  con- 
cerning the  authority  which  the  Lord  Jesus  has  given  me  (not  to  cast 
you  down,  but  to  build  you  up),  my  words  would  not  be  shamed  by 

9  the  truth.    I  say  this,  lest  you  should  imagine  that  I  am  writing 

10  empty  threats  to  terrify  you.  "For  his  letters,"  says  one,  "are 
written  with  authority  and  firmness,  but  his  bodily  presence  is  weak, 

11  and  his  speech  contemptible."  Let  such  a  man  assure  himself  that 
the  words  which  I  write  while  absent  shall  be  borne  out  by  my  deeds 

12  when  present.  For  I  venture  not  to  number  or  compare  myself  with 
those  among  you  who  prove  their  worth  by  their  self-commendation  ; 
but  they,  measuring  themselves  by  themselves,  and  comparing  them- 

13  selves  with  themselves,  are  guilty  of  folly.  But  I,  for  my  part,  will 
not  let  my  boasting  carry  me  beyond  all  measure,  but  will  confine  it 
within  that  measure  given  me  by  God,  who  made  my  line  reach  even 

14  to  you.  For  I  stretch  not  myself  beyond  due  bounds  (as  though  I 
leached  you  not) ;  for  I  have  already  come  as  far  even  as  Corinth  to 

15  publish  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ.  I  am  not  boasting  beyond  my 
measure,  for  the  labors  of  others ;  but  I  hope  that  if  your  faith  goes 

16  on  increasing  among  yourselves,  I  shall  be  still  further  honored, 
within  the  limits  appointed  to  me,  by  bearing  the  glad  tidings  to  the 
countries  beyond  you ;  not  by  boasting  of  work  made  ready  to  my 

17  hand  within  the  field  assigned  to  another.    Meantime,  "jF/e  thai 


458         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


18  boasleihj  let  him  boast  in  the  Loi^dJ*    For  a  man  is  proved  worthy,  not 
when  he  commends  himself,  but  when  he  is  commended  by  his  Lord. 

XL 

1  Would  that  ye  could  bear  with  me  a  little  in  my  folly !    Yea,  ye 

2  already  bear  with  me.  For  I  love  you  with  a  godly  jealousy,  because 
I  betrothed  you  to  one  only  husband,  even  to  Christ,  that  I  might 

3  present  you  unto  him  in  virgin  purity ;  but  now  I  fear  lest,  as  Eve 
was  beguiled  by  the  craftiness  of  the  serpent,  so  your  imaginations 
should  be  corrupted,  and  you  should  be  seduced  from  your  single- 

4  minded  faithfulness  to  Christ.  For  even  if  he  that  is  come  among 
you  proclaims  to  you  another  Jesus,  of  whom  I  told  you  not,  or  if 
you  receive  from  him  the  gift  of  another  Spirit,  which  you  received 
not  before,  or  a  new  glad  tidings,  which  you  never  heard  from  me, 

5  yet  you  would  fitly  bear  with  me ;  for  I  reckon  myself  no  whit  behind 

6  those  who  are  counted  such  chief  apostles.  Yea,  though  I  be  un- 
skilled in  the  arts  of  speech,  yet  I  am  not  wanting  in  the  gift  of 
knowledge;  but  I  have  manifested  it  to  you  in  all  things,  and 

7  amongst  all  men.  Or  is  it  a  sin  [which  must  rob  me  of  the  name 
of  apostle]  that  I  have  proclaimed  to  you,  without  fee  or  reward,  the 
glad  tidings  of  God,  and  have  abased  myself  that  you  might  be  ex- 

8  alted  ?    Other  churches  I  have  spoiled,  and  taken  their  wages  to  do 

9  you  service.  And  when  I  was  with  you,  though  I  was  in  want,  I 
pressed  not  upon  any  of  you ;  for  the  brethren,  when  they  came  from 
Macedonia,  supplied  my  needs ;  and  I  kept,  and  will  keep  myself 

10  altogether  from  casting  a  burden  upon  you.  As  the  truth  of  Christ 
is  in  me,  no  deed  of  mine  shall  rob  me  of  this  boasting  in  the  region 

11  of  Achaia.    And  why?    Because  I  love  you  not?    God  knows  my 

12  love.  But  what  I  do  I  will  continue  to  do,  that  I  may  cut  off  all 
ground  from  those  who  wish  to  find  something  whereon  they  may 
rest  a  slander ;  and  let  them  show  the  same  cause  for  their  boasting 

13  as  I  for  mine.    For  men  like  these  are  false  apostles,  deceitful  work- 

14  men,  clothing  themselves  in  the  garb  of  Christ's  apostles.  And  no 
wonder;  for  even  Satan  can  transform  himself  into  an  angel  of  light. 

15  It  is  not  strange,  then,  if  his  servants  disguise  themselves  as  servants 
of  righteousness ;  but  their  end  shall  be  according  to  their  works. 

16  I  entreat  you  all  once  more  not  to  count  me  for  a  fool ;  or,  if  you 
think  me  such,  yet  bear  with  me  in  my  folly,  while  I,  too,  boast  a 

17  little  of  myself.  But,  in  so  doing,  I  speak  not  in  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
but,  as  it  were,  in  folly,  while  we  stand  upon  this  ground  of  boasting ; 

18  for,  since  many  are  boasting  in  the  spirit  of  the  flesh,  I  will  boast 

19  likewise.   And  I  know  that  you  bear  kindly  with  fools,  as  beseems 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  THE  CORINTHIANS. 


459 


20  the  w  ise.  Nav,  you  bear  with  men,  though  they  enslave  you,  though 
they  devour  you,  though  they  entrap  you,  though  they  exalt  them- 

21  selves  over  you,  though  they  smite  you  on  the  face,  (I  speak  of  deg- 
radation), as  though  I  were  weak  [and  they  were  strong].  And  yet, 
if  any  think  they  have  grounds  of  boldness,  I  too  (I  speak  in  folly) 

22  have  grounds  to  be  as  bold  as  they.  Are  they  Hebrews?  so  am  I. 
Are  they  children  of  Israel  ?  so  am  I.  Are  they  the  seed  of  Abraham  ? 

23  so  am  I.  Are  they  servants  of  Christ  ?  (I  speak  as  though  I  were 
beside  myself),  such,  far  more,  am  I.    In  labors  more  abundant,  in 

24  stripes  above  measure,  in  prisons  more  frequent,  in  deaths  oft.  (Five 

25  times  I  received  from  Jews  the  forty  stripes  save  one ;  thrice  I  was 
scourged  witlx  the  Koman  rods ;  once  I  was  stoned ;  thrice  I  suffered 

26  shipwreck  ;  a  night  and  a  day  I  spent  in  the  open  sea.)  In  journey- 
ings  often  ;  in  perils  of  rivers,  in  perils  of  robbers  ;  in  perils  from  my 
countrymen,  in  perils  from  the  heathen;  in  perils  in  the  city,  in 
perils  in  the  wilderness,  in  perils  in  the  sea ;  in  perils  among  false 

27  brethren.  In  toil  and  weariness,  often  in  sleepless  watchings;  in 
hunger  and  thirst,  often  without  bread  to  eat ;  in  cold  and  nakedness. 

28  And  besides  all  the  rest,  there  is  the  crowd  which  presses  upon  me 
daily,  and  the  care  of  all  the  churches.    Who  is  weak,  but  I  share 

29  his  weakness  ?    Who  is  caused  to  fall,  but  I  burn  with  indignation  ? 

30  If  I  must  needs  boast,  it  shall  not  be  in  my  strength,  but  in  my  weak- 

31  ness.  God,  who  is  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  He  who  is 
blessed  for  ever,  knows  that  I  lie  not. 

32  In  Damascus,  the  governor  under  Aretas,  the  king,  kept  watch 

33  over  the  city  with  a  garrison,  purposing  to  apprehend  me  ;  and  I  was 
let  down  by  the  wall,  through  a  window,  in  a  basket,  and  thus  [not 
by  my  strength,  but  by  my  weakness,]  I  escaped  his  hands.  It  is  not 
for  me,  then  to  boast. 

XII. 

1  But  I  will  come  also  to  visions  and  revelations  of  the  Lord  Jesus. 

2  I  know  a  man  who  was  caught  up  fourteen  years  ago  (whether  in  the 
body  or  out  of  the  body,  I  cannot  tell,  God  knoweth ), — caught  up,  I 

3  say,  in  the  power  of  Christ,  even  to  the  third  heaven.  And  I  know 
that  such  a  man  (whether  in  the  body  or  out  of  the  body  I  cannot 

4  tell ;  God  knoweth)  was  caught  up  into  Paradise,  and  heard  unspeak- 
6  able  words  which  it  is  not  lawful  for  man  to  utter.    Of  such  a  man, 

I  will  boast;  but  of  myself  I  will  not  boast,  save  in  the  tokens  of  my 

6  weakness.  If  I  should  choose  to  boast,  I  should  not  be  guilty  of 
empty  vanity,  for  I  should  speak  the  truth  ;  but  I  forbear  to  speak, 
that  I  may  not  cause  any  man  to  think  of  me  more  highly  than  when 

7  he  sees  my  deeds  or  hears  my  teaching.    And  lest,  through  the  ex- 


460 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


ceeding  greatness  of  these  revelations,  I  should  be  lifted  up  with 
pride,  there  was  given  me  a  thorn  in  the  flesh,  a  messenger  of  Satan, 

8  to  huffet  me  and  keep  down  my  pride.    And  thrice  I  besought  the 

9  Lord  Jesus  concerning  it,  that  it  might  depart  from  me  ;  but  he  said 
to  me,  "  My  grace  is  sufficient  for  thee ;  for  my  strength  shows  its 
full  might  in  weakness.''  Most  gladly,  therefore,  will  1  boast  rather 
in  my  weakness  than  in  my  strength,  that  the  strength  of  Christ  may 

10  rest  upon  me,  and  dwell  in  me.  Therefore  I  rejoice  in  signs  of  weak- 
ness, in  outrage,  in  necessities,  in  persecutions,  in  straitness  of  dis- 
tress, endured  for  Christ ;  for  when  I  am  weakest,  then  am  I  strongest. 

11  I  have  been  guilty  of  folly  in  boasting,  but  you  have  forced  me  to 
it ;  for  I  ought  myself  to  have  been  commended  by  you ;  for  I  have 
come  no  whit  behind  those  who  are  reckoned  such  chief  apostles, 

12  although  I  be  of  no  account.  The  marks,  at  least,  of  an  apostle  were 
seen  in  the  deeds  which  I  wrought  among  you,  in  signs  and  wonders, 

13  and  miracles,  with  steadfast  endurance  of  persecution.  Wherein  had 
you  the  disadvantage  of  other  churches,  unless,  indeed,  that  I  did 
not  burden  you  with  my  own  maintenance ;  forgive  me,  I  pray,  this 

14  wrong  which  I  have  done  you.  Behold,  I  am  now  for  the  third 
time  preparing  to  visit  you,  and  I  propose  to  cast  no  burden  upon 
you ;  for  I  seek  not  your  substance,  but  yourselves.    And  children 

15  should  not  lay  up  wealth  for  parents,  but  parents  for  children.  Nay, 
rather,  most  gladly  will  I  spend,  yea,  and  myself  be  spent,  for  your 
souls,  though  the  more  abundantly  I  love  you,  the  less  I  be  loved. 

16  But  though  it  be  granted  that  I  did  not  burden  you  myself,  yet 
perchance  this  was  my  cunning,  whereby  I  entrapped  your  simplicity. 

17  Did  I  then  defraud  you  of  your  wealth  by  some  of  the  messengers 

18  whom  I  sent  to  you  ?  I  desired  Titus  to  visit  you,  and,  with  him,  I 
sent  the  brother,  his  fellow-traveller.  Did  Titus  defraud  you  ?  Did 
we  not  act  in  the  same  spirit  ?    Did  we  not  walk  in  the  same  steps  ? 

19  Do  you  again  imagine  that  it  is  before  you  I  defend  ne  warns  the 
myself?  Nay,  before  God  I  speak,  in  fellowship  with  moral  minority 
Christ ;  but  doing  all,  beloved,  for  your  Sakes,  that  you   i^e'  constrained 

20  may  be  built  up.  For  I  fear  lest  perchance  when  I  \^  Ky' 
come  I  should  find  you  not  such  as  I  could  wish,  and  ^"e^ceV 
that  you  also  should  find  from  me  other  treatment  than 

you  desire.    I  fear  to  find  you  full  of  strife,  jealousies,  passions,  in- 

21  trigues,  slanderings,  backbitings,  vaunting,  sedition.  I  fear  lest 
when  I  come,  my  God  will  again  humble  me  by  your  faults,  and  I 
shall  be  compelled  to  mourn  over  many  among  those  who  had  sinned 
before  my  last  visit,  and  have  not  repented  of  the  uncleanness,  and 
fornication,  and  wantonness  which  they  committed. 


CONTRIBUTION  FOE  POOR  JEWISH  CHRISTIANS.  461 


XIII. 

1  I  now  come  to  you  for  the  third  time.    "  Out.  of  the  mouth  of  two  or 

2  three  witnesses  shall  every  word  be  confirm edJ^  I  have  warned  you 
formerly,  and  I  now  forewarn  you,  as  when  I  was  present  the  second 
time,  so  now,  while  I  am  absent,  saying  to  those  who  had  sinned 
before  my  last  visit,  and  to  all  the  rest  of  the  offenders — "  If  I  come 

3  again,  I  will  not  spare."  Thus  you  shall  have  the  proof  you  seek 
of  the  power  of  Christ,  who  speaks  in  me ;  for  he  shows  no  weakness 

4  towards  you,  but  works  mightily  among  you.  For  although  he  died 
upon  the  cross  through  the  weakness  of  the  flesh,  yet  now  he  lives 
through  the  power  of  God.  And  so  I,  too,  share  the  weakness  of  his 
body ;  yet  I  shall  share  also  the  power  of  God,  whereby  he  lives, 

5  when  I  come  to  deal  with  you.  Examine  not  me,  but  yourselves, 
whether  you  are  truly  in  the  faith;  put  youi-selves  to  the  proof 
[concerning  Christ's  presence  with  you  which  ye  seek  in  me].  Know 
ye  not  of  your  own  selves,  that  Jesus  Christ  is  dwelling  in  you? 

6  unless,  perchance,  when  thus  proved,  you  fail  to  abide  the  test.  But 

7  I  hope  you  will  find  that  I,  for  my  part,  abide  the  proof.  Yet  I  pray 
to  God  that  I  may  not  harm  you  in  any  wise.  I  pray,  not  that  my 
own  power  may  be  clearly  proved,  but  that  you  may  do  right, 
althougli  I  should  seem  unable  to  abide  the  proof  [because  I  should 

8  show  no  sign  of  power]  ;  for  I  have  no  power  against  the  truth,  but 

9  only  for  the  truth's  defence.  I  rejoice,  therefore,  when  I  am  power- 
less [against  you],  and  you  are  strong;  yea,  it  is  the  very  end  of  my 

10  prayers,  that  you  may  be  perfected.  Therefore  I  write  this  to  you 
while  absent,  that,  when  present,  I  may  not  deal  harshly  with  you  in 
the  strength  of  that  authority  which  the  Lord  Jesus  has  given  me, 
not  to  cast  down,  but  to  build  up. 

11  Finally,  brethren,  farewell.    Perfect  what  is  lacking  Conclusion. 

in  yourselves,  exhort  one  another,  be  of  one  mind,  live  in  peace; 

12  so  shall  the  God  of  love  and  peace  be  with  you.    Salute  one  another 

13  with  the  kiss  of  holiness.    All  Christ's  people  here  salute  you. 

14  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the  love  of  Autograph  ben- 
God,  and  the  communion  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  be  with 

you  all. 

In  this  letter  we  find  a  considerable  space  devoted  to  subjects 
connected  with  a  collection  now  in  progress  for  the  poor  Chris- 
tians in  Judsea.  It  is  not  the  first  time  that  we  have  seen 
Paul  actively  exerting  himself  in  such  a  project.  Nor  is  it  the 
first  time  that  this  particular  contribution  has  been  brought  before 
our  notice.    At  Ephesus,  in  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 


462 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Paul  gave  special  directions  as  to  the  method  in  which  it  should 
be  laid  up  in  store  (1  Cor.  xvi.  1-4).  Even  before  this  period 
similar  instructions  had  been  given  to  the  churches  of  Galatia 
(ib.  1).  And  the  whole  project  was  in  fact  the  fulfilment  of  a 
promise  made  at  a  still  earlier  period,  that  in  the  course  jf 
his  preaching  among  the  Gentiles  the  poor  in  Judaea  should  be 
remembered  (Gal.  ii.  10). 

The  collection  was  going  on  simultaneously  in  Macedonia  and 
Achaia,  and  the  same  letter  gives  us  information  concerning  the 
mannei  in  which  it  w^as  conducted  in  both  places.  The  directions 
given  to  the  Corinthians  were  doubtless  similar  to  those  under 
which  the  contribution  was  made  at  Thessalonica  and  Philippi. 
Moreover,  direct  information  is  incidentally  given  of  what  was 
actually  done  in  Macedonia,  and  thus  we  are  furnished  with  ma- 
terials for  depicting  to  ourselves  a  passage  in  the  apostle's  life 
which  is  not  described  by  Luke.  There  is  much  instruction  to  be 
gathered  from  the  method  and  principles  according  to  which  these 
funds  were  gathered  by  Paul  and  his  associates,  as  w^ell  as  from  the 
conduct  of  those  v»^ho  contributed  for  their  distant  and  suffering 
brethren. 

Both  from  this  passage  of  Scripture  and  from  others  we  are  fully 
made  aware  of  Paul's  motives  for  urging  this  benevolent  work.  Be- 
sides his  promise  made  long  ago  at  Jerusalem,  that  in  his  preaching 
among  the  Gentiles  the  poor  Jewish  Christians  should  be  remem- 
bered, the  poverty  of  the  residents  in  Judaea  would  be  strong  reason 
for  his  activity  in  collecting  funds  for  their  relief  among  the 
wealthier  communities  who  were  now  united  with  them  in  the 
same  faith  and  hope.  But  there  was  a  far  higher  motive  which 
lay  at  the  root  of  the  apostle's  anxious  and  energetic  zeal  in  this 
cause.  It  is  that  which  is  dwelt  on  in  the  closing  verses  of  the 
ninth  chapter  of  the  Epistle  w^hich  has  just  been  read,  and  is  again 
alluded  to  in  words  less  sanguine  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans.  A 
serious  schism  existed  between  the  Gentile  and  Hebrew^  Christians, 
which,  though  partially  closed  from  time  to  time,  seemed  in  danger 
of  growing  continually  wider  under  the  mischievous  influence  of 
the  Judaizers.  The  great  labor  of  Paul's  life  at  this  time  was  di- 
rected to  the  healing  of  this  division.  He  felt  that  if  the  Gentiles 
had  been  made  partakers  of  the  spiritual  blessings  of  the  Jews, 
their  duty  was  to  contribute  to  them  in  earthly  blessings  (Rom. 
XV.  27),  and  that  nothing  would  be  more  likely  to  allay  the  preju- 


THE  MODE  OF  GIVING. 


463 


dices  of  the  Jewish  party  than  charitable  gifts  freely  contributed 
by  the  heathen  converts.  According  as  cheerful  or  discouraging 
thoughts  predominated  in  his  mind  —  and  to  such  alternations 
of  feeling  even  an  apostle  was  liable — he  hoped  that  "  the  min- 
istration of  that  service  would  not  only  fill  up  the  measure  of  the 
necessities  of  Christ's  people"  in  Judaea,  but  would  overflow"  in. 
thanksgivings  and  prayers  on  their  part  for  those  whose  hearts  had 
been  opened  to  bless  them  (2  Cor.  ix.  12-15) ;  or  he  feared  that 
this  charity  might  be  rejected,  and  he  entreated  the  prayers  of 
others  "that  he  might  be  delivered  from  the  disobedient  in  Judasa, 
and  that  the  service  which  he  had  undertaken  for  Jerusalem  might 
be  favorably  received  by  Christ's  people"  (Rom.  xv.  30,  31). 

Influenced  by  these  motives,  he  spared  no  pains  in  promoting 
the  work,  but  every  step  w^as  conducted  with  the  utmost  prudence 
and  delicacy  of  feeling.  He  was  w^ell  aware  of  the  calumnies 
with  which  his  enemies  w^ere  ever  ready  to  assail  his  character, 
and  therefore  he  took  the  most  careful  precautions  against  the  pos- 
sibility of  being  accused  of  mercenary  motives.  At  an  early  stage 
of  the  collection  we  find  him  writing  to  the  Corinthians  to  suggest 
that  "  whomsoever  they  should  judge  fitted  for  the  trust  should  be 
sent  to  carry  their  benevolence  to  Jerusalem  "  (1  Cor.  xvi.  3) ;  and 
again  he  alludes  to  the  delegates  commissioned  with  Titus  as 
"guarding  himself  against  all  suspicion  which  might  be  cast 
on  him  in  his  administration  of  the  bounty  with  which  he  was 
charged,"  and  as  being  "careful  to  do  all  things  in  a  seemly 
manner,  not  only  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord,  but  also  in  the  sight 
of  men"  (2  Cor.  viii.  20,  21).  This  regard  to  what  was  seemly 
appears  most  strikingly  in  his  mode  of  bringing  the  subject  before 
those  to  whom  he  wrote  and  spoke.  He  lays  no  constraint  upon 
them.  They  are  to  give  "not  grudgingly  or  of  necessity,"  but 
each  "  according  to  the  free  choice  of  his  heart ;  for  God  loveth  a 
cheerful  giver"  (2  Cor.  ix.  7).  "If  there  is  a  willing  mind,  the 
gift  is  acceptable  when  measured  by  the  giver's  power,  and  needs 
not  to  go  beyond"  (2  Cor.  viii.  12).  He  spoke  rather  as  giving 
"advice"  (viii.  10)  than  a  "command,"  and  he  sought  to  prove 
the  reality  of  his  converts'  love  by  reminding  them  of  the  zeal  of 
others  (viii.  8).  In  writing  to  the  Corinthians  he  delicately  con- 
trasts their  wealth  with,  the  poverty  of  the  Macedonians.  In 
speaking  to  the  Macedonians  themselves  such  a  mode  of  appeal 
was  less  natural,  for  they  were  poorer  and  more  generous.  Yet 


464         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


them  also  he  endeavored  to  rouse  to  a  generous  rivalry  by  remind 
ing  them  of  the  zeal  of  Achaia  (viii.  24;  ix.  2).  To  them  also  he 
would  doubtless  say  that  "  he  who  sows  sparingly  shall  reap  spar- 
ingly, and  he  who  sows  bountifully  shall  reap  bountifully  (ix»  6), 
while  he  would  gently  remind  them  that  God  was  ever  able  to  give 
them  an  overflowing  measure  of  all  good  gifts,  supplying  all  their 
wants  and  enabling  them  to  be  bountiful  to  others  (ib.  8).  And 
that  one  overpowering  argument  could  never  be  forgotten — the 
example  of  Christ  and  the  debt  of  love  we  owe  to  him:  "You 
know  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  how,  though  he  was  rich, 
yet  for  our  sakes  he  became  poor,  that  you,  by  his  poverty,  might 
be  made  rich"  (viii.  9).  Nor  ought  we,  when  speaking  of  the  in- 
struction  to  be  gathered  from  this  charitable  undertaking,  to  leave 
unnoticed  the  calmness  and  deliberation  of  the  method  which  he 
recommends  of  laying  aside  week  by  week  what  is  devoted  to  God 
(1  Cor.  xvi.  2) — a  practice  equally  remote  from  the  excitement  of 
popular  appeals  and  the  mere  impulse  of  instinctive  benevolence. 

The  Macedonian  Christians  responded  nobly  to  the  appeal  which 
was  made  to  them  by  Paul.  The  zeal  of  their  brethren  in  Achaia 
"roused  the  most  of  them  to  follow  it"  (2  Cor.  ix.  2).  God's  grace 
was  abundantly  "  manifested  in  the  churches  "  on  the  north  of  the 
jEgean  (ib.  viii.  1).  Their  conduct  in  this  matter,  as  described  to 
us  by  the  apostle's  pen,  rises  to  the  point  of  the  highest  praise.  It 
was  a  time  not  of  prosperity  but  of  great  affliction  to  the  Macedo- 
nian churches,  nor  were  they  wealthy  communities  like  the  Church 
of  Corinth ;  yet,  "  in  their  heavy  trial  the  fulness  of  their  joy  over- 
flowed out  of  the  depth  of  their  poverty  in  the  riches  of  their  libe- 
rality" (ib.  viii.  2).  Their  contribution  was  no  niggardly  gift 
wrung  from  their  covetousness  (viii.  5),  but  they  gave  honestly 
"according  to  their  means"  (ib.  3),  and  not  only  so,  but  even 
"beyond  their  means"  (ib.) ;  nor  did  they  give  grudgingly,  under 
the  pressure  of  the  apostle's  urgency,  but  ''of  their  own  free  will, 
beseeching  him  with  much  entreaty  that  they  might  bear  their  part 
in  the  grace  of  ministering  to  Christ's  people"  (ib.  3,  4).  And  ti.is 
liberality  arose  from  that  which  is  the  basis  of  all  true  Christian 
charity :  "  They  gave  themselves  first  to  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  by 
the  will  of  God"  (ib.  5). 

The  Macedonian  contribution,  if  not  complete,  was  in  a  state 
of  much  forwardness,  when  Paul  wrote  to  Corinth.  He  speaks 
of  liberal  funds  as  being  already  pressed  upon  his  acceptance 


TITUS. 


465 


(2  Cor.  viii.  4),  and  the  delegates  who  were  to  accompany  him  to 
Jerusalem  had  already  been  chosen  (2  Cor.  viii.  19,  23).  We  do 
not  know  how  many  of  the  churches  of  Macedonia  took  part  in 
this  collection,  but  we  cannot  doubt  that  that  of  Phiiippi  held  a 
conspicuous  place  in  so  benevolent  a  work.  In  the  case  of  the 
Philippian  Church  this  bounty  was  only  a  continuance  of  the 
benevolence  they  had  begun  before,  and  an  earnest  of  that  which 
gladdened  the  apostle's  heart  in  his  imprisonment  at  Home.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  gospel "  they,  and  they  only,  had  sent  once 
and  again  to  relieve  his  wants,  both  at  Thessalonica  and  at  Corinth 
(Phil.  iv.  15,  16) ;  and  "  at  the  lasf  their  care  of  their  friend  and 
teacher  flourished  again"  (ib.  10),  and  they  sent  their  gifts  to 
him  at  Rome,  as  now  they  sent  to  their  unknown  brethren  at 
Jerusalem.  The  Philippians  are  in  the  Epistles  what  that  poor 
woman  is  in  the  Gospels  who  placed  two  mites  in  the  treasury. 
They  gave  much,  because  they  gave  of  their  poverty,  and  wherever 
the  gospel  is  preached  throughout  the  whole  world,  there  shall  this 
liberality  be  told  for  a  memorial  of  them. 

If  the  principles  enunciated  by  the  apostle  in  reference  to  the 
collection  command  our  devout  attention,  and  if  the  example  of 
the  Macedonian  Christians  is  held  out  to  the  imitation  of  all  future 
ages  of  the  Church,  the  conduct  of  those  who  took  an  active  part 
in  the  management  of  the  business  should  not  be  unnoticed.  Of 
two  of  these  the  names  are  unknown  to  us,  though  their  characters 
are  described.  One  was  a  brother  "  whose  praise  in  publishing 
the  gospel  was  spread  throughout  the  churches,"  and  who  had 
been  chosen  by  the  Church  of  Macedonia  to  accompany  Paul  with 
the  charitable  fund  to  Jerusalem  (2  Cor.  viii.  18,  19).  The  other 
was  one  'Svho  had  been  put  to  the  proof  in  many  trials,  and 
always  found  zealous  in  the  work "  (ib.  22).  But  concerning 
Titus,  the  third  companion  of  these  brethren,  "  the  partner  of 
Paul's  lot  and  his  fellow-laborer  for  the  good  of  the  Church,"  we 
have  fuller  information ;  and  this  seems  to  be  the  right  place  to 
make  a  more  particular  allusion  to  him,  for  he  was  nearly  con- 
cerned in  all  the  steps  of  the  collection  now  in  progress. 

Titus  does  not,  like  Timothy,  appear  at  intervals  through  all  the 
passages  of  the  apostle's  life.  He  is  not  mentioned  in  the  Acts  at 
all,  and  this  is  the  only  place  where  he  comes  conspicuously 
forward  in  the  Epistles ;  and  all  that  is  said  of  him  is  connected 
with  the  business  of  the  collection.  Thus  we  have  a  detached 
30 


466  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL, 

portion  of  his  biography  which  is  al  once  a  thread  that  guides  U3 
through  the  main  facts  of  the  contribution  for  the  Judoean  Chris- 
tians, and  a  source  whence  we  can  draw  some  knowledge  of  the 
character  of  that  disciple  to  whom  Paul  addressed  one  of  his 
Pastoral  Epistles.  At  an  early  stage  of  the  proceedings  he  seems 
to  have  been  sent — soon  after  the  First  Epistle  was  despatched 
from  Ephesus  to  Corinth — not  simply  to  enforce  the  apostle's 
general  injunctions,  but  to  labor  also  in  forwarding  the  collection 
(2  Cor.  xii.  18).  Whilst  he  was  at  Corinth  we  find  that  he  took 
ail  active  and  a  zealous  part  at  the  outset  of  the  good  work 
(ib.  viii.  6).  And  now  that  he  had  come  to  Macedonia  and 
brought  the  apostle  good  news  from  Achaia,  he  was  exhorted  to 
return,  that  he  might  finish  what  was  so  well  begun,  taking  with 
him  (as  we  have  seen)  the  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  and 
accompanied  by  the  two  deputies  who  have  just  been  mentioned. 
It  was  a  task  which  he  was  by  no  means  unwilling  to  undertake. 
God  "put  into  his  heart  the  same  zeal''  which  Paul  himself  had ; 
he  not  only  consented  to  the  apostle's  desire,  but  was  "  himself 
very  zealous  in  the  matter,  and  ^vent  of  his  own  accord  "  (2  Cor. 
viii.  16,  17).  If  we  put  together  these  notices,  scanty  as  they  are, 
of  the  conduct  of  Titus,  they  set  before  us  a  character  which  seems 
to  claim  our  admiration  for  a  remarkable  union  of  enthusiam,  in- 
tegrity, and  discretion. 

After  the  departure  of  Titus,  Paul  still  continued  to  prosecute 
the  labors  of  an  evangelist  in  the  regions  to  the  north  of  Greece. 
He  was  unwilling  as  yet  to  visit  the  Corinthian  Church,  the  dis- 
aflected  members  of  w^hich  still  caused  him  so  much  anxiety,  and 
he  would  doubtless  gladly  employ  this  period  of  delay  to  accom- 
plish any  plans  he  might  have  formed  and  left  incomplete  on  his 
former  visit  to  Macedonia.  On  that  occasion  he  had  been  per- 
secuted in  Philippi,  and  had  been  forced  to  make  a  precipitate 
retreat  from  Thessalonica,  and  from  Beroea  his  course  had  been 
similarly  urged  to  Athens  and  Corinth.  Now  he  was  able  to  em- 
brace a  wider  circumference  in  his  apostolic  progress.  Taking 
Jerusalem  as  his  centre,  he  had  been  perpetually  enlarging  the 
circle  of  his  travels.  In  his  first  missionary  journey  he  had 
preached  in  the  southern  parts  of  Asia  Minor  and  the  northern 
parts  of  Syria;  in  his  second  journey  he  had  visited  the  Mace- 
donian towns  which  lay  near  the  shores  of  the  JEgean ;  and  now 
on  his  third  progress  he  would  seem  to  have  penetrated  into  the 


MEANING  OF  "  ILLYRICUM." 


467 


mountains  of  the  interior,  or  even  beyond  them  to  the  shores  of 
the  Adriatic,  and  "fully  preached  the  gospel  of  Christ  round 
about  unto  Illyricum"  (Eom.  xv.  19). 

We  here  encounter  a  subject  on  which  some  difference  of  opinion 
must  unavoidably  exist.  If  we  wish  to  lay  down  the  exact  route 
of  the  apostle,  we  must  first  ascertain  the  meaning  of  the  term 
"Illyricum'^  as  used  by  Paul  in  writing  to  the  Romans;  and  if  we 
find  this  impossible,  we  must  be  content  to  leave  this  part  of  the 
apostle's  travels  in  some  degree  of  vagueness,  more  especially  as 
the  preposition  ("unto,"  f^^XP^)  employed  in  the  passage  is  evi- 
dently indeterminate. 

The  political  import  of  the  word  "Illyricum"  will  be  seen  by 
referring  to  what  has  been  written  in  an  earlier  chapter  on  the 
province  of  Macedonia.  It  has  been  there  stated  that  the  former 
province  was  contiguous  to  the  north-western  frontier  of  the 
latter.  It  must  be  observed,  however,  that  a  distinction  was  an- 
ciently drawn  between  Greek  lllyricumy  a  district  on  the  south 
which  was  incorporated  by  the  Eomans  with  Macedonia,  and 
formed  the  coast-line  of  that  province  where  it  touched  the  Adri- 
atic, and  barbarous  or  Roman  Illyricum,  which  extended  towards 
the  head  of  that  gulf,  and  was  under  the  administration  of  a 
separate  governor.  This  is  "  one  of  those  ill-fated  portions  of  the 
earth  which,  though  placed  in  immediate  contact  with  civiliza- 
tion, have  remained  perpetually  barbarian. For  a  time  it  was 
in  close  connection,  politically,  and  afterward  ecclesiastically, 
with  the  capitals  both  of  the  Eastern  and  Western  empires ;  but 
afterward  it  relapsed  almost  into  its  former  rude  condition,  and 
"  to  this  hour  it  is  devoid  of  illustrious  names  and  noble  associa- 
tions." Until  the  time  of  Augustus  the  Romans  were  only  in 
possession  of  a  narrow  portion  along  the  coast,  which  had  been 
torn  during  the  wars  of  the  republic  from  the  piratic  inhabitants. 
But  under  the  first  emperor  a  large  region,  extending  far  inland 
towards  the  valleys  of  the  Save  and  the  Drave,  was  formed  into  a 
province,  and  contained  some  strong  links  of  the  chain  of  military 
posts  which  was  extended  along  the  frontier  of  the  Danube.  At 
first  it  was  placed  under  the  senate,  but  it  was  soon  found  to  re- 
quire the  presence  of  large  masses  of  soldiers :  the  emperor  took 
it  into  his  own  hands,  and  inscriptions  are  still  extant  on  which 
we  can  read  the  records  of  its  occupation  by  the  seventh  and 
eleventh  legions.    Dalmatia,  which  is  also  mentioned  by  Paul 


468  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

(2  Tim.  iv.  10),  was  a  district  in  the  southern  part  of  this  province, 
and  after  the  final  reduction  of  the  Dalmatian  tribes  the  province 
was  more  frequently  called  by  this  name  than  by  that  of  Illyri- 
cum.  The  limits  of  this  political  jurisdiction  (to  speak  in  general 
terms)  may  be  said  to  have  included  Bosnia  and  the  modern  Dal- 
matia,  with  parts  of  Croatia  and  Albania. 

But  the  term  "  Illyricum"  was  by  no  means  always,  or  even 
generally,  used  in  a  strictly  political  sense.  The  extent  of  coun- 
try included  in  the  expression  was  various  at  various  times.  The 
lUyrians  were  loosely  spoken  of  by  the  earlier  Greek  writers  as 
the  tribes  which  wandered  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Adriatic. 
The  Illyricum  which  engaged  the  arms  of  Rome  under  the  re- 
public was  only  a  narrow  strip  of  that  shore  with  the  adjacent 
islands.  But  the  imperial  times  it  came  to  be  used  of  a  vast  and 
vague  extent  of  country  lying  to  the  south  of  the  Danube,  to  the 
east  of  Italy,  and  to  the  west  of  Macedonia.  So  it  is  used  by 
Strabo  in  the  reign  of  Augustus,  and  similarly  by  Tacitus  in  his 
account  of  the  civil  wars  which  preceded  the  fall  of  Jerusalem ; 
and  the  same  phraseology  continues  to  be  applied  to  this  region 
till  the  third  century  of  the  Christian  era.  We  need  not  enter 
into  the  geographical  changes  which  depended  on  the  new  divis- 
ion of  the  empire  under  Constantine,  or  into  the  fresh  significance 
which  in  a  later  age  was  given  to  the  ancient  names  when  the 
rivalry  of  ecclesiastical  jurisdictions  led  to  the  schism  of  Eastern 
and  Western  Christendom.  We  have  said  enough  to  show  that 
it  is  not  possible  to  assume  that  the  Illyricum  of  Paul  was  a  def- 
inite district  ruled  as  a  province  by  a  governor  from  Eome. 

It  seems  by  far  the  most  probable  that  the  terms  "  Illyricum" 
and  "Dalmatia'^  are  both  used  by  Paul  in  a  vague  and  general 
sense,  as  we  have  before  had  occasion  to  remark  in  reference  to 
Asia  Minor,  where  many  geographical  expressions,  such  as  "My- 
sia,"  "Galatia,'*  and  ^^Phrygia,"  were  variously  used,  popularly 
or  politically.  It  is  indeed  quite  possible  that  Paul,  not  deeming 
it  right  as  yet  to  visit  Corinth,  may  have  pushed  on  by  the  Via 
Egnatia,  from  Philippi  and  Thessalonica  across  the  central  moun- 
tains which  turn  the  streams  eastward  and  westward,  to  Dyrrha- 
chium,  the  landing-place  of  those  who  had  come  by  the  Appian 
Way  from  Rome  to  Brundusium.  Then,  though  still  in  the  prov- 
ince of  Macedonia,  he  would  be  in  the  district  called  Greek  Illyri- 
cum, and  he  would  be  on  a  line  of  easy  communication  with 


Paul's  journey  southward. 


469 


Nicopolis  on  the  south,  where,  on  a  later  occasion,  he  proposed  to 
winter  (Tit.  iii.  12),  and  he  could  easily  penetrate  northward  into 
Eoman  or  barbarous  Illyricum,  w^here  was  that  district  of  Dal- 
matia  which  was  afterward  visited  by  his  companion  Titus,  whom  in 
the  present  instance  he  had  despatched  to  Corinth.  But  we  must 
admit  that  the  expression  in  the  Komans  might  have  been  legiti- 
mately used  if  he  never  passed  beyond  the  limits  of  Macedonia, 
and  if  his  apostolic  labors  w^ere  entirely  to  the  eastward  or  the 
mountains,  in  the  country  watered  by  the  Strymon  and  the  Axius. 

Whether  he  travelled  widely  and  rapidly  in  the  regions  to  the 
north  of  Greece,  or  confined  his  exertions  to  the  neighborhood 
of  those  churches  which  he  had  previously  founded,  the  time  soon 
came  when  he  determined  to  revisit  that  Church  which  had  caused 
him  so  much  aflSiction  not  unmixed  with  joy.  During  the  course 
of  his  stay  at  Ephesus,  and  in  all  parts  of  his  subsequent  journey 
in  Troas  and  Macedonia,  his  heart  had  been  continually  at  Corinth. 
He  had  been  in  frequent  communication  with  his  inconsistent  and 
rebellious  converts.  Three  letters  had  been  written  to  entreat  or 
to  threaten  them.  Besides  his  own  personal  visit  when  the  troubles 
were  beginning,  he  had  sent  several  messengers  who  were  autnor- 
ized  to  speak  in  his  name.  Moreover,  there  w^as  now  a  special 
subject  in  which  his  interest  and  affections  were  engaged — the  con- 
tribution for  the  poor  in  Judasa,  which  he  wished  to  "seal*"  to 
those  for  whom  it  was  destined  (Rom.  xv.  28)  before  undertaking 
his  journey  to  the  West. 

Of  the  time  and  the  route  of  this  southward  journey  we  can  only 
say  that  the  most  probable  calculation  leads  us  to  suppose  that  he 
was  travelling  with  his  companions  towards  Corinth  at  the  ap- 
proach of  winter;  and  this  makes  it  likely  that  he  went  by  land 
rather  than  by  sea.  A  good  road  to  the  south  had  long  been 
formed  from  the  neighborhood  of  Bero^a,  connecting  the  chief 
towns  of  Macedonia  with  those  of  Achaia.  Opportunities  would 
not  be  wanting  for  preaching  the  gospel  at  every  stage  in  his  prog- 
ress, and  perhaps  we  may  infer  from  his  own  expression  in  writ- 
ing to  the  Romans  (xv.  23),  "  I  have  no  more  place  in  those  parts," 
either  that  churches  were  formed  in  every  chief  city  between  Thes- 
salonica  and  Corinth,  or  that  the  glad  tidings  had  been  unsuccess- 
fully proclaimed  in  Thessaly  and  Boeotia,  as  on  the  former  journey 
they  had  found  but  little  credence  among  the  philosophers  and 
triflers  of  Athens. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


PAIX'S  FEELINGS  ON  APPPwOACHING  CORINTH. — CONTRAST  WITH 
HIS  FIRST  VISIT. — BAD  NEWS  FROM  GALATIA. — HE  WRITES 
"the  epistle  to  the  GALATIANS." 

It  was  probably  already  winter  when  Paul  once  more  beheld  in 
the  distance  the  lofty  citadel  of  Corinth  towering  above  the  isth- 
mus which  it  commands.  The  gloomy  season  must  have  harmo- 
nized with  his  feelings  as  he  approached.  The  clouds  which  hung 
round  the  summit  of  the  Acrocorinthus,  and  cast  their  shadow 
upon  the  city  below,  typified  the  mists  of  vice  and  error  which 
darkened  the  minds  even  of  its  Christian  citizens.  Their  father 
in  the  faith  knew  that,  for  some  of  them  at  least,  he  had  labored 
in  vain.  He  was  returning  to  converts  who  had  cast  off  the  mo- 
rality of  the  gospel,  to  friends  who  had  forgotten  his  love,  to  ene- 
mies w^ho  disputed  his  divine  commission.  It  is  true,  the  majority 
of  the  Corinthian  Church  had  repented  of  their  worst  sins  and 
submitted  to  his  apostolic  commands.  Yet  what  was  forgiven 
couid  not  entirely  be  forgotten :  even  towards  the  penitent  he  could 
not  feel  all  the  confidence  of  earlier  affection ;  and  there  was  still 
left  an  obstinate  minority  who  would  not  give  up  their  habits  of 
impurity,  and  who,  when  he  spoke  to  them  of  righteousness  and 
judgment  to  come,  replied  either  by  openly  defending  their  sins 
or  by  denying  his  authority  and  impugning  his  orthodoxy. 

He  now  came  prepared  to  put  down  this  opposition  by  the  most 
decisive  measures,  resolved  to  cast  out  of  the  Church  these  an- 
tagonists of  truth  and  goodness  by  the  plenitude  of  his  apostolic 
power.  Thus  he  warned  them  a  few  months  before  (as  he  had 
threatened  when  present  on  an  earlier  occasion),  "  When  I  come 
again  I  will  not  spare"  (2  Cor.  xiii.  2).  He  declared  his  determi- 
nation to  punish  the  disobedient  (2  Cor.  x.  6).  He  "  boasted"  of 
the  authority  which  Christ  had  given  him  (2  Cor.  x.  8).  He  be- 
sought them  not  to  compel  him  to  use  the  weapons  entrusted  to 
him  (2  Cor.  x.  2) — weapons  not  of  fleshly  weakness,  but  endowed 
470 


CONTRAST  WITH  SAUL's  FIRST  JOURNEY. 


471 


with  the  might  of  God  (2  Cor.  x.  4).  He  pledged  himself  to  ex- 
ecute by  his  deeds  when  present  all  he  had  threatened  by  his 
words  when  absent  (2  Cor.  x.  11). 

As  we  think  of  him,  with  these  purposes  of  severity  in  his  mind, 
approaching  the  walls  of  Corinth,  we  are  irresistibly  reminded  of 
the  eventful  close  of  a  former  journey,  when  Saul,  "  breathing  out 
threatenings  and  slaughter  against  the  disciples  of  the  Lord,"  drew 
nigh  to  Damascus.  How  strongly  does  this  accidental  resemblance 
bring  out  the  essential  contrast  between  the  weapons  and  the  spirit 
of  Saul  and  Paul !  Then  he  wielded  the  sw^ord  of  the  secular 
power;  he  travelled  as  the  proud  representative  of  the  Sanhedrin, 
the  minister  of  human  cruelty  and  injustice ;  he  was  the  Jewish 
inquisitor,  the  exterminator  of  heretics,  seeking  for  victims  to  im- 
prison or  to  stone.  Now  he  is  meek  and  lowly,  travelling  in  the 
humblest  guise  of  poverty,  with  no  outward  marks  of  pre-eminence 
or  power ;  he  has  no  jailers  at  his  command  to  bind  his  captives, 
no  executioners  to  carry  out  his  sentence.  All  he  can  do  is  to 
exclude  those  who  disobey  him  from  a  society  of  poor  and  igno- 
rant outcasts,  who  are  the  objects  of  contempt  to  all  the  mighty 
and  wise  and  noble  among  their  countrymen.  His  adversaries 
despise  his  apparent  insignificance ;  they  know  that  he  has  no 
outward  means  of  enforcing  his  will ;  they  see  that  his  bodily 
presence  is  weak;  they  think  his  speech  contemptible.  Yet  he 
is  not  so  powerless  as  he  seems.  Though  now  he  wields  no  carnal 
weapons,  his  arms  are  not  weaker,  but  stronger,  than  they  were 
of  old.  He  cannot  bind  the  bodies  of  men,  but  he  can  bind  their 
souls.  Truth  and  love  are  on  his  side;  the  Spirit  of  God  bears 
witness  with  the  spirits  of  men  on  his  behalf.  His  weapons  are 
"  mighty  to  overthrow  the  strongholds  of  the  adversaries;"  "there- 
by" he  could  "overthrow  the  reasonings  of  the  disputer,  and  pull 
down  the  lofty  bulwarks  which  raise  themselves  against  the  know- 
ledge of  God,  and  bring  every  rebellious  thought  into  captivity 
and  subjection  to  Christ." 

Nor  is  there  less  difference  in  the  spirit  of  his  warfare  than  in 
the  character  of  his  weapons.  Then  he  "  breathed  out  threatenings 
and  slaughter;"  he  "made  havoc  of  the  Church;"  he  "haled 
men  and  women  into  prison  ;"  he  "compelled  them  to  blaspheme." 
When  their  sentence  was  doubtful  he  gave  his  vote  for  their  de- 
struction; he  was  "exceedingly  mad  against  them."  Then  his 
heart  was  filled  with  pride  and  hate,  uncharitableness  and  self- 


472  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OP  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


will.  But  now  his  proud  and  passionate  nature  is  transformed  by 
the  Spirit  of  God;  he  is  crucified  with  Christ;  the  fervid  im- 
petuosity of  his  character  is  tempered  by  meekness  and  gentleness ; 
his  very  denunciations  and  threats  of  punishment  are  full  of  love; 
he  grieves  over  his  contumacious  opponents  ;  the  thought  of  their 
pain  fills  him  with  sadness:  ^'For  if  I  cause  you  grief,  who  is  there 
to  cause  me  joy?  He  implores  them,  even  at  the  eleventh  hour, 
to  save  him  from  the  necessity  of  dealing  harshly  with  them;  ho 
had  rather  leave  his  authority  doubtful,  and  still  remain  liable  to 
the  sneers  of  his  adversaries,  than  establish  it  by  their  punishment 
(2  Car.  xiii.  7-9).  He  will  condescend  to  the  weakest  prejudices, 
rather  than  cast  a  stumbling-block  in  a  brother's  path;  he  is 
ready  to  become  all  things  to  all  men,  that  he  may  by  all  means 
save  some. 

Yet  all  that  was  good  and  noble  in  the  character  of  Saul  remains 
in  Paul,  purified  from  its  old  alloy.  The  same  zeal  for  God  burns 
in  his  heart,  though  it  is  no  longer  misguided  by  ignorance  nor 
warped  by  party  spirit.  The  same  firm  resolve  is  seen  in  carrying 
out  his  principles  to  their  consequences,  though  he  shows  it  not  in 
persecuting,  but  in  suflfering.  The  same  restless  energy  which 
carried  him  from  Jerusalem  to  Damascus,  that  he  might  extirpate 
heresy,  now  urges  him  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other, 
that  he  may  bear  the  tidings  of  salvation. 

The  painful  anticipations  which  now  saddened  his  return  to 
Corinth  were  not,  however,  altogether  unrelieved  by  happier 
thoughts.  As  he  approached  the  well-known  gates  in  the  midst 
of  that  band  of  faithful  friends  who,  as  we  have  seen,  accompanied 
him  from  Macedonia,  his  memory  could  not  but  revert  to  the  time 
when  first  he  entered  the  same  city,  a  friendless  and  lonely  stranger. 
He  could  not  but  recall  the  feelings  of  extreme  depression  with 
which  he  first  began  his  missionary  work  at  Corinth  after  his  un- 
successful visit  to  Athens.  The  very  firmness  and  bold  confidence 
which  now  animated  him,  the  assurance  which  he  felt  of  victory 
over  the  opponents  of  truth,  must  have  reminded  him  by  contrast 
of  the  anxiety  and  self-distrust  which  weighed  him  down  at  his 
first  intercourse  with  the  Corinthians,  and  which  needed  a  miracu- 
lous vision  for  its  removal.  How  could  he  allow  discouragement 
to  overcome  his  spirit  when  he  remembered  the  fruits  borne  by 
labors  which  had  begun  in  so  much  sadness  and  timidity?  It  was 
Burely  something  that  hundreds  of  believers  now  called  on  the 


BAD  NEWS  FROM  GA  ^ATIA. 


473 


name  of  the  Lord  Jesus  who  when  he  first  came  among  them  had 
worshipped  nothing  but  the  deification  of  their  ow^n  lusts.  Pain- 
ful no  doubt  it  w'as  to  find  that  their  conversion  had  been  so 
incomplete — that  the  pollutions  of  heathenism  still  defiled  those 
who  had  once  washed  aw^ay  the  stains  of  sin  ;  yet  the  majority  of 
the  Church  had  repented  of  their  offences;  the  number  who 
obstinately  persisted  in  sin  was  but  small ;  and  if  many  of  the 
adult  converts  were  so  tied  and  bound  by  the  chains  of  habit  that 
their  complete  deliverance  could  scarce  be  hoped  for,  yet  at  least 
their  children  might  be  brought  up  in  the  nurture  and  admonition 
of  the  Lord.  Moreover,  there  were  some  even  in  this  erring 
Church  on  whom  Paul  could  think  with  unmingled  satisfaction — • 
some  who  walked  in  the  Spirit  and  did  not  fulfil  the  lust  of  the 
flesh;  who  w^ere  created  anew  in  Christ  Jesus;  with  Avhom  old 
things  had  passed  away  and  all  things  had  become  new;  who 
dwelt  in  Christ,  and  Christ  in  them.  Such  were  Erastus  the 
treasurer  and  Stephanas,  the  first-fruits  of  Achaia;  such  were 
Fortunatus  and  Achaicus,  who  had  lately  travelled  to  Ephesus  on 
the  errand  of  their  brethren ;  such  was  Gaius,  who  was  even  now 
preparing  to  w^elcome  beneath  his  hospitable  roof  the  apostle  who 
had  thrown  open  to  himself  the  door  of  entrance  into  the  Church 
of  Christ.  When  Paul  thought  of  "them  that  were  such,"  and 
of  the  many  others  "  who  worked  with  them  aiid  labored,"  as  he 
threaded  the  crowded  streets  on  his  way  to  the  house  of  Gaius, 
doubtless  he  "  thanked  God  and  took  courage." 

But  a  painful  surprise  awaited  him  on  his  arrival.  He  found 
that  intelligence  had  reached  Corinth  from  Ephesus,  by  the  direct 
route,  of  a  more  recent  date  than  any  which  he  had  lately  received ; 
and  the  tidings  brought  by  this  channel  concerning  the  state  of  the 
Galatian  churches  excited  both  his  astonishment  and  his  indigna- 
tion. His  converts  there,  whom  he  seems  to  have  regarded  with 
peculiar  affection,  and  w^hose  love  and  zeal  for  himself  had  for- 
merly been  so  conspicuous,  were  rapidly  forsaking  his  teaching  and 
falling  an  easy  prey  to  the  arts  of  Judaizing  missionaries  from 
Palestine.  We  have  seen  the  vigor  and  success  with  which  the 
Judaizing  party  at  Jerusalem  were  at  this  period  pursuing  their 
new  tactics,  by  carrying  the  war  into  the  territory  of  their  great 
opponent  and  endeavoring  to  counterwork  him  in  the  very  centre 
of  his  influence,  in  the  bosom  of  those  Gentile  churches  which  he 
bad  so  lately  founded.    We  know  how  great  w^as  the  difficulty  with 


474         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

which  he  had  defeated  (if  indeed  they  were  yet  defeated)  the 
agents  of  this  restless  party  at  Corinth ;  and  now,  on  his  reaching 
that  city  to  crush  the  last  remains  of  their  opposition,  he  heard 
that  they  had  been  working  the  same  mischief  in  Galatia,  where 
he  had  least  expected  it.  There,  as  in  most  of  the  early  Christian 
communities,  a  portion  of  the  Church  had  been  Jews  by  birth,  and 
this  body  would  afford  a  natural  fulcrum  for  the  efforts  of  the  Juda- 
izing  teachers;  yet  we  cannot  suppose  that  the  number  of  Jews 
resident  in  this  inland  agricultural  district  could  have  been  very 
large.  And  Paul  in  addressing  the  Galatians,  although  he  assumes 
that  there  were  some  among  them  familiar  with  the  Mosaic  Law, 
yet  evidently  implies  that  the  majority  were  converts  from  heathen- 
ism. It  is  remarkable,  therefore,  that  the  Judaizing  emissaries 
should  so  soon  have  gained  so  great  a  hold  over  a  Church  consist- 
ing mainly  of  Gentile  Christians;  and  the  fact  that  they  did  so 
proves  not  only  their  indefatigable  activity,  but  also  their  skill  in 
the  arts  of  conciliation  and  persuasion.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  that  they  were  by  no  means  scrupulous  as  to  the  means 
w^hich  they  employed  to  effect  their  objects.  At  any  cost  of  false- 
hood and  detraction  they  resolved  to  loosen  the  hold  of  Paul  upon 
the  affection  and  respect  of  his  converts.  Thus  to  the  Galatians 
they  accused  him  of  a  want  of  uprightness  in  observing  the  Law 
himself  whilst  among  the  Jews,  yet  persuading  the  Gentiles  to 
renounce  it ;  they  argued  that  his  motive  was  to  keep  his  converts 
in  a  subordinate  state,  excluded  from  the  privileges  of  a  full  cove- 
nant with  God,  which  was  enjoyed  by  the  circumcised  alone;  they 
declared  that  he  was  an  interested  flatterer,  becomitig  all  things 
to  all  men  "  that  he  might  make  a  party  for  himself;  and,  above 
all,  they  insisted  that  he  falsely  represented  himself  as  an  apostle 
of  Christ,  for  that  he  had  not,  like  the  Twelve,  been  a  follower  of 
Jesus  when  he  was  on  earth,  and  had  not  received  his  commission; 
that,  on  the  contrary,  he  was  only  a  teacher  sent  out  by  the  author- 
ity of  the  Twelve  whose  teaching  was  only  to  be  received  so  far  as 
it  agreed  with  theirs  and  was  sanctioned  by  them ;  whereas  his 
doctrine  (they  alleged)  w^as  now  in  opposition  to  that  of  Peter  and 
James  and  the  other  "pillars'*  of  the  Church.  By  such  represent- 
ations they  succeeded  to  a  great  extent  in  alienating  the  Galatian 
Christians  from  their  father  in  the  faith;  already  many  of  the 
recent  converts  submitted  to  circumcision,  and  embraced  the  party 
of  their  new  teachers  with  the  same  zeal  which  they  had  formerly 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  GALATIANS. 


475 


shown  for  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles ;  and  the  rest  of  the  Church 
vras  thrown  into  a  state  of  agitation  and  division. 

On  receiving  the  first  intelligence  of  these  occurrences,  Paul 
hastened  to  check  the  evil  before  it  should  have  become  irremedi- 
able. He  wrote  to  the  Galatians  an  Epistle  which  begins  with  an 
abruptness  and  severity  showing  his  sense  of  the  urgency  of  the 
occasion  and  the  greatness  of  the  danger;  it  is  also  frequently 
characterized  by  a  tone  of  sadness,  such  as  would  naturally  be 
felt  by  a  man  of  such  warm  affections  when  he  heard  that  those 
whom  he  loved  were  forsaking  his  cause  and  believing  the  calum- 
nies of  his  enemies.  In  this  letter  his  principal  object  is  to  show 
that  the  doctrine  of  the  Judaizers  did  in  fact  destroy  the  very 
essence  of  Christianity,  and  reduced  it  from  an  inward  and  spir- 
itual life  to  an  outward  and  ceremonial  system ;  but  in  order  to 
remove  the  seeds  of  alienation  and  distrust  which  had  been  de- 
signedly planted  in  the  minds  of  his  converts,  he  begins  by  fully 
contradicting  the  falsehoods  which  had  been  propagated  against 
himself  by  his  opponents,  and  especially  by  vindicating  his  title 
to  the  apostolic  office  as  received  directly  from  Christ  and  exer- 
cised independently  of  the  other  apostles.  Such  were  the  circum- 
stances and  such  the  objects  which  led  him  to  write  the  following 
Epistle : 

EPISTLE  TO  THE  GALATIANS. 
I. 

1  Paitl,  an  apostle,  sent  not  from  men  nor  by  man,  but  P^Je^ce  of  his 

'  ^  '  ./  7  independent 

by  Jesus  Christ,  and  God  the  Father,  who  raised  him  apostolic  autho- 

_    -  111        .  1     n    1      1       1  1  .  rity  a£?ainst  Ju- 

2  from  the  dead ;  with  all  the  brethren  who  are  in  my  daizing  teach- 

^,  ei  s,  and  histori- 

company.    To  the  cnurvCHES  of  Galatia.  cai  proofs  that 

3  Grace  be  to  you  and  peace  from  God  our  Father,  and  Avas  not  derived 

4  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  who  gave  himself  for  our  sins,  I|?o?tie3.^ 
that  he  might  deliver  us  from  this  present  evil  world,  according  to 

5  the  will  of  our  God  and  Father ;  to  whom  be  glory,  even  unto  the 
ages  of  ages.  Amen. 

6  I  marvel  that  you  are  so  soon  shifting  your  ground,  and  forsaking 
Him  who  called  you  in  the  grace  of  Christ,  for  a  new  glad  tidings ; 

7  which  is  nothing  else  but  the  device  of  certain  men  who  are  troubling 

8  you,  and  who  desire  to  pervert  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ.  But  even 
though  I  myself,  or  an  angel  from  heaven,  should  declare  to  you  any 
other  glad  tidings  than  that  which  I  declared,  let  him  be  accursed. 

9  As  I  have  said  before,  so  now  I  say  again,  if  any  man  is  come  to 


476         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


you  with  a  glad  tidings  different  from  that  which  you  received  before, 

10  let  him  be  accursed.  Think  ye  that  man's  assent,  or  God's,  is  now 
my  object?  or  is  it  that  I  seek  favor  with  men?  Nay,  if  I  still 
sought  favor  with  men,  I  should  not  be  the  bondsman  of  Christ. 

11  For  I  certify  you,  brethren,  that  the  glad  tidings  which  I  brought 

12  you  is  not  of  man's  devising.  For  I  myself  received  it  not  from 
man,  nor  was  it  taught  me  by  man's  teaching,  but  by  the  revelation 

1 3  of  Jesus  Christ.  For  you  have  heard  of  my  former  behavior  in  the 
days  of  my  Judaism,  how  I  persecuted  beyond  measure  the  Church 

34  of  God,  and  strove  to  root  it  out,  and  outran  in  Judaism  many  of  my 
own  age  and  nation,  being  more  exceedingly  zealous  for  the  traditions 

15  of  my  fathers.  But  when  it  pleased  Him  who  set  me  apart  from  my 
mother's  womb,  and  called  me  by  his  grace,  to  reveal  his  Son  in  me, 

16  that  I  might  proclaim  his  glad  tidings  among  the  Ge^itiles,  I  did  not 

17  immediately  take  counsel  with  flesh  and  blood,  nor  yet  did  I  go  up 
to  Jerusalem  to  those  who  were  apostles  before  me,  but  I  departed 

18  into  Arabia,  and  from  thence  returned  to  Damascus.  Afterward, 
when  three  years  had  passed,  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem,  that  I  might 

19  know  Cephas,  and  with  him  I  remained  fifteen  days ;  but  other  of 
the  apostles  saw  I  none,  save  only  James,  the  brother  of  the  Lord. 

20  (Now  in  this  which  I  write  to  you,  behold  I  testify  before  God  that 

21  I  lie  not.)    After  this  I  came  into  the  regions  of  Syria  and  Cilicia ; 

22  but  I  was  still  unknown  by  face  to  the  churches  of  Christ  in  Judaea ; 

23  tidings  only  were  brought  them  from  time  to  time,  saying  "  He  who 
was  once  our  persecutor  now  bears  the  glad  tidings  of  that  faith 

24  which  formerly  he  labored  to  root  out."  And  they  glorified  God 
in  me. 

II. 

1  Then  fourteen  years  after,  I  went  up  again  to  Jeru-  The  council  of 

2  salem  with  Barnabas,  and  took  Titus  with  me  also.  At  ♦^^'^"s^^^™- 
that  time  I  went  up  in  obedience  to  a  revelation  which  I  had 
received,  and  I  communicated  to  the  brethren  in  Jerusalem  the  glad 
tidings  which  I  proclaim  among  the  Gentiles;  but  to  the  chief 
brethren  I  communicated  it  privately,  lest  perchance  my  labors, 

3  either  past  or  present,  might  be  rendered  fruitless.  Yet  not  even 
Titus,  my  own  companion  (being  a  Greek),  was  compelled  to  be  cir- 

4  cumcised.  But  this  communication  [with  the  apostles  in  Judsea]  I 
undertook  on  account  of  the  false  brethren  who  gained  entrance  by 
fraud,  for  tliey  crept  in  among  us  to  spy  out  our  freedom  (which  we 
possess  in  Christ  Jesus),  that  they  might  enslave  us  under  their  own 

5  yoke.  To  whom  I  yielded  no  submission,  no,  not  for  an  hour ;  that 
you  might  continue  to  enjoy  the  reality  of  Christ's  glad  tidings. 


EPlSTtE  TO  THE  GALATIANS. 


477 


6  But  from  those  who  were  held  in  chief  reputation — it  matters  not 
to  me  of  what  account  they  were :  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons — 
those  (I  say)  who  were  the  chief  in  reputation  gave  me  no  new  in- 

7  struction ;  but,  on  the  contrary,  when  they  saw  that  I  had  been 
charged  to  preach  the  gh^d  tidings  to  the  uncircumcised  by  the  same 

8  authority  as  Peter  to  the  circumcised  (for  He  who  wrought  in  Peter 
a  fitness  for  the  apostleship  of  the  circumcision,  wrought  also  in  me 

9  the  gifts  needful  for  an  apostle  of  the  Gentiles),  and  when  they  had 
learned  the  grace  which  God  had  given  me, — James,  Cephas,  and 
John,  who  were  accounted  chief  pillars,  gave  to  me  and  Barnabas 
the  right  hand  of  fellowship,  purposing  that  we  should  go  to  the 

10  Gentiles,  and  they  to  the  Jews ;  provided  only,  that  we  should  re- 
member the  poor  [brethren  in  Judaea],  which  I  have  accordingly 
endeavored  to  do  with  diligence. 

11  Bat  when  Cephas  came  to  Antioch,  I  withstood  him    Peter  at  An- 

12  openly,  because  he  had  incurred  reproach ;  for  before 

the  coming  of  certain  [brethren]  from  James,  he  was  in  the  habit  of 
eating  with  the  Gentiles;  but  when  they  came,  he  drew  back,  and 
separated  himself  from  the  Gentiles,  for  fear  of  the  Jewish  brethren. 

13  And  he  was  joined  in  his  dissimulation  by  the  rest  of  the  Jews  [in 
the  Church  of  Antioch],  so  that  even  Barnabas  was  drawn  away  with 

14  them  to  dissemble  in  like  manner.  But  when  I  saw  that  they  were 
walking  in  a  crooked  path,  and  forsaking  the  truth  of  the  glad  tid- 
ings, I  said  to  Cephas  before  them  all,  "  If  thou,  being  Jewish  be- 
born  a  Jew,  art  wont  to  live  according  to  the  custom  lievets  had  le- 

\  ^  nounced  the 

of  the  Gentiles,  and  not  of  the  Jews,  why  wouldest  lighteoueness 

.  1  1  T  Law. 

thou  constrain  the  Gentiles  to  keep  the  ordinances  of 

15  the  Jews  ?    We  are  Jews  by  birth,  and  not  unhallowed  Gentiles ; 

16  yet,  knowing  that  a  man  is  not  justified  by  the  works  of  tlie  Law, 
but  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  we  ourselves  also  have  put  our  faith  in 
Christ  Jesus,  that  we  might  be  justified  by  the  faith  of  Christ,  and 
not  by  the  works  of  the  Law ;  for  by  the  works  of  the  Law  "  shall  no 
flesh  he  justified. 

17  But  what  if,  while  seeking  to  be  justified  in  Christ,  we  have  indeed 
reduced  ourselves  to  the  sinful  state  of  unhallowed  Gentiles  ?  Must 
we  then  hold  Christ  for  the  minister  of  sin  ?    That  be  far  from  us  ! 

18  For  if  I  again  build  up  that  [structure  of  the  Law]  which  I  have 

19  overthrown,  then  I  represent  myself  as  a  transgressor.  Whereas  I, 
through  the  operation  of  the  Law,  became  dead  to  the  Law,  that  I 

20  might  live  to  God.  I  am  crucified  with  Christ,  and  live  no  more 
myself,  but  Christ  is  living  in  me ;  and  my  outward  life  which  still 
remains,  I  live  in  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God,  who  loved  me  and 


478 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


21  gave  himself  for  me.  I  will  not  set  at  naught  the  gift  of  God's  grace 
[by  seeking  righteousness  in  the  Law]  ;  for  if  the  Law  can  make  men 
righteous,  then  Christ  has  died  in  vain. 

IIL 

1  O  foolish  Galatians,  who  has  bewitched  you  ?  You,  Appeal  to  the 
before  whose  eyes  was  held  up  the  picture  of  Jesus  til  Galatians. 

2  Christ  upon  the  cross.  One  question  I  would  ask  you.  When  you 
received  the  Spirit,  was  it  from  the  works  of  the  Law  or  the  teach- 

3  ing  of  faith  ?    Are  you  so  senseless  ?    Having  begun  in  the  Spirit, 

4  would  you  now  end  in  the  flesh  ?    Have  you  received  so  many  ben- 

5  efits  in  vain — if  indeed  it  has  been  in  vain  ?  I  say,  How  came  the 
gifts  of  Him  who  furnishes  you  with  the  fulness  of  the  Spirit,  and 
works  in  you  the  power  of  miracles  ?  Came  they  from  the  deeds  of 
the  Law,  or  from  the  teaching  of  faith  ? 

6  So  likewise  ^'Abraham  had  faith  in  God,  and  it  was  Faith,  and  not 

7  reckoned  unto  him  for  righteousness.^^  Know,  therefore,  source  of  right- 
that  they  only  are  the  sons  of  Abraham  who  are  chil-  eousuess. 

8  dren  of  faith.  And  the  Scripture,  foreseeing  that  God  through  faith 
justifies  [not  the  Jews  only,  but]  the  Gentiles,  declared  beforehand 
to  Abraham  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ,  saying,    All  the  nations  of  the 

9  Gentiles  shall  be  blessed  in  thee^  So,  then,  they  who  are  children  of 
faith  [whether  they  be  Jews  or  Gentiles]  are  blessed  with  faithful 
Abraham. 

10  For  all  they  who  rest  upon  the  works  of  the  Law,  lie  under  a 
curse  ;  for  it  is  written,  "  Cursed  is  every  one  that  continueth  not  in  all 

11  things  which  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  Law  to  do  them.^'  And  it  is 
manifest  that  no  man  is  counted  righteous  in  God's  judgment  under 

12  the  conditions  of  the  Law;  for  it  is  written,  By  faitn  shall  the  right- 
eous liveJ^    But  the  Law  rests  not  on  faith,  but  declares,  "  The  man 

13  which  doeth  these  things,  shall  live  thei^ein"  Christ  has  redeemed  us 
from  the  curse  of  the  Law,  for  he  became  accursed  for  our  sakes  (as 

14  it  is  written,  "  Cursed  is  every  one  that  hangeth  on  a  tree''),  to  the  end  that 
in  Christ  Jesus  the  blessing  of  Abraham  might  come  unto  the  Gen- 
tiles ;  that  through  faith  we  might  receive  the  promise  of  the  Spirit. 

15  Brethren — (I  speak  by  comparison,) — nevertheless.  The  i.aw  could 
a  man's  covenant,  when  ratified,  cannot  by  its  giver  prior  promise  to 

16  be  annulled,  or  set  aside  by  a  latter  addition.  Now 

God's  promises  were  made  to  Abraham  and  to  his  seed  ;  the  scrip- 
ture says  not    and  to  thy  seeds,''  as  if  it  spoke  of  many,  but  as  of  one, 

17  "  and  to  thy  seed ;"  and  this  seed  is  Christ.  But  this  I  say  ;  a  cove- 
nant which  had  been  ratified  before  by  God,  to  be  fulfilled  in  Christ, 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  GALATIANS. 


the  Law,  T\'hich  was  given  four  hundred  and  thirty  years  afterward, 

18  cannot  make  void,  to  the  annulling  of  the  promise.  For  if  the  in 
heritance  comes  from  the  Law,  it  comes  no  longer  from  promise, 
whereas  God  lias  given  it  to  Abraham  freely  by  promise. 

19  To  what  end,  then,  was  the  Law  ?  it  was  added  because  of  tha 
transgressions  of  men,  till  the  Seed  should  come,  to  whom  belonged 
the  promise ;  and  it  was  ordained  through  the  ministration  of  angels 
by  the  hands  of  [Moses,  who  was]  a  mediator  [between  God  and  the 

20  people].  Now  where  a  mediator  is,  there  must  be  two  parties.  But 
God  is  one  [and  there  is  no  second  party  to  his  promise]. 

21  Do  I  say  then  that  the  Law  contradicts  the  promises  Relation  of  Ju- 
of  God  ?  that  be  far  from  me !    For  if  a  Law  were  tianUy.° 
given  which  could  raise  men  from  death  to  life,  then  we  might  truly 

22  say  that  righteousness  came  from  the  Law.  But  the  Scripture  (on 
the  other  hand)  has  shut  up  the  whole  world  together  under  the 
condemnation  of  sin,  that  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  the  promise 
might  be  given  to  the  faithful. 

23  But  before  faith  came,  we  were  shut  up  in  prison,  in  ward  under 
the  Law,  in  preparation  for  the  faith  which  should  afterward  be 

24  revealed.  Thus,  even  as  the  slave  who  leads  a  child  to  the  house  of 
the  schoolmaster,  so  the  Law  led  us  to  our  teacher  Christ,  that  by 

25  faith  we  might  be  justified  ;  but  now  that  faith  is  come,  we  are  under 

26  the  slave's  care  no  longer.    For  you  are  all  the  sons  of  God,  by  your 

27  faith  in  Jesus  Christ ;  yea,  whosoever  among  you  have  been  baptized 

28  unto  Christ,  have  put  on  Christ.  In  him  there  is  neither  Jew  nor 
Gentile,  neither  slave  nor  freeman,  neither  male  nor  female ;  for  you 

29  are  all  one  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  if  you  are  Christ's,  then  you  are 
Abraham's  seed,  and  heirs  of  his  blessing  by  promise. 

IV. 

1  Now  I  say,  that  the  heir,  so  long  as  he  is  a  child,  has  no  more 
freedom  than  a  slave,  though  he  is  owner  of  the  whole  inheritance ; 

2  but  he  is  under  overseers  and  stewards  until  the  time  appointed  by 

3  his  father.  And  so  we  also  [who  are  Israelites]  when  we  were 
children,  were  treated  like  slaves,  and  taught  the  lessons  of  child- 

4  hood  by  outward  ordinances.  But  when  the  appointed  time  was 
fully  come,  God  sent  forth  his  own  Son,  who  was  born  of  a  woman 
[partaker  of  our  flesh  and  blood],  and  born  an  Israelite,  subject 

5  the  Law ;  that  so  he  might  redeem  from  their  slavery  the  subjects  of 
G  the  Law,  and  that  we  might  be  adopted  as  the  sons  of  God.  And 

because  you  are  the  sons  of  God,  he  has  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  his 
own  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying  unto  him,  and  saying  "  Our  Faiher** 


480         LITE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


7  Wherefore  thou  [who  canst  so  pray]  art  no  more  a  slave,  but  a  son ; 
and  if  a  son,  then  an  heir  of  God  through  Christ. 

8  But  you  [who  were  Gentiles]  when  you  knew  not  Appeal  to  the 
God,  were  in  bondage  to  gods  that  have  no  real  being,  vem'^^not^^to 

9  But  now,  when  you  have  gained  the  knowledge  of  outwrid*^  and 
God, — or  rather,  when  God  has  acknowledged  you, —  ^oi^^ai  worship, 
how  is  it  that  you  are  turning  backward  to  those  childish  lessons, 
void  both  of  strength  and  blessing?    Would  you  seek  again  the 

10  slavery  which  you  have  outgrown?    Are  you  observing  days,  and 

11  months,  and  seasons,  and  years  ?    I  am  fearful  for  you,  lest  I  have 

12  spent  my  labor  on  you  in  vain.  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  to  become 
as  I  am  [and  seek  no  more  a  place  among  the  circumcised]  ;  for  I 
too  have  become  as  you  are  [and  have  cast  away  the  pride  of  my 
circumcision].    You  have  never  wronged  me  hitherto  :  on  the  con- 

13  trary,  although  it  was  sickness  (as  you  know)  which  caused  me  to 

14  preach  the  glad  tidings  to  you  at  my  first  visit,  yet  you  neither 
scorned  nor  loathed  me  because  of  the  bodily  infirmity  which  was 
my  trial ;  but  you  welcomed  me  as  an  angel  of  God,  yea,  even  as 

15  Christ  Jesus.  Why,  then,  did  you  think  yourselves  so  happy  ?  (for 
I  bear  you  witness  that,  if  it  had  been  possible,  you  would  have  torn 

16  out  your  own  eyes,  and  given  them  to  me).  Am  I  then  become  your 

17  enemy  because  I  tell  you  the  truth  ?  They  [who  call  me  so]  show 
zeal  for  you  with  no  good  intent ;  they  would  shut  you  out  from 

18  others,  that  your  zeal  may  be  for  them  alone.  But  it  is  good  to  be 
zealous  in  a  good  cause,  and  that  at  all  times,  and  not  when  zeal  lasts 

19  only  [like  yours]  while  I  am  present  with  you.  My  beloved  chil- 
dren, I  am  again  bearing  the  pangs  of  travail  for  you,  till  Christ  be 

20  fully  formed  within  you.  I  would  that  I  were  present  with  you  now, 
that  I  might  change  my  tone  [from  joy  to  sadness]  ;  for  you  fill  me 
with  perplexity. 

21  Tell  me,  ye  that  desire  to  be  under  the  Law,  will  you  not  hear  the 

22  Law  ?    For  therein  it  is  written  that  Abraham  had  two  „, 

The  allegory 

sons :  one  by  the  bond-woman,  the  other  by  the  free,  of  Hagar  and 

Sarah  teaches 

23  But  the  son  of  the  bond-woman  was  born  to  him  after  the  same  lessou 
the  flesh  ;  whereas  the  son  of  the  free- woman  was  born 

24  by  virtue  of  God's  promise.  Now,  all  this  is  allegorical ;  for  tliese  two 
women  are  the  two  covenants;  the  first  given  from  Mount  Sinai, 

25  whose  children  are  born  into  bondage,  which  is  Hagar  (for  the  word 
Hagar  signifies  Mount  Sinai  in  Arabia) ;  and  herein  she  answers  to 
the  earthly  Jerusalem,  for  she  continues  in  bondage  with  her  chil- 

26  dren.  But  [Sarah  is  the  second  covenant,  which  is  in  Christ,  and 
answers  to  the  heavenly  Jerusalem ;  for]  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  is 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  GALATIANS. 


481 


free,  and  is  the  mother  of  us  all.  And  so  it  is  written  [that  the 
spiritual  seed  of  Abraham  should  be  more  numerous  than  his  natural 

27  seed;  as  says  tlie  prophet],  Rejoice ^  ihou  barren  that  bearest  not; 
break  forth  into  shouting^  thou  that  travailest  not;  for  the  desolate  hath 

28  many  more  children  than  she  which  hath  the  husbandJ*  Now,  we, 
brethren,  like  Isaac,  are  children  born  [not  naturally,  but]  by  virtue 

29  of  God's  promise.    Yet,  as  then  the  spiritual  seed  of  Abraham  was 

30  persecuted  by  his  natural  seed,  so  it  is  also  now.  Nevertheless,  what 
says  the  Scripture  ?  "  Cast  out  the  bond-woman  and  her  son ;  for  the 
son  of  the  bond-woman  shall  not  be  heir  with  the  son  of  the  free-womanJ' 

31  So  then,  brethren,  we  are  not  children  of  the  bond-woman,  but  of  the 
free. 

V. 

1  Stand  fast,  therefore,  in  the  freedom  which  Christ  has  given  us, 
and  turn  not  back  again,  to  entangle  yourselves  in  the  yoke  of  bond- 
age. 

2  Lo,  I,  Paul,  declare  unto  you,  that  if  you  cause  yourselves  to  be 

3  circumcised,  Christ  will  profit  you  nothing.  I  testify  again  to  every 
man  who  submits  to  circumcision,  that  he  thereby  lays  himself  under 

4  obligation  to  fulfil  the  whole  Law.  By  resting  your  righteousness 
on  the  Law,  you  have  annulled  your  fellowship  with  Christ,  you  are 

6  fallen  from  the  free  gift  of  his  grace.  For  we,  through  the  power  of 
the  Spirit  [not  through  the  circumcision  of  the  flesh],  from  faith  [not 

6  works],  look  with  earnest  longing  for  the  hope  of  righteousness.  For 
in  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  avails  anything,  nor  uncircum- 
cision ;  but  faith,  whose  work  is  love. 

7  You  were  running  the  race  well;  who  has  cast  a  _  . 

1  !•       1  1     1     •      '  «      1      ,  ,  Warning  against 

stumblmg-block  in  your  way?  who  has  turned  you  the  ^.Tudaizing 

8  aside  from  your  obedience  to  the  truth  ?  The  counsel  against  party 
which  you  have  obeyed  came  not  from  Him  who  called 

9  you.    [Your  seducers  are  few;  but]  "A  little  leaven  leavens  the 

10  whole  lump."  As  for  me,  I  rely  upon  you,  brethren,  in  the  Lord 
Jesus,  that  you  will  not  be  led  astray;  but  he  that  is  troubling  you, 
whosoever  he  be,  shall  bear  the  blame. 

11  But  if,  myself  also  [as  they  say]  preach  circumcision,  why  am  I 
still  persecuted  ?  for  if  I  preach  circumcision,  then  the  cross,  the 
stone  at  which  they  stumble,  is  done  away. 

12  I  could  v/ish  that  these  agitators  who  disturb  your  quiet,  would 
execute  upon  themselves  not  only  circumcision,  but  excision  also. 

13  For  you,  brethren,  have  been  called  to  freedom;  Exliortation  to 
only  make  not  your  freedom  a  vantage-ground  for  the  lighteTied^pany 
flesh,  but  rather  enslave  yourselves  one  to  another  by  ['heu- freedom.* 

81 


482  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUT.. 


14  the  bondage  of  love.    For  all  the  Law  is  fulfilled  in  this  one  com- 

15  mandment,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself^  But  if,  on  the 
other  hand,  you  bite  and  devour  one  another,  take  heed  lest  you  be 
utterly  destroyed  by  one  another's  means. 

16  This  I  say,  then;  walk  in  the  Spirit,  and  you  shall  Variance  be- 

17  not  fulfil  the  desire  of  the  flesh;  for  the  desire  of  the  spirit^ Tnd^ the 
flesh  fights  against  the  Spirit,  and  the  desire  of  the 

Spirit  fights  against  the  flesh ;  and  this  variance  between  the  flesh 
and  the  Spirit  would  hinder  you  from  doing  that  which  your  will 

18  prefers.    But,  if  you  be  led  by  the  Spirit,  you  are  not  under  the  Law. 

19  Now,  the  works  of  the  flesh  are  manifest,  which  are  such  as  these: 

20  fornication,  impurity,  lasciviousness ;  idolatry,  withcraft ;  enmities, 
strife,  jealousy,  passionate  anger ;  intrigues,  divisions,  sectarian  par- 

21  ties ;  envy,  murder,  drunkenness,  revellings,  and  such  like.  Of  which 
I  forewarn  you  (as  I  have  told  you  also  in  times  past),  that  they  who 

22  do  such  things  shall  not  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God.  But  the  fruit 
of  the  Spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  long-sufiering,  kindness,  goodness, 

23  trustfulness,  gentleness,  self-denial.    Against  such  there  is  no  Law. 

24  But  they  who  are  Christ^s  have  crucified  the  flesh,  warnin<»  to  the 

25  with  its  passions  and  its  lusts.  If  we  live  by  the  Spirit,  ^^^^^j  ^paf^t y 
let  us  take  heed  that  our  steps  are  guided  by  the  Spirit.  u|i  pride^^""* 

26  Let  us  not  thirst  for  empty  honor,  let  us  not  provoke 
one  another  to  strife,  let  us  not  envy  one  another. 

VI. 

1  Brethren — I  speak  to  you  who  call  yourselves  the  Spiritual — even 
if  any  one  be  overtaken  in  a  fault,  do  you  correct  such  a  man 
in  a  spirit  of  meekness ;  and  let  each  of  you  take  heed  to  himself 

2  lest  he  also  be  tempted.    Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens,  and  so  fulfil 

3  the  law  of  Christ.  For,  if  any  man  exalts  himself,  thinking  to  be 
something  when  he  is  nothing,  he  deceives  himself  with  vain  imagi- 

4  nations.  Kather  let  every  man  examine  his  own  work,  and  then  his 
6  boasting  will  concern  himself  alone,  and  not  his  neighbor ;  for  each 

will  bear  the  load  [of  sin]  which  is  his  own  [instead  of  magnifying 
the  loac^ which  is  his  brother's]. 

6  Moreover,  let  him  who  is  receiving  instruction  in  Provision  to  be 
the  word  give  to  his  instructor  a  share  in  all  the  good  Maintenance  of 

7  things  which  he  possesses.    Do  not  deceive  yourselves  (Klr-nxoO^rlT), 

8  — God  cannot  be  defrauded.    Every  man  shall  reap  as 

he  has  sown.  The  man  who  now  sows  for  his  own  flesh,  shall  reap 
therefrom  a  harvest  doomed  to  perish ;  but  he  who  sows  for  the  Spirit, 

9  shall  from  the  Spirit  reap  the  harvest  of  life  eternal.  But  let  us  con- 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  GALATIANS. 


483 


tinue  in  well-doing,  and  not  be  weary ;  for  in  due  season  we  shall  reap, 

10  if  we  faint  not.  Therefore,  as  we  have  opportunity,  let  us  do  good  to 
all  men,  but  especially  to  our  brethren  in  the  household  of  faith. 

11  Observe  the  size  of  the  characters  in  which  I  have  Autograph  con 
written  to  you  with  my  own  hand.  ^  usiou. 

12  I  tell  you  that  they  who  wish  to  have  a  good  repute  in  things  per- 
taining to  the  flesh,  they,  and  they  alone,  are  forcing  circumcision 
upon  you ;  and  that  only  to  save  themselves  from  the  persecution 

13  which  Christ  bore  upon  the  cross.  For  even  they  who  circumcise 
themselves  do  not  keep  the  Law ;  but  they  wish  to  have  you  circum- 
cised, that  your  obedience  to  the  fleshly  ordinance  may  give  them  a 

14  ground  of  boasting.  But  as  for  me,  far  be  it  from  me  to  boast,  save 
only  in  the  cross  of  our  Lord  and  Master  Jesus  Christ ;  whereby  the 

15  world  is  crucified  unto  me,  and  I  unto  the  world.  For  in  Christ 
Jesus  neither  circumcision  avails  anything,  nor  uncircumcision ;  but 

16  a  new  creation.  And  whosoever  shall  walk  by  this  rule,  peace  and 
mercy  be  upon  them,  and  upon  all  the  Israel  of  God. 

17  Henceforth,  let  no  man  vex  me  [by  denying  that  I  am  Christ's 
servant]  ;  for  I  bear  in  my  body  the  scars  which  mark  my  bondage 
to  the  Lord  Jesus. 

18  Brethren,  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your  spirit 
Amen. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

PAUI  A  CORINTH. — PUNISHMENT  OF  CONTUMACIOUS  OFFEND- 
ERS.—  SUBSEQUENT  CHARACTER  OF  THE  CORINTHIAN  CHURCH. 
— COMPLETION  OF  THE  COLLECTION. — PHCEBE'S  JOURNEY  TO 
ROME. — SHE  BEARS  "THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS." 

No  sooner  had  Paul  despatched  to  Ephesus  the  messengers  who 
bore  his  energetic  remonstrance  to  the  Galatians  than  he  was 
called  upon  to  inflict  the  punishment  which  he  had  threatened  upon 
those  obstinate  sinners  who  still  defied  his  censures  at  Corinth. 
We  have  already  seen  that  these  were  divided  into  two  classes: 
the  larger  consisted  of  those  who  justified  their  immoral  practices 
by  Antinomian  doctrine,  and,  styling  themselves  "  the  Spiritual," 
considered  the  outward  restrictions  of  morality  as  mere  carnal 
ordinances,  from  which  they  were  emancipated;  the  other  and 
smaller  (but  more  obstinate  and  violent)  class,  who  had  been  more 
recently  formed  into  a  party  by  emissaries  from  Palestine,  were 
the  extreme  Judaizers,  who  were  taught  to  look  on  Paul  as  a 
heretic  and  to  deny  his  apostleship.  Although  the  principles  of 
these  two  parties  differed  so  widely,  yet  they  both  agreed  in  re- 
pudiating the  authority  of  Paul ;  and,  apparently,  the  former 
party  gladly  availed  themselves  of  the  calumnies  of  the  Judaizing 
propagandists,  and  readily  listened  to  their  denial  of  PauFs  divine 
commission ;  while  the  Judaizers,  on  their  part,  would  foster  any 
opposition  to  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  from  whatever  quarter  it 
might  arise. 

But  now  the  time  was  come  when  the  peace  and  purity  of  the 
Corinthian  Church  were  to  be  no  longer  destroyed  (at  least  openly) 
by  either  of  these  parties.  Paul's  first  duty  was  to  silence  and 
fchame  his  leading  opponents  by  proving  the  reality  of  his  apostle- 
ship, which  they  denied.  This  he  could  only  do  by  exhibiting 
**  the  signs  of  an  apostle,"  which  consisted  (as  he  himself  informs 
us)  mainly  in  the  display  of  miraculous  powers  (2  Cor.  xii.  12). 
434 


PUNISHMENT  OF  OFFENDERS. 


485 


The  present  was  a  crisis  which  required  such  an  appeal  to  the 
direct  judgment  of  God,  who  could  alone  decide  between  conflict- 
ing claimants  to  a  divine  commission.  It  was  a  contest  like  that 
between  Elijah  and  the  prophets  of  Baal.  Paul  had  already  in 
his  absence  professed  his  readiness  to  stake  the  truth  of  his  claims 
on  this  issue  (2  Cor.  x.  8,  and  xiii.  3-6) ;  and  we  may  be  sure  that 
now,  when  he  was  present,  he  did  not  shrink  from  the  trial.  And, 
doubtless,  God,  who  had  sent  him  forth,  wrought  such  miracles  by 
his  agency  as  sufiiced  to  convince  or  to  silence  the  gainsayers. 
Perhaps  the  Judaizing  emissaries  from  Palestine  had  already  left 
Corinth,  after  fulfilling  their  mission  by  founding  an  anti-Pauline 
party  there.  If  they  had  remained  they  must  now  have  been 
driven  to  retreat  in  shame  and  confusion.  All  other  opposition 
was  quelled  likewise,  and  the  whole  Church  of  Corinth  were  con- 
strained to  confess  that  God  was  on  the  side  of  Paul.  Now,  there- 
fore, that  "their  obedience  was  complete,"  the  painful  task  re- 
mained of  "punishing  all  the  disobedient"  (2  Cor.  x.  6).  It  was 
not  enough  that  those  who  had  so  often  offended  and  so  often  been 
pardoned  before  should  now  merely  profess  once  more  a  repent- 
ance which  was  only  the  offspring  of  fear  or  of  hypocrisy.  They 
had  long  infected  the  Church ;  they  were  not  merely  evil  them- 
selves, but  they  were  doing  harm  to  others,  and  causing  the  name 
of  Christ  to  be  blasphemed  among  the  heathen.  It  was  necessary 
that  the  salt  which  had  lost  it  savor  should  be  cast  out,  lest  its 
putrescence  should  spread  to  that  which  still  retained  its  purity. 
Paul  no  longer  hesitated  to  stand  between  the  living  and  the  dead, 
that  the  plague  might  be  stayed.  We  know,  from  his  own  descrip- 
tion (1  Cor.  V.  3-5),  the  very  form  and  manner  of  the  punishment 
inflicted.  A  solemn  assembly  of  the  Church  was  convened ;  the 
presence  and  power  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  were  especially  in- 
voked; th«;  cases  of  the  worst  offenders  were  separately  considered, 
and  those  whose  sins  required  so  heavy  a  punishment  were  pub- 
licly cast  out  of  the  Church'  and  (in  the  awful  phraseology  of 
Scripture)  delivered  over  to  Satan.  Yet  we  must  not  suppose  that 
even  in  such  extreme  cases  the  object  of  the  sentence  was  to  con- 
sign the  criminal  to  final  reprobation.  On  the  contrary,  the  pur- 
pose of  this  excommunication  was  so  to  work  on  the  offender's 
mind  as  to  bring  him  to  sincere  repentance,  "  that  his  spirit  might 
be  saved  in  the  day  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  If  it  had  this  happy 
effect,  and  if  he  manifested  true  contrition,  he  was  restored  (as  we 


486         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


have  already  seen  in  the  case  of  the  incestuous  person)  to  the  love 
of  the  brethren  and  the  communion  of  the  Church. 

We  should  naturally  be  glad  to  know  whether  the  pacification 
and  purification  of  the  Corinthian  Church  thus  effected  were  per- 
manent, or  whether  the  evils  which  were  so  deeply  rooted  sprang 
up  again  after  Paul's  departure.  On  this  point  Scripture  gives 
us  no  further  information,  nor  can  we  find  any  mention  of  this 
Church  (which  has  hitherto  occupied  so  large  a  space  in  our  nar- 
rative) after  the  date  of  the  present  chapter  either  in  the  Acts  or  the 
Epistles.  Such  silence  seems,  so  far  as  it  goes,  of  favorable  augury. 
And  the  subsequent  testimony  of  Clement  (the  "fellow-laborer^* 
of  Paul,  mentioned  Phil.  iv.  3)  confirms  this  interpretation  of  it. 
He  speaks  (evidently  from  his  own  personal  experience)  of  the 
impression  produced  upon  every  stranger  who  visited  the  Christians 
of  Corinth  by  their  exemplary  conduct,  and  specifies  particularly 
their  possession  of  the  virtues  most  opposite  to  their  former  faults. 
Thus,  he  says  that  they  were  distinguished  for  the  ripeness  and 
soundness  of  their  knowledge,  in  contrast  to  the  unsound  and  false  pre- 
tence of  knowledge  for  which  they  were  rebuked  by  Paul.  Again, 
he  praises  the  pure  and  blameless  lives  of  their  women,  which  must 
therefore  have  been  greatly  changed  since  the  time  when  fornica- 
tion, wantonness,  and  impurity  (2  Cor.  xii.  21)  were  the  character- 
istics of  their  society.  But  especially  he  commends  them  for  their 
entire  freedom  from  faction  and  party  spirit,  which  had  formerly 
been  so  conspicuous  among  their  faults.  Perhaps  the  picture 
which  he  draws  of  this  golden  age  of  Corinth  may  be  too  favor- 
ably colored,  as  a  contrast  to  the  state  of  things  which  he  deplored 
when  he  wrote.  Yet  we  may  believe  it  substantially  true,  and 
may  therefore  hope  that  some  of  the  worst  evils  were  permanently 
corrected,  more  particularly  the  impurity  and  licentiousness  which 
had  hitherto  been  the  most  flagrant  of  their  vices.  Their  tend- 
ency to  party  spirit,  however  (so  characteristic  of  the  Greek 
temper),  was  not  cured;  on  the  contrary,  it  blazed  forth  again 
with  greater  fury  than  ever  some  years  after  the  death  of  Paul. 
Their  dissensions  were  the  occasion  of  the  letter  of  Clement  already 
mentioned;  he  wrote  in  the  hope  of  appeasing  a  violent  and 
long-continued  schism  which  had  arisen  (like  their  earlier  divis- 
ions) from  their  being  "puffed  up  in  the  cause  of  one  against 
another.''  He  rebukes  them  for  their  envy,  strife,  and  party  spirit, 
accuses  them  of  being  devoted  to  the  cause  of  their  party  leaders 


PHCEBE's  journey  to  ROME. 


487 


rather  than  to  the  cause  of  God,  and  declares  that  their  divisions 
were  rending  asunder  the  body  of  Christ  and  casting  a  stumbling- 
block  in  the  way  of  many.  This  is  the  last  account  which  we 
have  of  the  Corinthian  Church  in  the  apostolic  age,  so  that  the 
curtain  falls  upon  a  scene  of  unchristian  strife  too  much  like  that 
upon  which  it  rose.  Yet,  though  this  besetting  sin  was  still  un- 
subdued, the  character  of  the  church,  as  a  whole,  was  (as  we  have 
seen)  very  much  improved  since  the  days  when  some  of  them 
denied  the  resurrection  and  others  maintained  their  right  to  prac- 
tise un  chastity. 

Paul  continued  three  months  resident  at  Corinth,  or  at  least  he 
made  that  city  his  head-quarters  during  this  period.  Probably 
he  made  excursions  thence  to  Athens  and  other  neighboring 
churches  which  (as  we  know)  he  had  established  at  his  first  visit 
throughout  all  the  region  of  Achaia,  and  which  perhaps  needed 
his  presence,  his  exhortations,  and  his  correction  no  less  than  the 
metropolitan  Church.  Meanwhile,  he  was  employed  in  complet- 
ing that  great  collection  for  the  Christians  of  Palestine  upon  which 
we  have  seen  him  so  long  engaged.  The  Christians  of  Achaia, 
from  whose  comparative  wealth  much  seems  to  have  been  ex- 
pected, had  already  prepared  their  contributions  by  laying  aside 
something  for  the  fund  on  the  first  day  of  every  week,  and,  as  this 
had  been  going  on  for  more  than  a  year,  the  sum  laid  by  must 
have  been  considerable.  This  was  now  collected  from  the  indi- 
vidual contributors  and  entrusted  to  certain  treasurers  elected  by 
the  whole  Church,  who  were  to  carry  it  to  Jerusalem  in  company 
with  Paul. 

While  the  apostle  was  preparing  for  this  journey,  destined  to  be 
BO  eventful,  one  of  his  converts  was  also  departing  from  Corinth 
in  an  opposite  direction,  charged  with  a  commission  which  has 
immortalized  her  name.  This  w^as  Phoebe,  a  Christian  lady  resi- 
dent at  Cenchrese,  the  eastern  port  of  Corinth.  She  was  a  widow 
of  consideration  and  wealth,  who  acted  as  one  of  the  deaconesses 
of  the  Church,  and  was  now  about  to  sail  to  Rome  upon  some 
private  business  apparently  connected  with  a  law^suit  in  which  she 
was  engaged.  Paul  availed  himself  of  this  opportunity  to  send  a 
letter  by  her  hands  to  the  Horn  an  Christians.  His  reason  for  writing 
to  them  at  this  time  was  his  intention  of  speedily  visiting  them  on 
his  way  from  Jerusalem  to  Spain.  He  desired,  before  his  personal 
intercourse  with  them  should  begin,  to  give  them  a  proof  of  the 


488 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


affectionate  interest  which  he  felt  for  them,  although  they  "had  not 
seen  his  face  in  the  flesh."  We  must  not  suppose,  however,  that 
they  were  hitherto  altogether  unknown  to  him ;  for  we  see,  from  the 
very  numerous  salutations  at  the  close  of  the  Epistle,  that  he  was 
already  well  acquainted  with  many  individual  Christians  at  Rome. 
From  the  personal  acquaintance  he  had  thus  formed  and  the  in- 
telligence he  had  received  he  had  reason  to  entertain  a  very  high 
opinion  of  the  character  of  the  Church ;  and  accordingly  he  tells 
them  (Rom.  xv.  14,  15)  that  in  entering  so  fully  in  his  letter  upon 
the  doctrines  and  rules  of  Christianity  he  had  done  it  not  so  much 
to  teach  as  to  remind  them,  and  that  he  was  justified  in  assuming 
the  authority  so  to  exhort  them  by  the  special  commission  which 
Christ  had  given  him  to  the  Gentiles. 

The  latter  expression  shows  us  that  the  majority  of  the  Roman 
Christians  were  of  Gentile  origin,  which  is  also  evident  from  seve- 
ral other  passages  in  the  Epistle.  At  the  same  time  we  cannot 
doubt  that  the  original  nucleus  of  the  Church  there,  as  well  as  in 
all  the  other  great  cities  of  the  empire,  was  formed  by  converts 
who  had  separated  themselves  from  the  Jewish  synagogue.  The 
name  of  the  original  founder  of  the  Roman  Church  has  not  been 
preserved  to  us  by  history  nor  even  celebrated  by  tradition.  This 
is  a  remarkable  fact  when  we  consider  how  soon  the  Church  of 
Rome  attained  great  eminence  in  the  Christian  world,  both  from 
its  numbers  and  from  the  influence  of  its  metropolitan  rank.  Had 
any  of  the  apostles  laid  its  first  foundation,  the  fact  could  scarcely 
fail  to  have  been  recorded.  It  is  therefore  probable  that  it  was 
formed  in  the  first  instance  of  private  Christians  converted  in 
Palestine,  who  had  come  from  the  eastern  parts  of  the  empire  to 
reside  at  Rome,  or  who  had  brought  back  Christianity  with  them 
from  some  of  their  periodical  visits  to  Jerusalem,  as  the  "  strangers 
of  Rome,"  from  the  great  Pentecost.  Indeed,  among  the  immense 
multitudes  whom  political  and  commercial  reasons  constantly 
attracted  to  the  metropolis  of  the  world,  there  could  not  fail  to  be 
representatives  of  every  religion  which  had  established  itself  in 
any  of  the  provinces. 

On  this  hypothesis,  the  earliest  of  the  Roman  Christians  were 
Jews  by  birth,  who  resided  in  Rome  from  some  of  the  causes  above 
alluded  to.  By  their  efforts  others  of  their  friends  and  fellow- 
countrymen  (who  were  very  numerous  at  Rome)  would  have  been 
led  to  embrace  the  gospel.    But  the  Church  so  founded,  though 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS, 


489 


Jewish  in  its  origin,  was  remarkably  free  from  the  predominance 
of  Judaizing  tendencies.  This  is  evident  from  the  fact  that  so 
large  a  majority  of  it  at  this  early  period  were  already  of  Gentile 
blood ;  and  it  appears  still  more  plainly  from  the  tone  assumed  by 
Paul  throughout  the  Epistle,  so  different  from  that  in  which  hs 
addresses  the  Galatians,  although  the  subject-matter  is  often  nearly 
identical.  Yet,  at  the  same  time,  the  Judaizing  element,  though 
not  preponderating,  was  not  entirely  absent.  We  find  that  there 
were  opponents  of  the  gospel  at  Rome,  who  argued  against  it  on 
the  ground  of  the  immoral  consequences  which  followed  (as  they 
thought)  from  the  doctrine  of  justification  by  faith,  and  even 
charged  Paul  himself  with  maintaining  that  the  greater  man's  sin 
the  greater  was  God's  glory  (see  Rom.  iii.  8).  Moreover,  not  all 
the  Jewish  members  of  the  Church  could  bring  themselves  to 
acknowledge  their  uncircumcised  Gentile  brethren  as  their  equals 
in  the  privileges  of  Christ's  kingdom  (Rom.  iii.  9  and  29;  xv.  7- 
11);  and  on  the  other  hand,  the  more  enlightened  Gentile  converts 
were  inclined  to  treat  the  lingering  Jewish  prejudices  of  weak 
consciences  with  scornful  contempt  (Rom.  xiv.  3).  It  was  the  aim 
of  Paul  to  win  the  former  of  these  parties  to  Christian  truth  and 
the  latter  to  Christian  love,  and  to  remove  the  stumbling-blocks 
out  of  the  way  of  both  by  setting  before  them  that  grand  summary 
of  the  doctrine  and  practice  of  Christianity  which  is  contained  in 
the  following  Epistle: 

EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 
I. 

1  Paijx,  a  bondsman  of  Jesus  Christ,  a  called  apostle.  Salutation. 

2  set  apart  to  publish  the  glad  tidings  of  God  which  he  promised 

3  of  old  by  his  prophets  in  the  Holy  Scriptures,  concerning  his  Son 

4  (who  was  bom  of  the  seed  of  David  according  to  the  flesh,  but  was 
marked  out  as  the  Son  of  God  with  mighty  power,  according  to  the 
spirit  of  holiness,  by  his  resurrection  from  the  dead),  even  Jesus 

6  Christ,  our  Lord  and  Master.  By  wliom  I  received  grace  and  apos* 
tleship,  that  I  might  declare  his  name  among  all  the  Gentiles,  and 

6  bring  them  to  the  obedience  of  faith.    Among  whom  ye  also  are 

7  numbered,  being  called  by  Jesus  Christ  to  all  God's  beloved 

CHILDREN,  CALLED  TO  BE  ChRIST's  PEOPLE,  WHO  DWELL  IN  RoME. 

Grace  be  to  you,  and  peace  from  God  our  Father,  and  from  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ, 


490  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


8  First  I  thank  my  God  through  Jesus  Christ  for  you     intention  of 
all,  because  the  tidings  of  your  faith  are  told  through-  urdec1ar?The 

9  out  the  whole  world.    For  God  is  my  witness  (whom  I  ^^""^ 

serve  with  the  worship  of  my  spirit,  in  proclaiming  the  glad  tidings 
of  his  Son)  how  unceasingly  I  make  mention  of  you  at  all  times  in 

10  my  prayers,  beseeching  him  that  if  it  be  possible  I  might  now  at 
length  have  a  way  open  to  me  according  to  the  will  of  God,  to  come 

11  and  visit  you.    For  I  long  to  see  you,  that  I  may  impart  to  you  some 

12  spiritual  gift,  for  the  establishment  of  your  steadfastness  ;  that  I  may 
share  with  you  (I  would  say)  in  mutual  encouragement,  through  the 

13  faith  both  of  you  and  me  together,  one  with  another.  But  I  would 
not  have  you  ignorant,  brethren,  that  I  have  often  purposed  to  come 
to  you  (although  liitherto  I  have  been  hindered),  that  I  might  have 

14  some  fruit  among  you  also,  as  I  have  among  the  other  Gentiles.  I 
am  a  debtor  both  to  Greeks  and  barbarians,  both  to  wise  and  foolish ; 

15  therefore,  as  far  as  in  me  lies,  I  am  ready  to  declare  the  glad  tidings 

16  to  you  that  are  in  Kome,  as  well  as  to  others.  For  [even  in  the 
chief  city  of  the  world]  I  am  not  ashamed  of  the  glad  tidings  of 
Christ,  seeing  it  is  the  mighty  power  whereby  God  brings  salvation 
to  every  man  that  has  faith  therein,  to  the  J ew  first,  and  also  to  the 

17  Gentile.  For  therein  God's  righteousness  is  revealed, 
a  righteousness  which  springs  from  faith,  and  which 
faith  receives — as  it  is  written,  "By  faith  shall  the 
righteous  liveP 

18  For  the  wrath  of  God  is  revealed  from  heaven  against 
all  ungodliness  and  unrighteousness  of  men,  who  keep 
down  the  truth  [which  they  know]  by  the  wickedness 

19  wherein  they  live.  Because  that  which  can  be  known 
of  God  is  manifested  in  their  hearts,  God  himself  hav- 

20  ing  shown  it  to  them ;  for  his  eternal  power  and  God- 
head, though  they  be  invisible,  yet  are  seen  ever  since 
the  world  was  made,  being  understood  by  his  works, 
that  they  [who  despised  him]  might  have  no  excuse ; 

21  because  although  they  knew  God,  they  glorified  him, 
not  as  God,  nor  gave  him  thanks,  but  in  their  reason- 
ings they  went  astray  after  vanity,  and  their  heart, 

22  being  void  of  wisdom,  was  filled  with  darkness.    Calling  themselves 

23  wise,  they  were  turned  into  fools,  and  forsook  the  glory  of  the  imper- 
ishable God  for  idols  graven  in  the  likeness  of  perishable  men,  or  of 

24  birds  and  beasts,  and  creeping  things.  Therefore  God  also  gave 
them  up  to  work  uncleanness  according  to  their  hearts'  lust,  to  dis- 

25  honor  their  bodies  one  with  another ;  seeing  they  had  bartered  tlie 


This  glad  tid- 
ings consists  in 
the  revelation 
of  a  new  and 
more  perfect 
moral  stale 

(6l/C  aiO<TV  VT) 

0eoO),  of  which 
faith  is  the  con- 
dition  (e/<) 
and  the  recipi- 
ent (et?).  For 
by  God's  previ- 
ous revelations, 
only  his  prohi- 
bition of  sin  had 
been  revealed. 
Thus  the  law  of 
conscience  was 
Goci's  revelation 
to  the  Gentiles, 
and  had  been 
violated  by 
them,  as  was 
testified  by  the 
utterly  corrupt 
stale  of  tlie 
heathen  world. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


491 


truth  of  God  for  lies,  and  reverenced  and  worshipped  the  things 

26  made  instead  of  the  Maker,  who  is  blessed  for  ever.  Amen.  For 
this  cause  God  gave  them  up  to  shameful  passions ;  for  on  the  one 
hand  their  women  changed  the  natural  use  into  that  which  is  against 

27  nature ;  and  on  the  other  hand  their  men,  in  like  manner,  leaving  the 
natural  use  of  the  women,  burned  in  their  lust  one  toward  another, 
men  with  men  working  abomination,  and  receiving  in  themselves 

28  the  due  recompense  of  their  transgression.  And  as  they  thought  fit 
to  cast  out  the  acknowledgment  of  God,  God  gave  them  over  to  an 

29  outcast  mind,  to  do  the  things  that  are  unseemly.  They  are  filled 
with  all  unrighteousness,  fornication,  depravity,  covetousness,  malici- 
ousness.  They  overflow  with  envy,  murder,  strife,  deceit,  malignity. 

30  They  are  whisperers,  backbiters,  God-haters ;  outrageous,  overween- 
ing, false  boasters ;  inventors  of  wickedness ;  undutiful  to  parents ; 

31  bereft  of  wisdom ;  breakers  of  covenanted  faith ;  devoid  of  natural 

32  aflfection;  ruthless,  merciless.  Who  knowing  the  righteous  judg- 
ment of  God,  whereby  all  that  do  such  things  are  worthy  of  death, 
not  only  commit  the  sins,  but  delight  in  their  fellowship  with  the 
sinners. 

II. 

1  Wherefore  thou,  O  man,  whosoever  thou  art  that  it  was  also  vio- 
judgest  others,  art  thyself  without  excuse  if  thou  doest  wfu?  acki!ow! 
evil;  for  in  judging  thy  neighbor  thou  condemnest  gatioii(\vhetlier 
thyself,  since  thy  deeds  are  the  same  which  in  him  phTiosophers)! 

2  thou  dost  condemn.  And  we  know  that  God  judges  feTgmen^twouTd 
them  who  do  such  wickedness  not  by  their  words,  but      d's^^s  i^^  ht. 

3  by  their  deeds.  But  reckonest  thou,  O  thou  that  con-  ^ou J"  difend 
demnest  these  evil-doers,  and  doest  the  like  thyself,  agree- 

'     ^  J       ?    ment  between 

4  that  thou  shalt  escape  the  judgment  of  God  ?  or  does  ^^f^^^  ^^^^ 
the  rich  abundance  of  his  kindness  and  forbearance  veal ed, whether 

.  ,       .      ,  .  ,  outwardly  (as 

and  long-suffering  cause  thee  to  despise  him  ?  and  art  to  the  Jews)  or 
thou  ignorant  that  God,  by  his  kindness  [in  withhold-  the  heat^ieu). 

5  ing  punishment],  strives  to  lead  thee  to  repentance?  But  thou 
in  the  hardness  and  impenitence  of  thy  heart,  art  treasuring  up 
against  thyself  a  store  of  wrath,  which  will  be  manfested  in  the 
day  of  wrath,  even  the  day  when  God  will  reveal  to  the  sight  of  men 

6  the  righteousness  of  his  judgment.  And  he  will  pay  to  all  their  due, 

7  according  to  their  deeds ;  to  those  who  with  steadfast  endurance  in 
well-doing  seek  tlie  glory  which  cannot  perish,  he  will  give  life 

8  eternal ;  but  for  men  of  guile,  who  are  obedient  to  unrigliteousness, 

9  and  disobedient  to  the  truth,  indignation  and  wrath,  tribulation  and 
anguish  shall  fall  upon  them ;  yea  upon  every  soul  of  man  that  doea 


492         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


tlie  work  of  evil,  upon  the  Jew  first,  and  also  upon  tlie  Gentile. 

10  But  glory  and  peace  shall  be  given  to  every  man  who  does  the  work 

11  of  good,  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the  Gentile;  for  there  is  no  re- 
spect of  persons  with  God. 

12  For  they  who  have  sinned  without  [the  knowledge  of]  the  Law, 
shall  perish  without  [the  punishment  of]  the  Law;  and  they  who 

13  have  sinned  under  the  Law,  shall  be  judged  by  the  Law.  For  not 
they  who  hear  the  words  of  the  Law  [in  their  synagogues]  are 
righteous  in  God's  sight,  but  they  who  do  the  works  of  the  Law  shall 

14  be  counted  righteous.  For  when  the  Gentiles,  who  have  no  Law,  do 
by  nature  the  works  of  the  Law,  they,  though  they  have  no  Law,  are 

15  a  Law  to  themselves;  since  they  manifest  the  work  of  the  Law 
written  in  their  hearts,  and  their  conscience  also  bears  tliem  witness, 
while  their  inward  thoughts,  answering  one  to  the  other,  either  justify 

16  or  else  condemn  them ;  [as  will  be  seen]  in  that  day  when  God  shall 
judge  the  secret  counsels  of  men  by  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  the 
glad  tidings  which  I  preach. 

17  Behold,  thou  callest  thyself  a  Jew,  and  restest  in  the  ^^j.  ^^^j^j  ^i,^ 

18  Law,  and  boastest  of  God's  favor,  and  knowest  the  will  ed'^^'by^  t  h  e  f  r 
of  God,  and  givest  judgment  upon  good  or  evil,  being  Law' since  tiiey 

19  instructed  bv  the  teaching  of  the  Law.    Thou  deemest  broke  the  i.aw ; 

^  ^  nor  bytheir  out- 

thyself  a  ffuide  of  the  blind,  a  lisjht  to  those  who  are  in  ^ard  consecra- 

*^     .  .  tio"    t<^  God, 

20  darkness,  an  instructor  of  the  simple,  a  teacher  of  babes,  sii'ce  true  cir- 

IX  f  I- ^         11        cumcision  is 

possessing  in  the  Law  the  perfect  pattern  of  knowledge  tiiat   of  the 

21  and  of  truth.    Thou  therefore  that  teachest  thy  neigh- 
bor, dost  thou  not  teach  thyself?  thou  that  preachest  a  man  should 

22  not  steal,  dost  thou  steal  ?  thou  that  sayest  a  man  should  not  commit 
adultery,  dost  thou  commit  adultery  ?  thou  that  abhorrest  idols,  dost 

23  thou  rob  temples  ?  thou  that  makest  thy  boast  in  the  Law,  by  break- 

24  ing  the  Law  dost  thou  dishonor  God  ?  Yea,  as  it  is  written,  "  Through 
you  is  the  name  of  God  blasphemed  amovg  the  G entiles 

25  For  circumcision  avails  if  thou  keep  the  Law ;  but  if  thou  be  a 
breaker  of  the  Law,  thy  circumcision  is  turned  into  uncircumcision. 

26  If  then  the  uncircumcised  Gentile  keep  the  commandments  of  the 

27  Law,  shall  not  his  uncircumcision  be  counted  for  circumcision  ?  And 
shall  not  he,  though  naturally  uncircumcised,  by  fulfilling  ihe  Law, 
condemn  thee,  who  with  scripture  and  circumcision  dost  break  the 

28  law  ?    For  he  is  not  a  Jew,  who  is  one  outwardly ;  nor  is  that  circum- 

29  cision,  which  is  outward  in  the  flesh ;  but  he  is  a  Jew  who  is  one  in- 
wardly, and  circumcision  is  that  of  the  heart,  in  the  spirit,  not  in  the 
letter;  whose  praise  comes  not  from  man,  but  from  God. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


493 


III. 

1  "  But  if  this  be  so,  what  advantage  has  the  Jew,  and 

2  what  has  been  the  profit  of  circumcision  ? Much 
every  way.    First,  because  to  their  keeping  were  en- 

3  trusted  the  oracles  of  God.  For  what,  though  some  of 
them  were  faithless  to  the  trust  ?  shall  we  say  that  their 

4  faithlessness  destroys  the  faithfulness  of  God  ?  That  be 
far  from  us.  Yea,  be  sure  that  God  is  true,  though  all 
mankind  be  liars,  as  it  is  written :  "  That  thou  might- 
est  be  justified  in  thy  sayings,  and  mightest  overcome  when 

5  thou  art  judged  J  ^  *'Butif  the  righteousness  of  God  is 
established  by  our  unrighteousness  [his  faithfulness 
being  more  clearly  seen  by  our  faithlessness],  must  we 
not  say  that  God  is  unjust''  (I  speak  as  men  do)  *Mn 

6  sending  the  punisliment  ?  "  That  be  far  from  us ;  for 
[if  this  punishment  be  unjust],  hoAV  shall  God  judge 

7  the  world?  since  [of  that  judgment  also  it  miglit  be  said]  :  "  If  God's 
truth  has  by  the  occasion  of  my  falsehood  more  fully  shown  itself,  to 
the  greater  manifestation  of  his  glory,  why  am  I  still  condemned  as 

8  a  sinner?  and  why  should  we  not  say"  (as  I  myself  am  slanderously 
charged  with  saying)  ''Let  us  do  evil  that  good  may  come"?  Of 
sucli  men  the  doom  is  just. 

9  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  [having  gifts  above  the  ^he  ^,P^ivneges 
Gentiles]  have  we  the  pre-eminence  over  them  ?    No,  ^^^'^ ,  ^^^"^ 

'   moral  pre-emi- 

m  no  wise ;  for  we  have  already  char«red  all,  both  Jews  nence  over  the 

1ft        ,   ^  .  ,      1  ^     .  '  ,         .     .     heathen;  their 

10  and  Gentiles,  with  the  guilt  of  sm.    And  so  it  is  Law  only  coa- 

1 1  '  II  nil         '  '  1  1         .    victed  them  of 

11  written,  '  ihere  ts  none  righteous,  no  not  one;  there  is  Bin. 

12  none  that  understandethy  there  is  none  that  seeketh  after  God,  they  are 
all  gone  out  of  the  way,  they  are  altogether  become  unprofitable,  there 

13  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no  not  one.  Their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre, 
with  their  tongue  they  have  used  deceit,  the  poison  of  as^ps  is  under  their 

14, 15  lips.  Their  mouth  is  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness.  Their  feet  are 
16, 17  swift  to  shed  blood.    Destruction  and  misery  are  in  their  paths,  and 

18  the  way  of  peace  have  they  not  known.    There  is  no  fear  of  God  before 

19  their  eyes.^^  Now  we  know  that  all  the  sayings  of  the  Law  are 
spoken  to  those  under  the  Law  [these  things  therefore  are  spoken  to 
the  Jews]  that  every  mouth  might  be  stopped,  and  the  whole  world 

20  might  be  subjected  to  the  judgment  of  God.  For  through  the  works 
of  the  Law  shall  no  flesh  be  justified  in  his  sight,^^  because  by  the  Law 
is  wrought  [not  the  doing  of  righteousness,  but]  the  acknowledgment 
of  sin. 

21  But  now,  not  by  the  Law,  but  by  another  way,  God's  "el n^"  c oS: 


The  advantage 
oftlie  Jews  con- 
sisted in  their 
beiuii  entrust- 
ed witli  the  out- 
■wurii  revelation 
of  God's  will. 
Tlieir  faithless- 
ness to  this 
trust  only  es- 
tablished God's 
fait  h  f  u  1  n  ess, 
by  furnishing 
the  occasion  for 
its  display.  Yet 
though  this 
good  resulted 
from  their  sin, 
its  guilt  is 
not  thereby  re- 
moved;  since 
no  consequen- 
ces (however 
good)  can  make 
a  wrong  action 
right. 


494 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


rigliteonsness  is  brought  to  light,  whereto  the  Law  and 

22  the  prophets  bear  witness ;  God's  righteousness  (I  say) 
which  comes  by  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  for  all,  and  upon 
all,  who  have  faith  in  him ;  for  herein  there  is  no  dif- 

23  ference  [between  Jew  and  Gentile],  since  all  have 
sinned,  and  none  have  attained  the  glorious  likeness 

24  of  God.  But  by  his  free  gift  they  are  justified  without 
payment  [of  their  debt],  through  the  ransom  which  is 

25  paid  in  Christ  J esus.  For  him  hath  God  set  fortli,  in 
his  blood,  to  be  a  propitiatory  sacrifice  by  means  of 
faith,  thereby  to  manifest  the  righteousness  of  God; 
because  in  his  forbearance  God  had  passed  over  the 
former  sins  of  men  in  the  times  that  are  gone  by. 

26  [Him  (I  say)  hath  God  set  forth]  in  this  present  time 
to  manifest  his  righteousness,  that  he  might  be  just, 

27  and  [yet]  might  justify  the  children  of  fiiith.  Where  then  is  the 
boasting  [of  the  Jew]  ?    It  is  shut  out.    By  what  law  ?  by  the  law 

28  of  works  ?  no,  but  by  the  law  of  faith.  Therefore  we  conclude  that 
by  faith  a  man  is  justified,  and  not  by  the  works  of  the  Law;  else 

29  God  must  be  the  God  of  the  Jews  alone ;  but  is  he  not  likewise  the 

30  God  of  the  Gentiles?  Yea,  he  is  the  God  of  the  Gentiles  also.  For 
God  is  one  [for  all  men],  and  he  will  justify  through  faith  the  circum- 
cision of  the  Jews,  and  by  their  faith  will  he  justify  also  the  uncir- 
cumcision  of  the  Gentiles. 

31  Do  we  then  by  faith  bring  to  naught  the  Law  ?  That  be  far  from 
us  I    Yea,  we  establish  the  Law. 


demned  by  the 
standard  of 
morallawAvhich 
they  possessed, 
must  be  made 
righteous  in 
God's  sifiiht  in 
a  way  d liferent 
from  tiiat  of 
the  Law— i.  e. 
not  by  obeying 
precepts  and  so 
escaping  penal- 
ties, but  by 
faith  in  Jesus 
Christ,  and  by 
receiving  a  gra- 
tuitous pardon 
for  past  of- 
fences. 

The  sacrifice  of 
Christ  showed 
that  this  par- 
don pioceeded 
not  from  God's 
indifference  to 
sin. 


IV. 

1  What  then  can  we  say  that  our  father  Abraham  Jewish  objec- 

2  gained  by  the  fleshly  ordinance  ?    For,  if  Abraham  appeal  ™to^  the 

.'n   ji  1*11  ji»i-'  Old  Testament 

was  justiiied  by  works  he  has  a  ground  of  boastmg.  and  the  exam- 

3  But  he  has  no  ground  of  boasting  with  God ;  for  what  ffii^ahtm^s 'Te: 
says  the  Scripture:    Abraham  had  faith  in  Gocly  and  it  pro^mises  ^bJe* 

4  nas  reckoned  unto  him  for  righteousness^^  Now  if  a  man  tian^faUh  chl  is" 
earn  his  pay  by  his  work,  it  is  not  ^Weckoned  to  him^^  ^V^"^  ^^l"?, 

r  J     J  )  virtue  of  their 

5  as  a  favor,  but  it  is  paid  him  as  a  debt :  but  if  he  earns  H\^/p^'''^; 

'  ^  '  ual  children  of 

nothing  by  his  work,  but  rests  his  faith  in  Him  who  Abraham,  and 
justiiies  the  ungodly,  then  his  faith  is    reckoned  to  him  promises. 

6  for  righteousness.^^    In  like  manner  David  also  tells  the  blessedness 
of  the  man  to  whom  God  reckoneth  righteousness,  not  by  works  but 

7  by  another  way,  saying,  "Blessed  are  they  whose  iniquities  are  for- 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


495 


8  giveUy  and  whose  sins  are  covered.    Blessed  is  the  man  against  whom  the 

9  Lord  shall  not  reckon  sm.''    Is  this  blessing  tlien  for  the  circumcised 
alone  ?  or  does  it  not  belong  also  to  the  uncircumcised  ?  for  we  say, 

10  "  his  faith  was  reckoned  to  Abraham  for  righteousness,^^  Plow  then  was 
it  reckoned  to  him  ?  when  he  was  circumcised,  or  uncircumcised  ? 

11  Not  in  circumcision,  but  in  uncircumcision.  And  he  received  cir- 
cumcision as  an  outward  sign  of  inward  things,  a  seal  to  attest  the 
righteousness  which  belonged  to  his  faith  while  he  was  yet  uncir- 
cumcised. That  so  he  might  be  the  father  of  all  the  uncircumcised 
w^ho  have  faith,  whereby  the  righteousness  of  faith  might  be  reckoned 

12  to  them  no  less  than  to  him  ; — and  the  father  of  circumcision  to  those 
[of  the  house  of  Israel]  who  are  not  circumcised  only  in  the  flesh, 
but  who  also  tread  in  the  steps  of  that  faith  which  our  father  Abra- 
ham had  while  yet  uncircumcised. 

13  For  the  promise  to  Abraham  and  his  seed  that  he  should  inherit 
the  land,  came  not  by  the  Law,  but  by  the  righteousness  of  faith. 

14  For,  if  this  inheritance  belong  to  the  children  of  the  Law,  faith  is 

15  made  of  no  account,  and  the  promise  is  brought  to  naught ;  because 
the  Law  brings  [not  blessings  but]  punishment  (for  where  there  is 

16  no  law,  there  can  be  no  law-breaking).  Therefore  the  inheritance 
belongs  to  faith,  that  it  might  be  a  free  gift ;  that  so  the  promise  [not 
being  capable  of  forfeiture]  might  stand  firm  to  all  the  seed  of 
Abraham,  not  to  his  children  of  the  Law  alone,  but  to  the  children 
of  his  faith ;  for  he  is  the  father  of  us  all  [both  Jews  and  Gentiles], 

17  (as  it  is  written,  "J  have  made  thee  the  father  of  many  nations  of  the 
Gentiles,'')  in  the  sight  of  God,  on  whom  he  fixed  his  faith,  even  God 
who  makes  the  dead  to  live,  and  calls  the  things  which  are  not  as 

18  though  they  were.  For  Abraham  had  faith  in  hope  beyond  hope, 
that  he  might  become  the  father  of  many  nations  ;  as  it  was  said  unto 
him,  ^^Look  toward  heaven  and  tell  the  stars,  if  thou  be  able  to  number 

19  them;  even  so  shall  thy  seed  beJ'  And  having  no  feebleness  in  his 
faith,  he  regarded  not  his  own  body  which  was  already  dead  (being 

20  about  a  hundred  years  old),  nor  the  deadness  of  Sarah's  womb ;  at 
the  promise  of  God  (I  say)  he  doubted  not  faithlessly,  but  his  spirit 
was  strengthened  Avith  the  might  of  faith,  and  he  gave  praise  to  God  i 

21  being  fully  persuaded  that  what  he  has  promised,  he  is  able  also 

22  perform.    Therefore  "  his  faith  was  reckoned  to  him  for  righteousness,'* 

23  But  these  words  were  not  written  for  his  sake  only,  but  for  our  sakes 

24  likewise ;  for  to  us  also  it  will  be  "  reckoned  for  righteousness/'  because 

25  we  have  faith  in  Him  that  raised  from  the  dead  our  Lord  Jesus ;  who 
was  given  up  to  deatli  for  our  transgressions,  and  raised  again  to  life 
for  our  justification. 


496         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


V. 


Throunh  faith 
ill  Clirist,  then, 
Cliristiaas  Are 
justified;  End 
tliey  rejoice  in 
the  midst  of 
their  present 
sufferings,  be- 
ing tilled  with 
the  conscioufi- 
neHS  of  God's 
love  in  the  sac- 
rifice of  Chritk 
for  ihern.  For 
by  partaking 
ir.  the  death  of 
Clirist  they  are 
reconciled  to 
God,  and  by 
partaking  in 
the  life  of 
Christ  they  are 
saved . 


1  Therefore,  being  justified  by  faith,  we  have  peace 

2  with  God,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ;  through 
whom  also  we  have  received  entrance  into  this  grace 
wherein  we  stand,  and  through  whom  we  exult  in  hope 

3  [of  the  future  manifestation]  of  God's  glory.  And  not 
only  so,  but  we  exult  also  in  our  [present]  sufferings ; 
for  we  know  that  suffering  gives  the  steadfastness  of 

4  endurance,  and  steadfast  endurance  gives  the  proof  of 
soundness,  and  the  proof  of  soundness  gives  strength  to 

6  liope,  and  our  hope  cannot  shame  us  in  the  day  of  trial ; 
because  the  love  of  God  is  shed  forth  in  our  hearts  by 

6  the  Holy  Spirit,  who  has  been  given  unto  us.  For 
while  we  were  yet  helpless  [in  our  sins],  Christ  at  the 

7  appointed  time  died  for  sinners.    Now  hardly  for  a  righteous  man 
will  any  be  found  to  die  (although  some  perchance  would  even  en- 

8  dure  death  for  him  whose  goodness  they  have  felt),  but  God  gives 
proof  of  his  own  love  to  us,  because  while  we  were  yet  sinners  Christ 

9  died  for  us.  Much  more,  now  that  we  have  been  justified  in  his 
10  blood,  shall  we  be  saved  through  him  from  the  wrath  to  come.  For, 

if  when  we  were  his  enemies,  we  were  reconciled  to  God  by  the  death 
of  his  Son,  much  more,  being  already  reconciled,  shall  we  be  saved 
by  sharing  in  his  life.  Nor  is  this  our  hope  only  for  the  time  to 
come ;  but  even  [in  the  midst  of  our  sufferings]  we  exult  in  God, 
through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord,  by  whom  we  have  now  received 
reconciliation  with  God. 

This,  therefore,  is  like  the  case  when,  through  one 
man  [Adam],  sin  entered  into  the  world,  and  by  sin 
death  ;  and  so  death  spread  to  all  mankind,  because  all 

13  committed  sin.  For  before  the  Law  was  given  [by 
Moses]  there  was  sin  in  the  world ;  but  sin  is  not 
reckoned  against  the  sinner,  when  there  is  no  law  [for- 

14  bidding  it]  ;  nevertheless,  death  reigned  from  Adam 
till  Moses,  even  over  those  whose  sin  [not  being  the 
breach  of  law]  did  not  resemble  the  sin  of  Adam. 
Now  Adam  is  an  image  of  Him  that  was  to  come. 

15  But  far  greater  is  the  gift  than  was  the  transgression  ; 
for  if  by  the  sin  of  the  one  man  [Adam],  death  passed 
upon  the  many,  much  more  in  the  grace  of  the  one 
man  Jesus  Christ  has  the  freeness  of  God's  bounty 

16  overflowed  unto  the  many.  Moreover  tlie  boon  [of 
God]  exceeds  the  fruit  of  Adam's  sin;  for  the  doom  came,  oul 


11 


12 


For  Christ  in  his 
ovpn  person  was 
the  representa- 
tive of  all  man- 
kind for  salva- 
tion, as  Adam 
was  for  con- 
demnation. 
The  Mosaic  Law 
has  added  to  the 
law  of  consci- 
ence, in  order 
that  sin  migh* 
be  felt  to  be  a 
transgression  o' 
acknowled  g 
duty,  and  tha 
thus  the  gift  oi 
spiritual  life  in 
Christ  might  be 
givec  -:  men 
prepared  leel 
their  need  of  it, 
so  tliat  man's 
sin  might  be 
the  occasion  of 
God's  mercy. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


497 


of  one  offence,  a  sentence  of  condemnation  ;  but  the  gift  come?,  out 
17  of  many  offences,  a  sentence  of  acquittal.  For  if  the  reign  of  death 
was  established  by  the  one  man  [Adam],  through  the  sin  of  him 
alone ;  far  more  shall  the  reign  of  life  be  establislied,  in  those  who 
receive  the  overflowing  fulness  of  the  free  gift  of  righteousness,  by 
IS  the  one  man  Jesus  Christ.  Therefore,  as  the  fruit  of  one  offence 
reached  to  all  men,  and  brought  upon  them  condemnation  [the 
source  of  death]  ;  so  likewise  the  fruit  of  one  acquittal  shall  reach 

19  to  all,  and  shall  bring  justification,  the  source  of  life.  For  as,  by  the 
disobedience  of  the  one  [Adam],  the  many  were  made  sinners;  so 
by  the  obedience  of  the  one  [Christ],  the  many  shall  be  made 

20  righteous.  And  the  Law  was  added,  that  sin  might  abound ;  but 
where  sin  had  abounded,  the  gift  of  grace  has  overflowed  beyond 

21  [the  outbreak  of  sin]  ;  that  as  sin  has  reigned  in  death,  so  grace 
might  reign  through  righteousness  unto  life  eternal,  by  the  work  of 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord. 

VL 

1  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  shall  we  persist  in  sin  that  it  isaReif-con- 
the  gift  of  grace  may  be  more  abundant?    God  forbid,  veision 'of  ^h^s 

2  AVe  who  died  to  sin  [when  we  became  followers  of  elude  from°"it 

3  Christ],  how  can  we  any  longer  live  in  sin?  or  have  pensihTtn^ihUa 
you  forgotten  that  all  of  us,  when  we  were  baptized  into  forth  a  ^greater 
fellowship  with  Christ  Jesus,  were  baptized  into  fellow-  God's'a?ace,for 

4  ship  with  his  death?  With  him  therefore  we  were  ((l!hich^\g ^ ihe 
buried  by  the  baptism  wherein  we  shared  his  death  g'-'^^'?)  cminot 

^  ^  coexist  with 

[when  we  sank  beneath  the  waters ;  and  were  raised*  spiritual  death, 
from  under  them],  that  even  as  Christ  was  raised  up  from  the 
dead  by  the  glory  of  the  Father,  so  we  likewise  might  walk  in  new- 

5  ness  of  life.    For  if  we  have  been  graftedf  into  the  likeness  of  his 

6  death,  so  shall  we  also  share  his  resurrection.  For  we  know  that 
our  old  man  was  [then]  crucified  with  Christ,  that  the  sinful  body 
[of  the  old  man]  might  be  destroyed,  that  we  might  no  longer  be 

7,  8  the  slaves  of  sin  (for  he  that  is  dead  is  justified  from  sin).  Now 
if  we  have  shared  the  death  of  Christ,  we  believe  that  we  shall  also 

*  This  clause,  which  is  here  left  elliptical,  is  fully  expressed  in  Col.  ii.  12 : 
Cvrra<^>€X'Te5  avTU)  ev  to)  ^ainiirixari  Iv  w  koX  <TVvr]y€p6r}T€,  This  passage  cannct  bo 
understood  unless  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  primitive  baptism  was  by 
immersion. 

■)'  2uV</>uTo  yeyovafiev,  etc.,  literally,  have  become  partakers  hy  a  vital  union 
[as  that  of  a  graft  with  the  tree  into  which  it  is  grafted]  of  the  representation 
of  hie  death  [in  baptism].    The  meaning  appears  to  be,  1/  we  have  shared  th9 
reality  of  his  death,  whereof  we  have  undcKjone  the  likeness, 
Z2 


498         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


9  share  his  life ;  knowing  that  Christ  being  raised  from  the  dead,  can 

10  die  no  more ;  death  has  no  more  dominion  over  him.  For  he  died 
once,  and  once  only,  unto  sin ;  but  he  lives  [for  ever]  unto  God. 

11  Likewise  reckon  ye  also  yourselves  to  be  dead  indeed  unto  sin,  but 

12  living  unto  God  in  Christ  J esus.  Let  not  sin  therefore  reign  in  your 
dying  body,  causing  you  to  obey  its  lusts ;  nor  give  up  your  members 

13  to  sin,  as  instruments  of  unrighteousness;  but  give  yourselves  to 
God,  as  being  restored  to  life  from  the  dead,  and  your  members  to 

14  his  service  as  instruments  of  righteousness ;  for  sin  shall  not  have 
the  mastery  over  you,  since  you  are  not  under  the  Law,"^'  but  under 
grace. 

15  What  then?  shall  we  sin  because  we  are  not  under 

16  the  Law,  but  under  grace?  God  forbid.  Know  ye 
not  that  he  to  whose  service  you  give  yourselves  is 
your  real  master,  whether  sin,  whose  fruit  is  death,  or 

17  obedience,  whose  fruit  is  righteousness.  But  God  be 
thanked  that  you,  who  were  once  the  slaves  of  sin, 
have  obeyed  from  your  hearts  the  teaching  whereby 

18  you  were  moulded  anew;  and  when  you  were  freed 
from  the  slavery  of  sin,  you  became  the  bondsmen  of 

19  righteousness.  (I  speak  the  language  of  common  life, 
to  show  the  weakness  of  your  fleshly  nature  [which 
must  be  in  bondage  either  to  the  one,  or  to  the  other].) 
Therefore,  as  you  once  gave  up  the  members  of  your 
body  for  slaves  of  uncleanness  and  licentiousness,  to 
work  the  deeds  of  license ;  so  now  give  them  up  for  slaves  of  right- 

20  eousness,  to  work  the  deeds  of  holiness.    For  when  you  were  the 

21  slaves  of  sin,  you  were  free  from  the  service  of  righteousness.  What 
fruit  then  had  you  in  those  times,  from  the  deeds  whereof  you  are 

22  now  ashamed  ?  yea,  the  end  of  them  is  death.  But  now,  being  freed 
from  the  bondage  of  sin,  and  enslaved  to  the  service  of  God,  your 

23  fruit  is  growth  in  holiness,  and  its  end  is  life  eternal.  For  the  wage 
of  sin  is  death ;  but  the  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  in  Christ  Jesus  our 
Lord  and  Master. 

VIL 

1     You  must  acknowledge  t  what  I  say  [that  we  are  As  above  said, 

°    '  *^  Cbriritians  aid 

To  be  "  under  the  Law,"  in  Paul's  language,  means  to  avoid  sin  from 
fear  of  penalties  attached  to  sin  by  the  Law.  This  principle  of  fear  is  not 
strong  enough  to  keep  men  in  the  path  of  duty.  Union  with  Christ  can 
alone  give  man  the  mastery  over  sin. 

t  "E  ayvoclre.  Literally,  or  are  you  {(jnorant ;  the  or  (which  is  omitted  in 
A.  V.)  referring  to  what  has  gone  before,  and  implying,  if  you  deny  what  I 


The  Christian's 
freedom  from 
the  Law  con- 
sists in  living 
in  the  morality 
of  the  Law,  not 
from  fear  of  its 
penalties,  but 
as  n  e  c  e  8  s  a  ry 
fruits  of  the 
spiritual  life 
whereof  Chris- 
tians partake. 
Hence  tho 
slaves  of  sin 
can  have  no 
part  in  this  free- 
dom from  the 
Law,  since  tliey 
are  still  subject 
to  the  penalties 
of  the  La  w, 
which  are  the 
necessary  re- 
sults of  sin. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  EOMANS. 


499 


not  under  the  Law]  ;  knowing,  brethren  (for  I  speak  not  under  the 

to  men  who  know  the  Law),  that  the  dominion  of  the  Law  belongs  to 

2  Law  over  its  subjects  lasts  only  during  their  life ;  thus  earthly^  nature 
the  married  woman  is  bound  by  the  Law  to  her  hus-  have  ^  died^^^by 
band  while  he  lives,  but  if  her  husband  is  dead,  the  chntf  r^death^ 
Law  which  bound  her  to  him  has  lost  its  hold  upon  ^ bel- 

3  her;  so  that  while  her  husband  is  livino^,  she  will  be  ter spiritual ser- 

'  ...  their 

counted  an  adulteress  if  she  be  joined  to  another  man: 

,  '    Christ  8  life  ;  so 

but  if  her  husband  be  dead,  she  is  free  from  the  Law,  that  the  sins  of 

.  .  which  the  Law 

and  although  joined  to  another  man  she  is  no  adulteress,  was  formerly 

4  Wherefore  you  also,  my  brethren,  were  made  dead  to  overcame  them 
the  Law,  by  [union  with]  the  body  of  Christ ;  that  you  "^°^^* 
might  be  married  to  another,  even  to  Him  who  was  raised  from  the 

5  dead  that  we  might  bring  forth  fruit  unto  God.  For  when  we  were 
in  the  flesh,  the  sinful  passions  occasioned  by  the  Law  wrought  in 

6  our  members,  leading  us  to  bring  forth  fruit  unto  death.  But  now 
the  Law  wherein  we  were  formerly  held  fast,  lost  its  hold  upon  us 
when  we  died  [with  Christ]  ;  so  that  we  are  no  longer  in  the  old 
bondage  of  the  letter,  but  in  the  new  service  of  the  spirit. 

7  What  shall  we  say  then?  that  the  Law  is  sinful?  Jeen  aboTe  said 
That  be  far  from  us !    But  yet  I  should  not  have  known  to  be  the  occa- 

siouofsin, 

what  sin  was,  except  through  the  Law :  thus  I  should  For  when  its 

1  ^  r  •  1        1     -r       11    Pi^^cepts  awa- 

not  have  known  the  sm  of  coveting,  unless  the  Law  had  ken  the  con- 

8  said.  Thou  shall  not  covet  But  when  my  sin  had  gained  sense  of  duty, 
by  the  commandment  a  vantage-ground  [against  me],  before  were 
it  wrought  in  me  all  manner  of  coveting  (for  where  mnce/arelow 

9  there  is  no  Law,  sin  is  dead).  And  I  felt  that  I  was  the^  le-Stance 
alive  before,  when  I  knew  no  Law ;  but  when  the  com-  The  ^ial-nai 
mandment  came,  sin  rose  to  life,  and  I  sank  into  death :  "^l"''to°'^,v,i^« 

have  said,  you  must  be  ignorant  of,  etc. ;  or,  in  other  words,  you  must  achnow- 
ledrje  what  I  say,  or  he  ignorant  of,  etc.  The  reference  here  is  to  the  asser- 
tion in  verses  14  and  15  of  the  preceding  chapter,  that  Christians  are  not 
under  the  Laio"  For  the  argument  of  the  present  passage  see  the  marginal 
summary.  PauFs  view  of  the  Christian  Hfe,  throughout  the  sixth,  seventh 
and  eighth  chapters,  is  that  it  consists  of  a  death  and  a  resurrection ;  the 
new-made  Christian  dies  to  sin,  to  the  world,  to  the  flesh,  and  to  the  Law; 
this  death  he  undergoes  at  his  first  entrance  into  communion  with  Christ, 
and  it  is  both  typified  and  realized  when  he  is  buried  beneath  the  baptismal 
waters.  But  no  sooner  is  he  thus  dead  with  Christ,  than  he  rises  with  him; 
he  is  made  partaker  of  Christ's  resurrection;  he  is  united  to  Christ's  body; 
he  lives  in  Christ  and  to  Christ ;  he  is  no  longer  "  in  the  flesh,"  but  "  in  the 
Bpirit.'* 


500 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


10  and  the  very  commandment  whose  end  is  life,  was  found  fulfils  the  evii 

11  to  me  the  cause  of  death  ;  for  my  sin,  when  it  had  gained  ituai^'  n  a  t  uTe 
a  vantage-ground  by  the  commandment,  deceived  me  TimVis^tnlggi' 


Strugs 

to  my  fall,  and  slew  me  by  the  [sentence  of  the]  Law.  l,^jch'{i\eworLIJ 

part  in  man 
iriutnphs  over 
the  better,  tlie 
law  of  his  flesh 
over  the  law  of 
his  mind.  And 
man  in  himself 
(auTO?  cyu) ) 
without  the 
help  of  Christ's 
Spirit  must  con- 
tinue the  slave 
of  his  sinful 
earthly  nature. 


12  Wherefore  the  Law  indeed  is  holy,  and  its  command- 

13  ments  are  holy,  and  just,  and  good.  Do  I  say  then 
that  good  became  to  me  death  ?  Far  be  that  from  me. 
But  I  say  that  sin  wrought  this ;  that  so  it  might  be 
made  manifest  as  sin,  in  working  death  to  me  through 
[the  knowledge  of]  good ;  that  sin  might  become 
beyond  measure  sinful,  by  the  commandment. 

14  For  we  know  that  the  Law  is  spiritual ;  but  for  me, 

15  I  am  carnal,  a  slave  sold  into  the  captivity  of  sin.    What  1  do, 
I  acknowledge  not ;  for  I  do  not  what  I  would,  but  what  I  hate. 

16  But  if  my  will  is  against  my  deeds,  I  thereby  acknowledge  the  good- 

17  ness  of  the  Law.    And  now  it  is  no  more  I  myself  who  do  the  evil, 

18  but  it  is  the  sin  which  dwells  in  me.    For  I  know  that  in  me,  that  is, 
in  my  flesh,  good  abides  not ;  for  to  will  is  present  with  me,  but  to 

19  do  the  right  is  absent ;  the  good  that  I  would,  I  do  not;  but  the  evil 

20  which  I  would  not,  that  I  do.    Now  if  my  own  will  is  against  my 
deeds,  it  is  no  more  I  myself  who  do  them,  but  the  sin  which  dwells 

21  in  me.    I  find  then  this  law,  that  though  my  will  is  to  do  good,  yet 

22  evil  is  present  with  me ;  for  I  consent  gladly  to  the  law  of  God  in  my 

23  inner  man  ;  but  I  behold  another  law  in  my  members,  warring  against 
the  law  of  my  mind,  and  making  me  captive  to  the  law  of  sin  which 

24  dwells  in  my  members.    Oh  wretched  man  that  1  am  !  who  shall  de- 
liver me  from  this  body  of  death? 

25  I  thank  God  [that  he  has  now  delivered  me]  through  Jesus  Christ 
our  Lord. 

So  then,  in  myself,  though  I  am  subject  in  my  mind  to  the  law  of 
God,  yet  in  my  flesh  I  am  subject  to  the  law  of  sin. 


VIIL 

1  Now,  therefore,  there  is  no  condemnation  to  those 

2  who  are  in  Christ  Jesus ;  for  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of 
life  in  Christ  Jesus  has  freed  me  from  the  law  of  sin 

3  and  death.  For  God  (which  was  impossible  to  the 
Law,  because  through  the  weakness  of  our  flesh  it  had 
no  power),  by  sending  his  own  Son  in  the  likeness  of 
sinful  flesh,  and  on  behalf  of  sin,  overcame  sin  in  the 

4  flesh  ;  to  the  end,  that  the  righteous  statutes  of  the  Law 
might  be  fulfilled  in  us,  who  walk  not  after  the  flesh. 


But  with  that 
help  this  sinful 
earthly  nature 
is  vanquished 
in  tlie  Chris- 
tian, and  he  is 
enabled  to  live, 
not  according; 
to  the  carnal 
part  of  his  na- 
ture ((Tap$),  but 
acc«^rdiiig  to  the 
sj)i  ritual  part 
(TTveu/u.a). 
(Jod's  true  cl 
dien  aie  thoee 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


501 


5  but  after  the  Spirit.    For  tliey  who  live  after  the  flesh,  'l^^J^  ^^^^^^^^l^. 
mind  fleshly  thin<2:s ;  but  thev  who  live  after  the  Spirit 

"  ^   '  "  1.11       Spint  of  Clin.-t 

6  mind  spiritual  things ;  and  the  fleshly  mmd  is  death ;  {ifoiKovv  ttii) 

7  but  the  spiritual  mind  is  life  and  peace.    Because  the  eanbiy"nLt  Jret 
fleshly  mind  is  enmity  against  God ;  for  it  is  not  subject  to  the  law 

8  of  God,  nor  by  its  very  nature  can  be ;  and  they  whose  life  is  in  the 

9  flesh  cannot  please  God.    But  your  life  is  not  in  the  flesh,  but  in  the 
Spirit,  if  indeed  the  Spirit  of  God  be  dwelling  in  you ;  and  if  any 

10  man  has  not  the  Spirit  of  Christ  within  him,  he  is  not  Christ's.  Bui 
if  Christ  be  in  you,  though  your  body  be  dead,  because  of  sin  [to 
which  its  nature  tends],  yet  your  spirit  is  life,  because  of  righteous- 

11  ness  [which  dwells  within  it]  ;  yea,  if  the  Spirit  of  Him  who  raised 
Jesus  from  the  dead  be  dwelling  in  you,  He  who  raised  Christ  from 
the  dead  shall  endow  with  life  also  your  dying  bodies,  by  his  Spirit 

12  which  dwells  within  you.  Therefore,  brethren,  w^e  are  debtors, 
bound  not  to  the  flesh,  that  we  should  live  after  the  flesh  [but  to  the 

13  Spirit]  ;  for  if  you  live  after  the  flesh  you  are  doomed  to  die ;  but  if 
by  the  Spirit  you  destroy  the  deeds  of  the  body,  in  their  death  you 
will  attain  to  life. 

14  For  all  who  are  led  by  God's  Spirit,  and  they  alone, 

15  are  the  sons  of  God.  For  you  have  not  received  a 
spirit  of  bondage,  that  you  should  go  back  again  to  the 
Btate  of  slavish  fear,  but  you  have  received  a  Spirit  of 
adoption,  wherein  we  cry  unto  God  and  say,  ^^Our 

16  Father,'*  The  Spirit  itself  joins  its  testimony  with  the 
witness  of  our  own  spirit,  to  prove  that  we  are  the 

17  children  of  God.  And  if  children,  then  heirs ;  heirs 
of  God,  and  joint-heirs  with  Christ;  that  if  now  we 
share  his  sufierings,  we  should  hereafter  share  his 

18  glory.  For  I  reckon  that  the  suflferings  of  this  present 
time  are  nothing  worth,  when  set  against  the  glory 

19  which  shall  soon  be  revealed  unto  us.  For  the  earnest 
longing  of  the  whole  creation  looks  eagerly  for  the 
time  when  [the  glory  of]  the  sons  of  God  shall  openly 

20  be  brought  to  light.  F or  the  creation  was  made  sub- 
ject to  corruption  and  decay,  not  by  its  own  will,  but 

21  through  Him  who  subjected  it  thereto ;  with  hope  that 
the  creation  itself  also  shall  be  delivered  from  its  slavery  to  death, 
and  sliall  gain  the  freedom  of  the  sons  of  God  when  they  are 

22  glorified.  For  we  know  that  the  whole  creation  is  groaning  together, 
and  suflering  the  pangs  of  labor,  which*  have  not  yet  brought  forth 

•  Literally,  continuing  to  suffer  the  pangs  of  labor  even  until  now,  Paul 


Such  persons 
have  an  inward 
conscious  n  e  e  s 
of  cliild-lilce 
love  to  God 
(ajS^a),  and 
they  anticipate 
a  future  and 
more  perfect 
Btate  when  this 
relation  to  God 
will  have  its  full 
deve  lo  p m  e  n  t 
(aTTO/caXuv//  t  5). 
And  their  long- 
ing for  a  future 
perfection  id 
fchared  by  all 
cieated  beings, 
whose  discon- 
tent at  pret-eni 
imperfe  c  t  i  o  u 
points  to  ano- 
ther state  freed 
from  evil.  And 
this  ieeling  is 
(2(5,  27)  im- 
planted  in 
Christians  b  y 
the  Spirit  of 
God,  wno  sug- 
gests their 
prayers  and 
longings. 


502         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


23  the  birth.  And  not  only  they,  but  ourselves  also,  who  have  re(;eived 
the  Spirit  for  the  first-fruits  [of  our  inheritance],  even  we  ourselves 
are  groaning  inwardly,  longing  for  the  adoption  which  shall  ransom 

24  our  body  from  its  bondage.  For  our  salvation  lies  in  hope ;  but  hope 
possessed  is  not  hope,  since  a  man  cannot  hope  for  what  he  sees  in 

25  his  possession ;  but  if  we  hope  for  things  not  seen,  we  steadfastly 

26  endure  the  iDresent,  and  long  earnestly  for  the  future.  And,  even  as 
we  long  for  our  redemption,  so  the  Spirit  gives  help  to  our  weakness ; 
for  we  know  not  what  we  should  pray  for  as  Ave  ought ;  but  the  Spirit 
itself  makes  intercession  for  us,  with  groans  [for  deliverance]  which 

27  words  cannot  utter.  But  He  who  searches  our  hearts  knows  [though, 
it  be  unspoken]  what  is  the  desire  of  the  Spirit,  because  he  intercedes 
for  Christ's  people  according  to  the  will  of  God. 

28  Moreover,  we  know  that  all  things  [whether  sad  or  Hence  in  the 
joyful]  work  together  for  good  to  those  who  love  God,  pl\tec  u  t  i o'n  J 

29  who  have  been  called  according  to  his  purpose.  For  morrthan  con! 
those  whom  he  foreknew,  he  also  predestined  to  be  'ii^^y^Hi  [^aj 
made  like  to  the  pattern  of  his  Son,  that  many  brethren  ^^oj^^r, 

^  '  gether  lor  their 

80  might  be  ioined  to  him,  the  First-born.    And  those  g^o^.  God  has 

^  1.1  called  them  to 

whom  he  predestmed  to  this  end,  them  he  also  called ;  share  in^  his 
and  whom  he  called,  them  he  also  justified ;  and  whom  hmmui^^accu- 

31  he  justified,  them  he  also  glorified.  What  shall  we  say  no^eaiaifiy^fuf- 
then  to  these  things?    If  God  be  for  us,  who  can  be  er'in^the°wi?oie 

32  against  us  ?  He  that  spared  not  his  own  Son,  but  gave  separa^te'  them 
him  up  to  death  for  us  all,  how  shall  he  not  with  him 

33  also  freely  give  us  all  things?    What  accuser  can  harm  God's 

34  chosen?  it  is  God  who  justifies  them.  What  judge  can  doom  us? 
It  is  Christ  who  died,  nay,  rather,  who  is  risen  from  the  dead ;  yea, 
who  is  at  the  right  hand  of  God,  who  also  makes  intercession  for  us. 

35  Who  can  separate  us  from  the  love  of  Christ  ?  Can  suflfering,  or 
straitness  of  distress,  or  persecution,  or  famine,  or  nakedness,  or 

36  the  peril  of  our  lives,  or  the  swords  of  our  enemies  ?  [though  we 
may  say]  as  it  is  written,  '^For  thy  sake  we  are  killed  all  the  day  long  ; 

37  we  are  accounted  as  sheep  for  the  slaughter  Nay,  in  all  these  things 
we  are  more  than  conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us.  For  I  am 
persuaded  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  all  the  principalities  and 

38  powers  of  angels,  nor  things  present,  nor  things  to  come,  nor  things 

here  suggests  an  argument  as  original  as  it  is  profound.  The  very  struggles 
which  all  animated  beings  make  against  pain  and  death  show  (he  says)  that 
pain  and  death  are  not  a  part  of  the  proper  laws  of  their  nature,  but  rather 
a  bondage  imposed  upon  them  from  without.  Thus  every  groan  and  tear  is 
an  unconscious  prophecy  of  liberation  from  the  power  of  evil. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


503 


39  above,  nor  things  below,  nor  any  power  in  the  whole  creation,  shall 
be  able  to  separate  us  from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in  Clirist  Jesus 
our  Lord. 

IX. 

1  I  speak  the  truth  in  Christ — (and  my  conscience  The  fact  that 

,  .  •iiTTin**?  •  ij.    Giod  has  adoT)t- 

bears  me  witness,  with  the  Holy  bpirit  s  testimony,  that  ed  chiietians  a3 

2  I  lie  not) — I  have  great  heaviness,  and  unceasing  sor-  peopieTalld 

3  row  in  my  heart ;  yea,  I  could  wish  that  I  myself  were  f-n^ir'theu'' ex- 
cast  out  from  Christ  as  an  accursed  thing,  for  the  sake  fegJ^^s  m  ac' 
of  my  brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh;  hYs'^^'f^o  rm  er 

4  who  are  the  seed  of  Israel,  whom  God  adopted  for  his  ^oJ'^"if^{jje 
children,  whose  were  the  crlory  of  the  Shekinah,  and  sceHdants  of 

'  .    .  .  Abraham,  but 

the  covenants,  and  the  lawffivinff,  and  the  service  of  only  a  selected 

'  o  ^  portion  of  them, 

6  the  temple,  and  the  promises  of  blessing.  Whose  fathers  were  chosen  by 
were  the  patriarchs,  and  of  whom  (as  to  his  flesh)  was 
born  the  Christ  who  is  over  all,  God  blessed  for  ever.  Amen. 

6  Yet  I  speak  not  as  if  the  promise  of  God  had  fallen  to  the  ground ; 

7  for  not  all  are  Israel  who  are  of  Israel,  nor  because  all  are  the  seed 
of  Abraham,  are  they  all  the  children  of  Abraham ;  but  in  Isaac  shall 

8  thy  seed  be  called.  That  is,  not  the  children  of  the  flesh  of  Abraham 
are  the  sons  of  God,  but  his  children  of  the  promise  are  counted  for 

9  his  true  seed.  For  thus  spake  the  word  of  promise,  saying,  At  this 
time  will  I  come,  and  Sarah  shall  have  a  son  [so  that  Ishmael,  although 

10  the  son  of  xVbraham,  had  no  part  in  the  promise].  And  not  only  so, 
but  [Esau  likewise  was  shut  out ;  for]  when  Eebekah  had  conceived 
two  sons  by  the  same  husband,  our  forefather  Isaac,  yea,  while  they 

11  were  not  yet  born,  and  had  done  nothing  either  good  or  bad  (that 
God's  purpose  according  to  election  might  abide,  coming  not  from  the 
works  of  the  called,  but  from  the  will  of  the  Caller),  it  was  declared 

12  unto  her,  The  elder  shall  serve  the  younger;  according  to  that  which  is 

13  written,  Jacob  have  I  loved^  but  Esau  have  I  hated, 

14  What  shall  we  say  then  ?  Shall  we  call  God  unjust  The  Jews  can- 
[because  he  has  cast  off  the  seed  of  Abraham]  ?    That  r\%i^iJ  ?eject 

15  be  far  from  us.  For  to  Moses  he  saith,  ''I will  have  Xr^l^c^Slrd^ 
mercy  on  whom  I  will  have  mercy,  and  I  will  have  compas-  shfce^it^'ls^^ai- 

16  sion  on  whom  I  will  have  compassionJ^  So,  then,  the  own^ Scriptures 
choice  comes  not  from  man's  will,  nor  from  man's  ^^^^  case  of 

'  Pharaoli.  It 

17  speed,  but  from  God's  mercy.    And  thus  the  Scripture  ^nay,  object- 

T^i  ^      u  T->  1  1  r-  ''''"^  ^^^^  * 

says  to  Pharaoh,    Even  for  this  end  have  I  raised  thee  view  rei.resf  nta 

.  God's    will  as 

up,  that  I  might  show  my  power  m  thee,  and  that  my  name  the  arbitrary 

18  might  be  declared  throughout  all  the  earthJ^  According  actions';  °Yh  a 
to  his  will,  therefore,  he  has  mercy  on  one,  and  hardens  thrcreated^be? 


604 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


19  another.    Thou  wilt  say  to  me,  then,  "Why  does  God  ing. cannot  |n- 

7  7.  VGhtigate  tlie 

20  stiJl  blame  us?  for  who  can  resist  his  will"?    Nav,  causes  winch 

"  '    mav   have  de- 

rather,  O  man,  who  art  thou  that  disT)utest  a<;ainst  God  ?  termined  the 
Shall  the  thing  formed  say  to  him  that  formed  it.  Why  tor. 

21  hast  thou  made  me  thusf  Hath  not  the  potter  power  over  the  clay/* 
to  make  out  of  the  same  lump  one  vessel  for  honor  and  one  for  dLs- 

22  honor?  But  what  if  God  (though  willing  to  show  forth  his  wratli, 
and  to  make  known  his  power)  endured  with  much  long-suffering 
vessels  of  wrath,  fitted  for  destruction  [and  cast  them  not  at  once 

23  away]  ?  And  what  if  thus  he  purposed  to  make  known  the  riches  of 
his  glory  bestowed  upon  vessels  of  mercy,  which  he  had  before  pre- 

24  pared  for  glory  ?  And  such  are  we,  whom  he  has  called,  not  only 
from  among  the  Jews,  but  from  among  the  Gentiles,  as  it  is  written 

25  also  in  Hosea,  "  /  will  call  them  my  people  which  were  Also  the  Jew- 

26  not  my  people^  and  her  beloved  which  ivas  not  beloved;  and  spiaiT^^oT^Vhe 
it  shall  come  to  pass  that  in  the  place  where  it  was  said  Gentlfes^^an  d 
unto  theniy  Ye  are  not  my  people^  there  shall  they  be  called  dtsobedrent 

27  the  children  of  the  living  God  J'    But  Esaias  cries  con- 

cerning  Israel,  saying,  "  Though  the  number  of  the  children  of  Israel  be 

28  as  the  sand  of  the  sea,  only  the  remnant  shall  be  saved;  for  he  doth  com.- 
plete  his  reckoning,  and  cutteth  it  short  in  righteousness ;  yea^  a  short 

29  reckoning  will  the  Lord  make  upon  the  earthJ^  And,  as 
Esaias  had  said  before,  ^'Except  the  Lord  of  Sabaoth 
had  left  us  a  seed  remaining,  we  had  been  as  Sodom,  and 
had,  been  made  like  unto  GomorrhaP 

30  What  shall  we  say,  then  ?  We  say  that  the  Gentiles, 
though  they  sought  not  after  righteousness,  have  at- 
tained to  righteousness,  even  the  righteousness  of  faith ; 

31  but  that  the  house  of  Israel,  though  they  sought  a  law 

32  of  righteousness,  have  not  attained  thereto.  And  why  ? 
Because  they  sought  it  not  by  faith,  but  thought  to  gain 
it  by  the  works  of  the  Law ;  for  they  stumbled  against 

33  the  stone  of  stumbling,  as  it  is  written,  Behold  Hay  in 
Zion  a  stone  of  stumbling,  and  a  rock  of  offence;  and 
whoso  hath  faith  in  him  shall  be  saved  from  confrisionJ* 

X. 

1  Brethren,  my  heart's  desire  and  my  prayer  to  God 

2  for  Israel  is,  that  they  may  be  saved ;  for  I  bear  them 
witness  that  they  have  a  zeal  for  God,  yet  not  guided 

3  by  knowledge  of  God ;  for  because  they  knew  not  the 
righteousness  of  God,  and  sought  to  establish  their  own 


The  cause  of 
tliis  rejection  of 
the  Jews  was 
that  they  per- 
sisted in  a  false 
idea  of  righte- 
ousness, as  con 
sisting  in  out- 
ward works  and 
rites,  and  re- 
fused the  true 
righteous  n  es  s 
manifested  to 
tliem  in  Christ, 
who  was  the 
end  of  the  Law 
(X.  4).  The 
Jew  considers 
righteousn  ess 
as  the  outward 
obedience  to 
certain  enact- 
ments  (x.  5). 


The  Christian 
considers  right- 
eousness as  pro- 
ceeding fiom 
the  inward  faith 
of  the  heart. 
Whoever  has 
this  faith, 
whether  Jew  or 
Geutiie.  tliail 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


505 


righteousness,  therefore  they  have  not  submitted  them-  be  admitted 

4  selves  to  the  righteousness  of  God.  For  the  end  of  the  von  ^  ^' 
Law  L«  Christ,  that  all  may  attain  righteousness  who  have  faith  in 

5  him.    For  Moses  writes  concerning  the  righteousness  of  the  Law, 

6  saying,  "  The  man  which  doeth  these  things  shall  live  therein  ; "  but  the 
righteousness  of  faith  speaks  in  this  wise,  Say  not  in  thine  heart, 
"  Who  shall  ascend  into  heaven     that  is,  "  Who  can  bring  down  Christ 

7  from  heaven?"  nor  say,  *'Who  shall  descend  into  the  abyss  f  that  is, 

8  "Who  can  raise  up  Christ  from  the  dead?''  But  how  speaks  it? 
"  The  word  is  nigh  thee,  even  in  thy  mouth  and  in  thy  heart — that  is, 

9  the  word  of  faith  which  we  proclaim,  saying,  "If  with  thy  mouth 
thou  shalt  confess  Jesus  for  thy  Lord,  and  shalt  have  fixith  in  thy 

10  heart  that  God  raised  him  from  the  dead,  thou  shalt  be  saved."  For 
faith  unto  righteousness  is  in  the  heart,  and  confession  unto  salvation 

11  is  from  the  mouth.    And  so  says  the  Scripture,  "  Whosoever  hath 

12  faith  in  him  shall  be  saved  from  confusion  for  there  is  no  distinction 
between  Jew  and  Gentile,  because  the  same  [Jesus]  is  Lord  over  all, 

13  and  he  gives  richly  to  all  who  call  upon  him ;  for  "  Every  man  who 
shall  call  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord  shall  be  saved^ 

14  How  then  shall  they  call  on  Him  in  whom  they  in  order,  there- 
have  put  no  faith  ?    And  how  shall  they  put  faith  in  may  be  to  ad- 

15  Him  of  whom  they  never  heard  ?  And  how  shall  "ilattoA  *to^  be' 
they  hear  of  him  if  no  man  bear  the  tidings?  And  uniJer^Uypro! 
who  shall  bear  the  tidings  if  no  messengers  be  sent  has"^^^arready 
forth?  As  it  is  written,  ''How  beautiful  are  the  feet  of  d"phfe 
them  that  bear  glad  tidings  of  peace,  that  bear  glad  tidings       Jews  of  th© 

^  J     J  r        1  a  J     excuse  of  igno- 

16  of  good  things  r    Yet  some  have  not  hearkened  to  the  ranee,  espe- 

1    1     •  T  •  1    -r-i     •  cially   as  they 

glad  tidmgs,  as  saith  Esaias,    Lord,  who  hath  given  had  received 

tt-i    r  •  1  T'/nnni         n  •  t  t  t       Warnings  of  re- 

17  faith  to  our  teaching  bo,  then,  faith  comes  by  teach-  jection  before 
ing;  and  our  teaching  comes  by  the  word  of  God.  Scriptures. 

18  But  I  say,  have  they  not  heard  the  voice  of  the  teachers?  Yea, 
"  Their  sound  went  forth  into  all  the  earth,  and  their  words  unto  the  ends 

19  of  the  worldJ^  Again,  I  say,  did  not  Israel  know  [the  purpose  of 
God]  ?  yea,  it  is  said  first  by  Moses,  "  I  will  make  you  jealous  against 
them  which  are  no  people,  against  a  Gentile  nation  without  'dnderstand- 

20  ing  will  I  make  you  wroth^  But  Esaias  speaks  boldly,  saying, '' I  was 
found  of  them  that  sought  me  not;  I  was  made  manifest  unto  them  that 

21  asked  not  after  meP  But  unto  Israel  he  says,  ''All  day  long  have  1 
spread  forth  my  arms  unto  a  disobedient  and  gainsaying  peopled 

XI. 

1     I  say,  then — must  we  think  that  God  has  cast  off  ^^^.T 

*^ '  ever,  are  not  all 


606 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


his  people?  That  be  far  from  us;  for  I  am  myself  also  rpjected:  tho«« 

an  Israelite,  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  of  the  tribe  of  chSst^^'^\!av© 

Benjamin.    God  has  not  cast  off  his  people  whom  he  by  God  (^<A6y^^ 

2  foreknew.  Yea,  know  ye  not  what  is  said  in  the  ^iid^  mi/v  ^tlfe 
Scriptures  of  Elias,  how  he  intercedes  with  God  aorainst  "    e  i  i  ev  i  n  g 

,  portion  leject- 

3  Israel,  saying,  "  Lordj  they  have  killed  thy  prophets,  and 

digged  down  thine  altars,  and  lam  left  alone^  and  they  seek  my  life  aiso^'  f 

4  But  what  says  the  answer  of  God  to  him?  "7  have  yet  left  to  myself 
a  remnantj  even  seven  thousand  men,  who  have  not  bowed  the  knee  to 

5  Baair    So  likewise  at  this  present  time  there  is  a  remnant  [of  the 

6  house  of  Israel]  chosen  by  gift  of  grace.  But  if  their  choice  be  the 
gift  of  grace,  it  can  no  more  be  deemed  the  wage  of  works ;  for  the 
gift  that  is  earned  is  no  gift ;  or  if  it  be  gained  by  works,  it  is  no 
longer  the  gift  of  grace;  for  work  claims  wages,  and  not  gifts. 

7  What  follows  then  ?    That  which  Israel  seeks,  Israel  has  not  won ; 

8  but  the  chosen  have  won  it,  and  the  rest  were  hardened,  as  it  is 
written,    God  hath  given  them  a  spirit  of  slumber,  eyes  that  they  should 

9  not  see,  and  ears  that  they  should  not  hear,  unto  this  day.^^  And  David 
says,  "  Let  their  table  be  made  a  snare  and  a  trap,  and  a  stumbling-block 

10  and  a  recompense  unto  them.  Let  their  eyes  be  darkened  that  they  may  not 
see,  and  bow  down  their  back  alwayJ* 

11  Shall  we  say,  then,  "They  have  stumbled  to  the  end  Kor  is  the  re- 
that  they  might  fall"?  That  be  far  from  us;  but  iTn {Relieving 
rather,  their  stumbling  has  brought  salvation  to  the  aa"to  ^exclude 
Gentiles,  "^o  provoke  the  house  of  Israel  to  jealousy desSndant^Sr 

12  Now,  if  their  stumbling  enriches  the  world,  and  if  the  admissioir  into 
lessening  of  their  gain  gives  wealth  to  the  Gentiles,  ^s^tL  Geliuie 
how  much  more  would  their  fulness  do !  unbelievers  had 

on  their  belit-f 

13  For  to  vou  who  are  Gentiles  I  say  that,  as  apostle  of  been  grafted 

T  .  ...  .         ,    .«    I'lto  the  Chria- 

14  the  Gentiles,  I  glorify  my  ministration  for  this  end,  if  tian  churcii, 
perchance  I  might  '^provoke  to  jealousy my  kinsmen,  same  original 

15  and  save  some  among  them.  For  if  the  casting  of  them  jewi^sii  c'hurch^ 
out  is  the  reconciliation  of  the  world  [to  God],  what  wouui^  Jewish 
would  the  gathering  of  them  in  be,  but  life  from  the  Tile^r' beUef  be 

J      1  9  grafted  anew 

^^^^  •  into  that  stock 

16  Now,  if  the  first  of  the  dough  be  hallowed,  the  whole  Jj^^JJ?  ^^^'^  ^^J;^ 
mass  is  thereby  hallowed ;  and  if  the  root  be  hallowed,  i^'oken  off. 

17  so  are  also  the  branches.  But  if  some  of  the  branches  were  broken 
off,  and  thou  being  of  the  wild  olive  stock  wast  grafted  in  amongst 
them,  and  made  to  share  the  richness  which  flows  from  the  root  of 

18  the  fruitful  olive,  yet  boast  not  over  the  branches;  but — if  thou  art 

19  boastful— thou  bearest  not  the  root,  but  the  root  thee.   Thou  wilt 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


507 


sav  then,  "  The  branches  were  broken  off  that  I  might  be  grafted  in." 

20  It  is  true — for  lack  of  faith  they  were  broken  off,  and  by  faith  thou 

21  standest  in  their  place;  be  not  high-minded,  but  fear;  for  if  God 
spared  not  the  natural  branches,  take  heed  lest  he  also  spare  not  thee. 

12  Behold,  therefore,  the  goodness  and  the  severity  of  God ;  towards 
them  who  fell,  severity,  but  towards  thee,  goodness,  if  thou  continue 
steadfast  to  his  goodness ;  for  otherwise  thou  too  shalt  be  cut  off. 

23  And  they  also,  if  they  persist  not  in  their  faithlessness,  shall  be  grafted 

24  in ;  for  God  is  able  to  graft  them  in  where  they  were  before.  For  if 
thou  wast  cut  out  from  that  which  by  nature  was  the  stock  of  the 
wild  olive,  and  wast  grafted  against  nature  into  the  fruitful  olive,  how 
much  more  shall  these,  the  natural  branches,  be  grafted  into  the 
fruitful  stock  from  whence  they  sprang ! 

25  For  I  would  not  have  you  ignorant,  brethren,  of  this  Thus  God's  ob- 
mystery,  lest  you  should  be  wise  in  your  own  conceits  ^ot'  to^  refect 
— that  hardness  of  heart  has  fallen  upon  a  part  of  gho'w^  m^ercy 
Israel  until  the  full  body  of  the  Gentiles  shall  have  ^f^^J  h\s°J)u"- 

26  come  in.    And  so  all  Israel  shall  be  saved,  as  it  is  p^^^ 

'  to  make  use  of 

written,  "  Out  of  Zion  shall  come  the  deliverer,  and  he       Jewish  un- 

'  *^  '  behef    to  call 

27  shall  turn  away  ungodliness  from  Jacob,    And  this  is  my  the  Gentiles  in- 

.  7      ,  Trr,  r     7     7,       7  7    •       •  his  Chuich. 

covenant  with  them.     When  1  shall  take  away  their  sins,    anfi  by  the  ad- 

ftrt  T  /•!        ii«T         ri       •       •111  mission  of  the 

28  J n  respect  of  the  glad  tidings  [that  it  might  be  borne  Gentiles  to 
to  the  Gentiles],  they  are  God's  enemies  for  your  sakes ;  to""a*ccept  "^^m* 
but  in  respect  of  God's  choice,  they  are  his  beloved  for  an  might  at 

29  their  fathers'  sakes ;  for  no  change  of  purpose  can  an-  Ifi"  mercyT^^^* 

30  nul  God's  gifts  and  call.    And  as  in  times  past  you 

were  yourselves  disobedient  to  God,  but  have  now  received  mercy 

31  upon  their  disobedience ;  so  in  this  present  time  they  have  been  dis- 
obedient, that  upon  your  obtaining  mercy  they  likewise  might  obtain 

32  mercy.  For  God  has  shut  up  together  both  Jews  and  Gentiles  under 
[the  doom  of]  disobedience,  that  he  might  have  mercy  upon  them 

33  all.   Oh  depth  of  the  bounty,  and  the  wisdom,  and  the  knowledge  of 

34  God!  how  unfathomable  are  his  judgments,  and  how  unsearchable 
his  paths !    Yea,  "  Who  hath  known  the  mind  of  the  Lord^  or  who  hath 

35  been  his  counsellor  Or  "  Who  hath  first  given  unto  Godj  thai  he  should 
86  deserve  a  recompense       For  from  him  is  the  beginning,  and  by  him 

the  life,  and  in  him  the  end,  of  all  things.  Unto  him  be  glory  for 
ever.  Ajnen. 

XII. 

1     I  exhort  you,  therefore,  brethren,  as  you  would  Exhortations  to 
ncknowledge  the  mercies  of  God,  to  offer  your  bodies  a  iild^eaTn'tli  p'er! 


508 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PATO. 


living  sacrifice,  holy  and  well   pleasing  unto  God,  formance  of  the 

2  which  is  your  reasonable  worship.  And  be  not  con-  iiig  to  their  sev- 
formed  to  the  fashion  of  this  passing  world,  but  be  clmn|s^Lid"to 
transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind,  that  by  an  hij ulie.?.^^!  i  s  o 
unerring  test  you  may  discern  the  will  of  God,  even  dtence'^^lo^^ho 

3  that  which  is  good,  and  acceptable,  and  perfect.  For  trates  as  (5?d;fin- 
through  the  gift  of  grace  bestowed  upon  me  [as  Christ's  |enerany'  (x!if 
apostlel,  I  warn  every  man  among  you  not  to  think  of  ^i^)  to  love,  as 

^  ^         *'  ^  comprehending 

himself  more  highly  than  he  ought  to  think,  but  let       duties  to 

,  .  °       ,  '     .  our  neighbor. 

each  of  you  strive  to  gain  a  sober  mind,  according  to  All  these  duties 

^1  .1-  Should  be  per- 

4  the  measure  of  faith  which  God  has  given  him.  For  formed  (xiii.  ii 
as  we  have  many  limbs,  which  all  are  members  of  the  ex^pec^tati^on  ^of 
same  body,  though  they  have  not  all  the  same  office ;  comTng^.  ^^^^^^ 

5  so  we  ourselves  are  all  one  body  in  Christ,  and  fellow- members  one  of 

6  another ;  but  we  have  gifls  differing  according  to  the  grace  which  God 
has  given  us.    He  that  hath  the  gift  of  prophecy,  let  him  exercise  it 

7  according  to  the  proportion  of  his  faith.  He  that  has  the  gift  of 
ministration,  let  him  minister ;  he  that  has  the  gift  to  teach,  let  him 

8  use  it  in  teaching ;  he  that  can  exhort,  let  him  labor  in  exhortation. 
He  who  gives,  let  him  give  in  singleness  of  mind.  He  who  rules, 
let  him  rule  diligently.    He  who  shows  pity,  let  him  show  it  gladly. 

9  Let  your  love  be  without  feigning.    Abhor  that  which  is  evil ; 

10  cleave  to  that  which  is  good.  Be  kindly-affectioned  one  to  another 
in  brotherly  love ;  in  honor  let  each  set  his  neighbor  above  himself. 

1 1  Let  your  diligence  be  free  from  sloth,  let  your  spirit  glow  with  zeal ; 

12  be  true  bondsmen  of  your  Lord.    In  your  hope  be  joyful;  in  your 

13  sufferings  be  steadfast ;  in  your  prayers  be  unwearied.  Be  liberal  to 
the  needs  of  Christ's  people,  and  show  hospitality  to  the  stranger. 

14, 15  Bless  your  persecutors ;  yea,  bless,  and  curse  not.    Kejoice  with 

16  them  that  rejoice,  and  weep  with  them  that  weep.  Be  of  one  mind 
amongst  yourselves.    Set  not  your  heart  on  high  things,  but  suffer 

17  yourselves  to  be  borne  along  with  the  lowly.  Be  not  wise  in  your 
own  conceits.    Repay  no  man  evil  for  evil.    See  that  your  life  be 

18  blameless  in  the  sight  of  all.    If  it  be  possible,  as  far  as  lies  in  your- 

19  selves,  keep  peace  with  all  men.  Revenge  not  yourselves,  beloved, 
but  give  place  to  the  wrath  [of  God],  for  it  is  written,  "Vengeance  is 

20  mine;  Twill  repay j  saith  the  LordJ'^  Therefore,  "If  thine  enemy  hun- 
ger, feed  him  ;  if  he  thirst,  give  him  drink;  for  in  so  doing,  thou  shall 
heap  coals  of  fire  upon  his  head.^^  Be  not  overcome  by  evil,  but  over- 
come evil  with  good. 

XIIL 

1     Let  every  man  submit  himself  to  the  authorities  of  government ; 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


509 


for  all  authority  comes  from  God,  and  the  authorities  which  now  are, 

2  have  been  set  in  their  place  by  God :  therefore,  he  who  sets  himself 
against  the  authority,  resists  the  ordinance  of  God  ;  and  they  who 

3  resist  will  bring  judgment  upon  themselves.  For  the  magistrate  is 
not  terrible  to  good  works,*  but  to  evil.    Wilt  thou  be  fearless  of  his 

4  authority  ?  do  what  is  good,  and  thou  shalt  have  its  praise.  For  the 
magistrate  is  God's  minister  to  thee  for  good.  But  if  thou  art  an 
evil-doer,  be  afraid ;  for  not  by  chance  does  he  bear  the  sword  [of 
justice],  being  a  minister  of  God,  appointed  to  do  vengeance  upon 

5  the  guilty.    Wherefore  you  must  needs  submit,  not  only  for  fear,  but 

6  also  for  conscience'  sake ;  for  this  also  is  the  cause  why  you  pay 
tribute,  because  the  authorities  of  government  are  officers  of  God's 

7  will,  and  his  service  is  the  every  end  of  their  daily  w^ork.  Pay, 
therefore,  to  all  their  dues  ;  tribute  to  whom  tribute  is  due ;  customs 

8  to  whom  customs ;  fear  to  w^hom  fear ;  honor  to  whom  honor.  Owe 
no  debt  to  any  man,  save  the  debt  of  love  alone ;  for  he  who  loves 

9  his  neighbor  has  fulfilled  the  Law.  For  the  Law,  which  says,  "TAow 
shalt  not  commit  adultery;  Thou  shalt  do  no  murder ;  Thou  shalt  not 
steal;  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness;  Thou  shalt  not  covetj'^  and 
whatsoever  other  commandment  there  be,  is  all  contained  in  this  one 

10  saying,  "  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself  J*  Love  works  no  ill 
to  his  neighbor ;  therefore  love  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  Law. 

11  This  do,  knowing  the  season  wherein  we  stand,  and  that  for  us  it 
is  high  time  to  awake  out  of  sleep,  for  our  salvation  is  already  nearer 

12  than  when  we  first  believed.  The  night  is  far  spent,  the  day  is  at 
hand ;  let  us  therefore  cast  off  the  works  of  darkness,  and  let  us  put 

13  on  the  armor  of  light.  Let  us  walk  (as  in  the  light  of  day)  in 
seemly  guise ;  not  in  rioting  and  drunkenness,  not  in  dalliance  and 

14  wantonness,  not  in  strife  and  envying.  But  clothe  yourselves  with 
J esus  Christ  your  Lord,  and  take  no  thought  to  please  your  fleshly 
lusts. 

XIV. 

1  Him  who  is  weak  in  his  faith  receive  into  your  fel-  ^^^se  chris- 

tians  who  still 

lowship,  and  make  no  distinctions  for  opinion's  sake,  c^^^"?  to  super- 

^  Btitious  dirttinc- 

2  Some  have  faith  that  they  may  eat  all  things ;  others,  tions  betweeu 

o      1  1    f  1      1        1  T  1  •  1       meats  and  days 

6  who  are  weak,t  eat  herbs  alone.    Let  not  him  who  should  be 

♦  We  must  remember  that  this  was  written  before  the  imperial  government 
had  begun  to  persecute  Christianity.  It  is  a  testimony  in  favor  of  the  general 
administration  of  the  Roman  criminal  law. 

t  These  were  probably  Christians  of  Jewish  birth,  who  so  feared  lest  they 
Bhould  (Tvithout  knowing  it)  eat  meat  which  had  been  offered  to  idols  (which 


610 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


eats  despise  him  who  abstains ;  nor  let  him  who  ab-  treated  with 

stains  judge  him  who  eats,  for  God  has  received  him  the"'more^  en- 

4  among  his  people.  Who  art  thou,  that  judgest  an-  i\f sirjuid*  i?e!vt 
other's  servant?    To  his  own  Master  he  must  stand  or  chaHtV 

fall;  but  he  shall  be  made  to  stand,  for  God  is  able  to  f"^  <or  i,ea  r 

6  set  him  up.    There  are  some  who  esteem  one dav  above         ^"'t  •?"" 

,  "  otlier,  whether 

another;  and  agam  there  are  some  who  esteem  all  days  Jews  or  Gen- 
alike ;  let  each  be  fully  persuaded  in  his  own  mind.  Christ  had  re- 

6  He  who  regards  the  day,  regards  it  unto  the  Lord  ;  and  h\»  favor  'a» 
he  who  regards  it  not,  disregards  it  unto  the  Lord.  He  Lord.  ^^^^^^ 
who  eats,  eats  unto  the  Lord,  for  he  gives  God  thanks ;  and  he  who 
abstains,  abstains  unto  the  Lord,  and  gives  thanks  to  God  likewise. 

7,  8  For  not  unto  hi^riself  does  any  one  of  us  either  live  or  die ;  but 
whether  we  live,  we\ive  unto  our  Lord,  or  whether  we  die,  we  die 

9  unto  our  Lord ;  therefore,  living  or  dying,  we  are  the  Lord's.  For 
to  this  end  Christ  died,  and  lived  again,  that  he  might  be  Lord  both 

10  of  the  dead  and  of  the  living.  But  thou,  why  judgest  thou  thy 
brother  ?    Or  thou,  why  despisest  thou  thy  brother  ?  for  we  shall  all 

11  stand  before  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ.  And  so  it  is  written,  "Js 
/  live,  sailh  the  Lord,  every  knee  shall  bow  to  me,  and  every  tongue  shall 

12  acknowledge  GodJ^    So,  then,  every  one  of  us  shall  give  account  to 

13  God  [not  of  his  brethren,  but]  of  himself.  Let  us  then  judge  each 
other  no  more,  but  let  this  rather  be  your  judgment,  to  put  no 

14  stumbling-block  or  cause  of  falling  in  your  brother's  way.  I  know, 
and  am  persuaded  in  the  Lord  Jesus,  that  nothing  is  in  itself 
unclean;  but  whatever  a  man  thinks  unclean,  is  unclean  to  him. 

15  And  if  for  meat  thou  grievest  thy  brother,  thou  hast  ceased  to  walk 
by  the  rule  of  love.  Destroy  not  him  with  thy  meat  for  whom 
Christ  died. 

16,17  I  say,  then,  let  not  your  good  be  evil  spoken  of.  For  the  king- 
dom of  God  is  not  meat  and  drink,  but  righteousness,  and  peace,  and 

18  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit ;  and  he  who  lives  in  these  things  as  Christ's 
bondsman  is  well  pleasing  to  God,  and  cannot  be  condemned  by  men. 

19  Let  us  therefore  follow  the  things  which  make  for  peace,  such  as  may 
build  us  up  together  into  one.    Destroy  not  thou  the  work  of  God 

20  for  a  meal  of  meat.    All  things  indeed  [in  themselves]  are  pure ; 

21  bit  evil  is  that  which  causes  stumbling  to  the  eater.  It  is  good 
neither  to  eat  flesh,  nor  to  drink  wine,  nor  to  do  any  other  thing 

22  whereby  thy  brother  is  made  to  stumble.  Hast  thou  faith  [that 
nothing  is  unclean]  ?  keep  it  for  thine  own  comfort  before  God. 

might  easily  happen  in  such  a  place  as  Rome)  that  they  abstained  from  meat 
altogether. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  ROMANS. 


511 


Happy  is  he  wlio  condemns  not  himself  by  the  very  judgment  which 
23  he  pronounces.    But  he  who  doubts,  is  thereby  condemned  if  he  eats, 
because  he  has  not  faith  that  he  may  eat ;  and  every  faithless  deed 
is  sin. 

XV. 

1  And  we,  who  are  strong,  ought  to  bear  the  infirmities  of  the  weak, 

2  and  not  to  please  ourselves.    Let  each  of  us  therefore  please  hia 

3  neighbor  for  good  ends,  to  build  him  up.  For  we  know  that  Christ 
pleased  not  himself,  but  in  him  was  fulfilled  that  which  is  written, 

4  "  The  reproaches  of  them  that  reproached  thee  fell  upon  meJ*  For  our 
instruction  is  the  end  of  all  which  was  written  of  old ;  that  by  stead- 
fast endurance  [in  suffering],  and  by  the  counsel  of  the  Scriptures, 

5  we  may  hold  fast  our  hope.  Kow  may  God,  from  whom  both  counsel 
and  endurance  come,  grant  you  to  be  of  one  mind  together,  according 

6  to  the  will  of  Christ,  that  you  may  all  [both  strong  and  Aveak],  with 
one  heart  and  voice,  give  praise  to  Him  who  is  our  God  and  the 

7  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Clirist.  Wherefore,  receive  ye  one  another 
into  fellowship,  to  the  praise  of  God,  even  as  Christ  also  received 
you. 

8  For  I  say  that  Jesus  Christ  came  to  b6  a  minister  of  the  covenant 
of  circumcision,  to  maintain  the  truthfulness  of  God,  and  confirm 
the  promises  which  were  made  to  our  fathers ;  and  [he  came  to  min- 

9  ister  to  the  Gentiles  also],  that  the  Gentiles  might  praise  God  for  his 
mercy,  as  it  is  written,  "i^or  this  cause  I  will  acknowledge  thee  among 

10  the  Gentiles^  and  will  sing  unto  thy  naraeJ^  And  again  it  is  said,  '^He- 
ll joice,  ye  Gentiles^  with  his  people and  again,  "  Praise  the  Lord^  all 

12  ye  Gentiles,  and  laud  Aim,  all  ye  peoples  and  again  Esaias  saith, 
"  There  shall  come  the  root  of  Jesse,  and  He  that  shall  rise  to  reign  over 

13  the  Gentiles;  in  him  shall  the  Gentiles  hopeJ^  Now  may  the  God  of 
hope  fill  you  with  all  joy  and  peace  in  believing,  that  you  may  abound 
in  hope,  through  the  mighty  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

-   14     But  I  am  persuaded,  my  brethren,  both  by  the  re-  Paul  gives  these 
ports  of  others,  and  by  my  own  iudffment  also,  that  i>oiciiy  to  the 

1        1     /.  1  1  o  y  Roman  Chns- 

3"ou  are  already  full  of  goodness,  filled  with  all  know-  tians,  as  being 

11  T  1         .1  apostle  of 

ledge,  ana  able,  without  my  counsel,  to  admonish  one  the  Gentiles. 

15  another.  Yet  I  have  written  to  you  somewhat  boldly  to  visit  them  on 
in  parts  [of  this  letter],  to  remind  you  [rather  than  to  Spain ;  for  be 

16  teach  you],  because  of  that  gift  of  grace  which  God  has  ecuted  h?8%09^ 
given  me,  whereby  he  sent  me  to  minister  for  Jesus  gfon  in  th^^st^ 
Christ,  bearing  liis  glad  tidings  to  the  Gentiles,  that  I  Vm^iC^otr 
miglit  present  them  to  God,  as  a  priest  presents  the  nofoccSpied'by 
offering,  a  sacrifice  well  pleasing  unto  him,  hallowed  by  ^^^^^H' 


512 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


17  the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  have  therefore  some-  5^ 

®  .  Jerusalem    t  a 

what  whereof  to  boast  in  Christ  Jesus,  concerninf?  the  convey  tha 

^_    ,  .  /.        T     /.       T      .11  1         I-  -,1         Greek  contri- 

18  things  of  God:  for  I  will  not  dare  [as  some  do]  to  butions thither 

1     ./.  1 /.  />      1     1  1  /.I         1       -1-     .n  1         spite  of  the 

glorify  myself  for  the  labors  of  others,  but  I  will  speak  dangers  which 
only  of  the  works  which  Christ  has  wrought  by  me,  meet  there! 

19  to  bring  the  Gentiles  to  obedience,  by  word  and  deed,  with  the  might 
of  signs  and  wonders,  the  might  of  the  Spirit  of  God ;  so  that  going 
forth  from  Jerusalem,  and  round  about  so  far  as  Illyricum,  I  have 

20  fulfilled  my  task  in  bearing  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ.  And  my 
ambition  was  to  bear  it  according  to  this  rule  [that  I  should  go],  not 

21  where  the  name  of  Christ  was  known  (lest  I  should  be  building  on 
another  man's  foundation),  but  [where  it  was  unheard]  ;  as  it  is 
written,  "  To  whom  he  was  not  spoken  qfj  they  shall  see;  and  the  people 
who  have  not  heard  shall  understand.^^ 

22  This  is  the  cause  why  I  have  often  been  hindered  from  coming  to 

23  you.  But  now  that  I  have  no  longer  room  enough  [for  my  labors] 
in  these  regions,  and  have  had  a  great  desire  to  visit  you  these  many 

24  years,  so  soon  as  I  take  my  journey  into  Spain  I  will  come  to  you ; 
for  I  hope  to  see  you  on  my  way,  and  to  be  set  forward  on  my  jour- 
ney thither  by  you,  after  I  have  in  some  measure  satisfied  my  desire 

25  of  your  company.    But  now  I  am  going  to  Jerusalem,  being  em- 

26  ployed  in  a  ministration  for  Christ's  people.  For  the  provinces  of 
Macedonia  and  Achaia  have  willingly  undertaken  to  make  a  certain 

27  contribution  for  the  poor  among  Christ's  people  in  Jerusalem.  Will- 
ingly, I  say,  they  have  done  this ;  and  indeed  they  are  debtors  to  the 
Church  in  Jerusalem;  for  since  the  Gentiles  have  shared  in  the 
spiritual  goods  of  the  brethren  in  Judaea,  they  owe  it  in  return  to 

28  minister  to  them  of  their  own  earthly  goods.  When,  therefore,  I 
have  finished  this  task,  and  have  given  to  them  in  safety  the  fruit  of 

29  this  collection,  I  will  come  from  thence,  by  you,  into  Spain.  And  I 
am  sure  that  when  I  come  to  you,  our  meeting  will  receive  the  ful- 

30  ness  of  Christ's  blessing.  But  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ,  and  by  the  love  which  the  Spirit  gives,  to  help  me  in 
my  conflict  with  your  prayers  to  God  on  my  behalf,  that  I  may  be 

31  delivered  from  the  disobedient  in  Judsea,  and  that  the  service  which 
I  have  undertaken  for  Jerusalem  may  be  favorably  received  by 

32  Christ's  people ;  that  so  I  may  come  to  you  in  joy,  by  God's  will, 

33  and  may  be  refreshed  in  your  companionship.  May  the  God  of 
peace  be  with  you  all.  Amen. 

XVI 

1     I  commend  to  you  Phoebe  our  sister,  who  is  a  min-  Commendation 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  EOMANS. 


513 


istering  servant  of  the  Church  at  Cenchreae ;  that  you  of  Phoebe,  and 

2  may  receive  her  in  the  Lord,  as  Christ's  people  should  numerouT  ko- 
receive  their  brethren,  and  aid  her  in  any  business  ^^i^^^i^^^^^* 
wherein  she  needs  your  help ;  for  she  has  herself  aided  many,  and 
me  also  among  the  rest. 

3  Greet  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  my  fellow-laborers  in  the  work  of 
Christ  Jesus,  who  to  save  my  life  laid  down  their  own  necks ;  who 
are  thanked,  not  by  me  alone,  but  by  all  the  churches  of  the  Gen- 

4  tiles.    Greet  likewise  the  Church  which  assembles  at  their  house. 

5  Salute  Epaenetus  my  dearly  beloved,  who  is  the  first-fruits  of  Asia 
unto  Christ. 

6  Salute  Mary,  who  labored  much  for  me. 

7  Salute  Andronicus  and  Junias,  my  kinsmen  and  fellow-prisoners, 
who  are  well  known  among  the  apostles,  and  who  were  also  in  Clirist 
before  me. 

8  Salute  Amplias,  my  dearly  beloved  in  the  Lord. 

9  Salute  Urbanus,  my  fellow-workman  in  Christ's  service,  and 
Stachys  my  dearly  beloved. 

10  Salute  Apelles,  who  has  been  tried  and  found  trustworthy  in 
Christ's  work. 

Salute  those  who  are  of  the  household  of  Aristobulus. 

11  Salute  Herodion,  my  kinsman. 

Salute  those  of  the  household  of  Narcissus  who  are  in  the  Lord's 
fellowship. 

12  Salute  Tryphena  and  Tryphosa,  the  faithful  laborers  in  the  Lord's 
service. 

Salute  Persis  the  dearly  beloved,  who  has  labored  much  in  the 
Lord. 

13  Salute  Kufus  the  chosen  in  the  Lord,  and  his  mother,  who  is  also 
mine. 

14  Salute  Asyncritus,  Phlegon,  Hermas,  Patrobas,  Hermes,  and  the 
brethren  who  are  with  them. 

15  Salute  Philologus,  and  Julia,  Nereus  and  his  sister,  and  Olympas, 
and  all  Christ's  people  who  are  with  them. 

16  Salute  one  another  with  the  kiss  of  holiness. 
The  churches  of  Christ  [in  Achaia]  salute  you. 

17  I  exhort  you,  brethren,  to  keep  your  eyes  upon  ^ff^f^J "f  ^f^gted 
those  who  cause  divisions  and  cast  stumbling-blocks  paitisane. 

in  the  way  of  others,  contrary  to  the  teaching  which  you  have 

18  learned.  Shun  them  that  are  such ;  for  the  master  whom  they 
serve  is  not  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  but  their  own  belly ;  and  by  their 
fair  speaking  and  flattery  they  deceive  the  hearts  of  the  guileless.  I 

33 


514         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OP  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


19  say  this,  because  the  tidings  of  your  obedience  have  been  told 
throughout  the  world.  On  your  own  behalf,  therefore,  I  rejoice: 
but  I  wish  you  not  only  to  be  simple  in  respect  of  evil,  but  to  be  wise 

20  for  good.  And  the  God  of  peace  shall  bruise  Satan  under  your  feet 
speedily. 

The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you. 

21  Timotheus,  my  fellow-laborer,  and  Lucius,  and  Ja-  Salutations  from 

^  c^     '     J.  1  •  1   X  Christians  at 

son,  and  Sosipater,  my  kinsmen,  salute  you.  Corinth  to  those 

22  I,  Tertius,  who  have  written  this  letter,  salute  you 
in  the  Lord. 

23  Gains,  who  is  the  host,  not  of  me  alone,  but  also  of  the  whole 
Church,  salutes  you. 

Erastus,  the  treasurer  of  the  city,  and  the  brother  Quartus,  salute 
you. 

24  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  you  all.  Autograph  con- 

25  Now  I  commend  you  unto  Him  who  is  able  to  keep 

you  steadfast,  according  to  my  glad  tidings,  and  the  preaching  of 
Jesus  Christ  whereby  is  unveiled  the  mystery  which  was  liid- 

26  den  in  silence  through  the  ages  of  old,  but  has  now  been  brought  to 
light,  and  made  known  to  all  the  Gentiles  by  the  Scriptures  of  the 
prophets,  by  command  of  the  everlasting  God ;  that  the  Gentiles 

27  might  be  led  to  the  obedience  of  faith  unto  Kim,  the  only  wise 

God,  I  commend  you  through  Jesus  Christ,  to  whom  be  glory  for 
ever.  Amen. 


CHAPTER  XX. 


CORIKTH.  —  ISTHMIAN  GAMES.  — VOYAGE  FROM  PHILIPPI.  — 
SUNDAY  AT  TROAS. — ASSOS. — VOYAGE  BY  MITYLENE  AND 
TROGYLLIUM  TO  MILETUS.— "  SPEECH  TO  THE  EPHESIAN  PRES- 
BYTERS."— VOYAGE  BY  COS  AND  RHODES  TO  PATARA. — THENCE 
TO  PHCENICIA. — CHRISTIANS  AT  TYRE. — PTOLEMAIS. — EVENT 
AT  CiESAREA. — ARRIVAL  AT  JERUSALEM. 

In  the  Epistles  which  have  been  already  set  before  the  reader  in 
the  course  of  this  biography,  and  again  in  some  of  those  which  are 
to  succeed,  Paul  makes  frequent  allusion  to  a  topic  which  engrossed 
the  interest  and  called  forth  the  utmost  energies  of  the  Greeks. 
The  periodical  games  were  to  them  rather  a  passion  than  an 
amusement ;  and  the  apostle  often  uses  language  drawn  from  these 
celebrations  when  he  wishes  to  enforce  the  zeal  and  the  patience 
with  which  a  Christian  ought  to  strain  after  his  heavenly  reward. 
The  imagery  he  employs  is  sometimes  varied.  In  one  instance, 
when  he  describes  the  struggle  of  the  spirit  with  the  flesh,  he 
seeks  his  illustration  in  the  violent  contest  of  the  boxers  (1  Cor. 
ix.  26).  In  another,  when  he  would  give  a  strong  representation 
of  the  perils  he  had  encountered  at  Ephesus,  he  speaks  as  one  who 
had  contended  in  that  ferocious  sport  which  the  Romans  had 
introduced  among  the  Greeks,  the  fighting  of  gladiators  with  wild 
beasts  (ib.  xv.  32).  But  usually  his  reference  is  to  the  foot-race  in 
the  stadium,  which,  as  it  was  the  most  ancient,  continued  to  be  the 
most  esteemed  among  the  purely  Greek  athletic  contests.  If  we 
compare  the  various  passages  where  this  language  is  used,  we  find 
the  whole  scene  in  the  stadium  brought  vividly  before  us — the 
"herald"  who  summons  the  contending  runners;  the  course, 
which  rapidly  diminishes  in  front  of  them  as  their  footsteps  ad- 
vance to  the  goal ;  the  judge  who  holds  out  the  prize  at  the  end 
of  the  course ;  tlie  prize  itself,  a  chaplet  of  fading  leaves,  which  is 
compared  with  the  strongest  emphasis  of  contrast  to  the  unfading 
glory  with  which  the  faithful  Christian  will  be  crowned ;  the  joy 

615 


616  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

and  exultation  of  the  victor,  wbicli  the  apostle  applies  to  his  own 
case  when  he  speaks  of  his  converts  as  his  "joy  and  crown/'  the 
token  of  his  victory  and  the  subject  of  his  boasting.  And  under 
the  same  image  he  sets  forth  the  heavenly  prize,  after  which  his 
converts  themselves  should  struggle  with  strenuous  and  unswerving 
zeal,  with  no  hesitating  step  (1  Cor.  ix.  26),  pressing  forward  and 
never  looking  back  (Phil.  iii.  13,  14),  even  to  the  disregard  of  life 
itself  (Acts  XX.  24).  And  the  metaphor  extends  itself  beyond 
the  mere  struggle  in  the  arena  to  the  preparations  which  were 
necessary  to  success — to  that  severe  and  continued  training  which, 
being  so  great  for  so  small  a  reward,  was  a  fit  image  of  that 
"training  unto  godliness"  which  has  the  promise  not  only  of  this 
life,  but  of  that  which  is  to  come ;  to  the  strict  regulations  which 
presided  over  all  the  details,  both  of  the  contest  and  the  pre- 
liminary discipline,  and  are  used  to  warn  the  careless  Christian 
of  the  peril  of  an  undisciplined  life;  to  the  careful  diet,  which 
admonishes  us  that,  if  we  would  so  run  that  we  may  obtain,  we 
must  be  "  temperate  in  all  things." 

This  imagery  would  be  naturally  and  familiarly  suggested  to 
Paul  by  the  scenes  which  he  witnessed  in  every  part  of  his  travels. 
At  his  own  native  place  on  the  banks  of  the  Cydnus,  in  every  city 
throughout  Asia  Minor,  and  more  especially  at  Ephesus,  the 
stadium  and  the  training  for  the  stadium  were  among  the  chief 
subjects  of  interest  to  the  whole  population.  Even  in  Palestine, 
and  at  Jerusalem  itself,  these  busy  amusements  were  well  known. 
But  Greece  was  the  very  home  from  which  these  institutions  drew 
their  origin,  and  the  isthmus  of  Corinth  was  one  of  four  sanctu- 
aries where  the  most  celebrated  games  were  periodically  held. 
Now  that  we  have  reached  the  point  where  Paul  is  about  to  leave 
this  city  for  the  last  time,  we  are  naturally  led  to  make  this 
allusion ;  and  an  interesting  question  suggests  itself  here — viz. 
whether  the  apostle  was  ever  himself  present  during  the  Isthmi- 
an games.  It  might  be  argued  a  priori  that  this  is  highly 
probable,  for  great  numbers  came  at  these  seasons  from  all  parts 
of  the  Mediterranean  to  witness  or  take  part  in  the  contests;  and 
the  very  fact  that  amusement  and  ambition  brought  some  makes 
it  certain  that  gain  attracted  many  others ;  thus  it  is  likely 
that  the  apostle,  just  as  he  desired  to  be  at  Jerusalem  during  the 
Hebrew  festivals,  so  would  gladly  preach  the  gospel  at  a  time  when 
80  vast  a  concourse  met  at  the  isthmus,  whence,  as  from  a  centre, 


VOYAGE  FROM  PHILIPPI. 


517 


it  might  be  carried  to  every  shore  with  the  dispersion  of  the 
strangers.  But,  further,  it  will  be  remembered  that  on  his  first 
visit  Paul  spent  two  years  at  Corinth ;  and  though  there  is  some 
difficulty  in  determining  the  times  at  which  the  games  were 
celebrated,  yet  it  seems  almost  certain  that  they  recurred  every 
second  year,  at  the  end  of  spring  or  the  beginning  of  summer. 
Thus  it  may  be  confidently  concluded  that  he  was  there  at  one  of 
the  festivals.  As  regards  the  voyage  undertaken  from  Ephesus, 
the  time  devoted  to  it  was  short,  yet  that  time  may  have  coincided 
with  the  festive  season ;  and  it  is  far  from  inconceivable  that  he 
may  have  sailed  across  the  ^gean  in  the  spring  with  some  com- 
pany of  Greeks  who  were  proceeding  to  the  isthmian  meeting.  On 
the  present  occasion  he  spent  only  three  of  the  winter  months  in 
Achaia,  and  it  is  hardly  possible  that  he  could  have  been  present 
during  the  games.  It  is  most  likely  that  there  were  no  crowds 
among  the  pine  trees  at  the  isthmus,  and  that  the  stadium  at  the 
sanctuary  of  Neptune  was  silent  and  unoccupied  when  Paul  passed 
by  it  along  the  northern  road  on  his  way  to  Macedonia. 

His  intention  had  been  to  go  by  sea  to  Syria  as  soon  as  the  season 
of  safe  navigation  should  be  come ;  and  in  that  case  he  would  have 
embarked  at  Cenchrese,  whence  he  had  sailed  during  his  second 
missionary  journey,  and  whence  the  Christian  Phoebe  had  recently 
gone  with  the  letter  to  the  Romans.  He  himself  had  prepared  his 
mind  for  a  journey  to  Rome,  but  first  he  was  purposed  to  visit 
Jerusalem,  that  he  might  convey  the  alms  which  had  been  col- 
lected in  Macedonia  and  Achaia  for  the  poorer  brethren.  He  looked 
forward  to  this  expedition  with  some  misgiving,  for  he  knew  what 
danger  was  to  be  apprehended  from  his  Jewish  and  Judaizing  ene- 
mies; and  even  in  his  letter  to  the  Roman  Christians  he  requested 
their  prayers  for  his  safety.  And  he  had  good  reason  to  fear  the 
Jews,  for  ever  since  their  discomfiture  under  Gallio  they  had  been 
irritated  by  the  progress  of  Christianity,  and  they  organized  a  plot 
against  the  great  preacher  when  he  was  on  the  eve  of  departing  for 
Syria.  We  are  not  informed  of  the  exact  nature  of  this  plot,  but 
it  was  probably  a  conspiracy  against  his  life,  like  that  which  was 
formed  at  Damascus  soon  after  his  conversion  (Acts  ix.  23 ;  2  Cor. 
xi.  32),  and  at  Jerusalem  both  before  and  after  the  time  of  which 
we  write  (Acts  ix.  19;  xxiii.  12),  and  necessitated  a  change  of  route, 
such  as  that  which  had  once  saved  him  on  his  departure  from 
Bercea. 


518         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

On  that  occasion  his  flight  had  been  from  Macedonia  to  Achaia; 
now  it  was  from  Achaia  to  Macedonia.  Nor  would  he  regret  the 
occasion  which  brought  him  once  more  among  some  of  his  dearest 
converts.  Again  he  saw  the  churches  on  the  north  of  the  iEgean, 
and  again  he  went  through  the  towns  along  the  line  of  the  Via 
Egnatia.  He  reappeared  in  the  scene  of  his  persecution  among 
the  Jews  of  Thessalonica,  and  passed  on  by  Apollonia  and  Amphip- 
olis  to  the  place  where  he  had  first  landed  on  the  European  shore. 
The  companions  of  his  journey  were  Sopater  the  son  of  Pyrrhus, 
a  native  of  Bercea;  Aristarchus  and  Secundus,  both  of  Thessa- 
lonica, with  Gains  of  Derbe  and  Timotheus ;  and  two  Christians 
from  the  province  of  Asia,  Tychicus  and  Trophimus,  whom  w^e 
have  mentioned  before  as  his  probable  associates  when  he  last 
departed  from  Ephesus.  From  the  order  in  which  these  disciples 
are  mentioned,  and  the  notice  of  the  specific  places  to  which  they 
belonged,  we  should  be  inclined  to  conjecture  that  they  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  the  collections  which  had  been  made  at  the  various 
towns  on  the  route.  As  Luke  does  not  mention  the  collection,  we 
cannot  expect  to  be  able  to  ascertain  all  the  facts.  But  since  Paul 
left  Corinth  sooner  than  w^as  intended,  it  seems  likely  that  all  the 
arrangements  were  not  complete,  and  that  Sopater  was  charged 
with  the  responsibility  of  gathering  the  funds  from  Bercea,  while 
Aristarchus  and  Secundus  took  charge  of  those  from  Thessalonica. 
Luke  himself  was  at  Philippi,  and  the  remaining  four  of  the  party 
were  connected  wdth  the  interior  or  the  coast  of  Asia  Minor. 

The  whole  of  this  company  did  not  cross  together  from  Europe 
to  Asia,  but  Paul  and  Luke  lingered  at  Philippi,  while  the  others 
preceded  them  to  Troas.  The  journey  through  Macedonia  had 
been  rapid  and  the  visits  to  the  other  churches  had  been  short. 
But  the  Church  at  Philippi  had  peculiar  claims  on  Paul's  atten- 
tion, and  the  time  of  his  arrival  induced  him  to  pause  longer  than 
in  the  earlier  part  of  his  journey.  It  was  the  time  of  the  Jewish 
Passover.  And  here  our  thoughts  turn  to  the  Passover  of  the  pre- 
ceding year,  when  the  apostle  was  at  Ephesus.  We  remember  the 
higher  and  Christian  meaning  which  he  gave  to  the  Jewish  festival. 
It  was  no  longer  an  Israelitish  ceremony,  but  it  was  the  Easter  of 
the  New  Dispensation.  He  was  not  now  occupied  with  shadows, 
for  the  substance  was  already  in  possession.  Christ  the  Passover 
had  been  sacrificed,  and  the  feast  was  to  be  kept  with  the  unleav- 
ened bread  of  sincerity  and  truth.    Such  was  the  higher  standing- 


PAUL  AT  ALEXANDRIA  TROAS. 


519 


point  to  which  he  sought  to  raise  the  Jews  whom  he  met  in  Asia 
or  in  Europe  at  their  annual  celebrations. 

Thus,  while  his  other  Christian  companions  had  preceded  him  to 
Troas,  he  remained  with  Luke  some  time  longer  at  Philippi,  and 
did  not  leave  Macedonia  till  the  Passover  moon  w^as  waning. 
Notwithstanding  this  delay,  they  were  anxious,  if  possible,  to 
reach  Jerusalem  before  Pentecost.  And  we  shall  presently  trace 
the  successive  days  through  which  they  were  prosperously  brought 
to  the  fulfilment  of  their  wish.  Some  doubt  has  been  thrown  on 
the  possibility  of  this  plan  being  accomplished  in  the  interval,  for 
they  did  not  leave  Philippi  till  the  seventh  day  after  the  fourteenth 
of  Nisan  was  past.  It  will  be  our  business  to  show  that  the  plan 
was  perfectly  practicable,  and  that  it  was  actually  accomplished, 
with  some  days  to  spare. 

The  voyage  seemed  to  begin  unfavorably.  The  space  between  Ne- 
apolis  and  Troas  could  easily  be  sailed  over  in  two  days  with  a  fair 
wind ;  and  this  was  the  time  occupied  when  the  apostle  made  the  pas- 
sage on  his  first  coming  to  Europe.  On  this  occasion  the  same  voy- 
age occupied  five  days.  We  have  no  means  of  deciding  whether  the 
ship's  progress  was  retarded  by  calms  or  by  contrary  winds.  Either 
of  these  causes  of  delay  might  equally  be  expected  in  the  change- 
able weather  of  those  seas.  Luke  seems  to  notice  the  time  in  both 
instances  in  the  manner  of  one  who  was  familiar  with  the  passages 
commonly  made  between  Europe  and  Asia;  and  something  like  an 
expression  of  disappointment  is  implied  in  the  mention  of  the  "five 
days  "  which  elapsed  before  the  arrival  at  Troas. 

The  history  of  Alexandria  Troas,  first  as  a  city  of  the  Macedo- 
nian princes  and  then  as  a  favorite  colony  of  the  Eomans,  has  been 
given  before,  but  little  has  been  said  as  yet  of  its  appearance. 
From  the  extent  and  magnitude  of  its  present  ruins  (though  for 
ages  it  has  been  a  quarry  both  for  Christian  and  Mohammedan  edi- 
fices) we  may  infer  what  it  was  in  its  flourishing  period.  Among 
the  oak  trees  which  fill  the  vast  enclosure  of  its  walls  are  frag- 
ments of  colossal  masonry.  Huge  columns  of  granite  are  seen 
lying  in  the  harbor  and  in  the  quarries  on  the  neighboring  hills. 
A  theatre  commanding  a  view  of  Tenedos  and  the  sea  shows  where 
the  Greeks  once  assembled  in  crowds  to  witness  their  favorite  spec- 
tacles. Open  arches  of  immense  size,  towering  from  the  midst  of 
other  great  masses  of  ruin,  betray  the  hand  of  Roman  builders. 
These  last  remains — once  doubtless  belonging  to  a  gymnasium  or 


520         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


to  baths,  and  in  more  ignorant  ages,  when  the  poetry  of  Homer 
was  better  remembered  than  the  facts  of  history,  popularly  called 
"  the  Palace  of  Priam  — are  conspicuous  from  the  sea.  We  cannot 
assert  that  these  buildings  existed  in  the  days  of  Paul,  but  we  may 
be  certain  that  the  city,  both  on  the  approach  from  the  water  and  to 
those  who  wandered  through  its  streets,  must  have  presented  an 
appearance  of  grandeur  and  prosperity.  Like  Corinth,  Ephesus, 
or  Thessalonica,  it  was  a  place  where  the  apostle  must  have  wished 
to  lay  firmly  and  strongly  the  foundations  of  the  gospel.  On  his 
first  visit,  as  we  have  seen,  he  was  withheld  by  a  supernatural  rev- 
elation from  remaining;  and  on  his  second  visit,  though  a  door 
was  opened  to  him,  and  he  did  gather  together  a  community  of 
Christian  disciples,  yet  his  impatience  to  see  Titus  compelled  him 
to  bid  them  a  hasty  farewell.  Now,  therefore,  he  would  be  the 
more  anxious  to  add  new  converts  to  the  Church,  and  to  impress 
deeply  on  those  who  were  converted  the  truths  and  the  duties  of 
Christianity ;  and  he  had  valuable  aid  both  in  Luke,  who  accom- 
paned  him,  and  in  the  other  disciples,  who  had  preceded  him. 

The  labors  of  the  early  days  of  the  week  that  was  spent  at  Troas 
are  not  related  to  us,  but  concerning  the  last  day  we  have  a  narra- 
tive which  enters  into  details  with  all  the  minuteness  of  one  of  the 
Gospel  histories.  It  was  the  evening  which  succeeded  the  Jewish 
sabbath.  On  the  Sunday  morning  the  vessel  was  about  to  sail. 
The  Christians  of  Troas  were  gathered  together  at  this  solemn 
time  to  celebrate  that  feast  of  love  which  the  last  commandment 
of  Christ  has  enjoined  on  all  his  followers.  The  place  was  an 
upper  room,  with  a  recess  or  balcony  projecting  over  the  street  or 
the  court.  The  night  was  dark :  three  weeks  had  not  elapsed  since 
the  Passover,  and  the  moon  only  appeared  as  a  faint  crescent  in  the 
early  part  of  the  night.  Many  lamps  were  burning  in  the  room 
where  the  congregation  was  assembled.  The  place  was  hot  and 
crowded.  Paul,  with  the  feeling  strongly  impressed  on  his  mind 
that  the  next  day  was  the  day  of  his  departure,  and  that  souls 
might  be  lost  by  delay,  was  continuing  in  earnest  discourse,  and 
prolonging  it  even  to  midnight,  when  an  occurrence  suddenly  took 
place  which  filled  the  assembly  with  alarm,  though  it  was  after- 
ward converted  into  an  occasion  of  joy  and  thanksgiving.  A 
young  listener,  whose  name  was  Eutychus,  was  overcome  by  ex- 
haustion, heat,  and  weariness,  and  sank  into  a  deep  slumber.  He 
was  seated  or  leaning  in  the  balcony,  and,  falling  down  in  his  sleep, 


FROM  TROAS  TO  ASSOS. 


521 


was  dashed  upon  the  pavement  below,  and  was  taken  up  dead.  Con- 
fusion and  terror  followed,  with  loud  lamentation.  But  Paul  was 
enabled  to  imitate  the  power  of  that  Master  whose  doctrine  he  was 
proclaiming.  As  Jesus  had  once  said  of  the  young  maiden  who 
was  taken  by  death  from  the  society  of  her  friends,  She  is  not 
dead,  but  sleepeth,"  so  the  apostle  of  Jesus  received  power  to 
restore  the  dead  to  life.  He  went  down  and  fell  upon  the  body 
like  Elisha  of  old,  and,  embracing  Eutychus,  said  to  the  bystanders, 
"  Do  not  lament,  for  his  life  is  in  him." 

With  minds  solemnized  and  filled  with  thankfulness  by  this 
wonderful  token  of  God's  power  and  love,  they  celebrated  the 
Eucharistic  feast.  The  act  of  holy  communion  was  combined,  as 
was  usual  in  the  apostolic  age,  with  a  common  meal;  and  Paul 
now  took  some  refreshment  after  the  protracted  labor  of  the  even- 
ing, and  then  continued  his  conversation  till  the  dawning  of  the 
day.  It  was  now  time  for  the  congregation  to  separate.  The  ship 
was  about  to  sail,  and  the  companions  of  Paul's  journey  took  their 
departure  to  go  on  board.  It  was  arranged,  however,  that  the 
apostle  himself  should  join  the  vessel  at  Assos,  which  was  only  about 
twenty  miles  distant  by  the  direct  road,  while  the  voyage  round 
Cape  Lectum  was  nearly  twice  as  far.  He  thus  secured  a  few 
more  precious  hours  with  his  converts  at  Troas ;  and  eagerly  would 
they  profit  by  his  discourse,  under  the  feeling  that  he  was  so  soon 
to  leave  them ;  and  we  might  suppose  that  the  impression  made 
under  such  circumstances,  and  with  the  recollection  of  what  they 
had  witnessed  in  the  night,  would  never  be  effaced  from  the  minds 
of  any  of  them,  did  we  not  know  on  the  highest  authority  that  if 
men  believe  not  the  prophets  of  God,  neither  will  they  believe 
"though  one  rose  from  the  dead." 

But  the  time  came  when  Paul  too  must  depart.  The  vessel 
might  arrive  at  Assos  before  him,  and,  whatever  influence  he 
might  have  with  the  seamen,  he  could  not  count  on  any  long 
delay.  He  hastened,  therefore,  through  the  southern  gate  past 
the  hot  springs,  and  through  the  oak  woods,  then  in  full  foliage, 
which  cover  all  that  shore  with  greenness  and  shade,  and  across 
the  wild  watercourses  on  the  western  side  of  Ida.  Such  is  the 
Bcenery  which  now  surrounds  the  traveller  on  his  way  from  Troas 
to  Assos.  The  great  difference  then  was,  that  there  was  a  good 
Eoman  road,  which  made  Paul's  solitary  journey  both  more  safe 
and  more  rapid  than  it  could  have  been  now.    We  have  seldom 


522 


LITE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


had  occasion  to  think  of  the  apostle  in  the  hours  of  his  solitude. 
But  such  hours  must  have  been  sought  and  cherished  by  one 
whose  whole  strength  was  drawn  from  communion  with  God,  and 
especially  at  a  time  when,  as  on  this  present  journey,  he  was 
deeply  conscious  of  his  weakness  and  filled  with  foreboding  fears. 
There  may  have  been  other  reasons  why  he  lingered  at  Troas  after 
his  companions,  but  the  desire  for  solitude  was  doubtless  one 
reason  among  others.  The  discomfort  of  a  crowded  ship  is  un- 
favorable for  devotion,  and  prayer  and  meditation  are  necessary 
for  maintaining  the  religious  life  even  of  an  apostle.  That  Sa- 
viour to  whose  service  he  was  devoted  had  often  prayed  in  solitude 
on  the  mountain  and  crossed  the  brook  Kedron  to  kneel  under 
the  olives  of  Gethsemane.  And  strength  and  peace  were  surely 
sought  and  obtained  by  the  apostle  from  the  Eedeemer  as  he  pur- 
sued his  lonely  road  that  Sunday  afternoon  in  spring  among  the 
oak  woods  and  the  streams  of  Ida. 

No  delay  seems  to  have  occurred  at  Assos.  He  entered  by  the 
Sacred  Way  among  the  famous  tombs  and  through  the  ancient 
gateway,  and  proceeded  immediately  to  the  shore.  We  may  sup- 
pose that  the  vessel  was  already  hove-to  and  waiting  when  he 
arrived,  or  that  he  saw  her  approaching  from  the  west  through 
the  channel  between  Lesbos  and  the  main.  He  went  on  board 
without  delay,  and  the  Greek  sailors  and  the  apostolic  missionaries 
continued  their  voyage.  As  to  the  city  of  Assos  itself,  we  must 
conclude,  if  we  compare  the  description  of  the  ancients  with 
present  appearances,  that  its  aspect  as  seen  from  the  sea  was 
sumptuous  and  magnificent.  A  terrace  with  a  long  portico  was 
raised  by  a  wall  of  rock  above  the  water-line.  Above  this  was  a 
magnificent  gate  approached  by  a  flight  of  steps.  Higher  still 
was  the  theatre,  which  commanded  a  glorious  view  of  Lesbos  and 
the  sea  and  those  various  buildings  which  are  now  a  wilderness 
of  broken  columns,  triglyphs,  and  friezes.  The  whole  was  crowned 
by  a  citadel  of  Greek  masonry  on  a  clifi'  of  granite.  Such  was 
the  view  which  gradually  faded  into  indistinctness  as  the  vessel 
retired  from  the  shore  and  the  summits  of  Ida  rose  in  the  evening 
sky. 

The  course  of  the  voyagers  was  southward,  along  the  eastern 
shore  of  Lesbos.  When  Assos  was  lost,  Mitylene,  the  chief  city 
of  Lesbos,  came  gradually  into  view.  The  beauty  of  the  caj)ital 
of  Sappho^s  island  was  celebrated  by  the  architects,  poets,  and 


VOYAGE  BY  CHIOS  TO  TROGYLLIUM 


523 


philosophers  of  Rome.  Like  other  Greek  cities  which  were  enno- 
bled by  old  recollections,  it  was  honored  by  the  Eomans  with  the 
privilege  of  freedom.  Situated  on  the  south-eastern  coast  of  the 
island,  it  would  afford  a  good  shelter  from  the  north-westerly  winds 
whether  the  vessel  entered  the  harbor  or  lay  at  anchor  in  the  open 
roadstead.  It  seems  likely  that  the  reason  why  they  lay  here  for 
the  night  was  because  it  was  the  time  of  dark  moon,  and  they 
would  wish  for  daylight  to  accomplish  safely  the  intricate  navi- 
gation between  the  southern  part  of  Lesbos  and  the  mainland  of 
Asia  Minor. 

In  the  course  of  Monday  they  were  abreast  of  Chios  (v.  15). 
The  weather  in  these  seas  is  very  variable,  and  from  the  mode  of 
expression  employed  by  Luke  it  is  probable  that  they  were  be- 
calmed. An  English  traveller  (Dr.  Clarke)  under  similar  circum- 
stances has  described  himself  as  "  engrossed  from  daylight  till 
noon  "  by  the  beauty  of  the  prospects  with  which  he  was  surround- 
ed as  his  vessel  floated  idly  on  this  channel  between  Scio  and  the 
continent.  On  one  side  were  the  gigantic  masses  of  the  mainland; 
on  the  other  were  the  richness  and  fertility  of  the  island,  with  its 
gardens  of  oranges,  citrons,  almonds,  and  pomegranates,  and  its 
white  scattered  houses  overshadowed  by  evergreens.  Until  the 
time  of  its  recent  disasters,  Scio  was  the  paradise  of  the  modern 
Greek,  and  a  familiar  proverb  censured  the  levity  of  its  inhabitants, 
like  that  which  in  the  apostle's  day  described  the  coarser  faults  of 
the  natives  of  Crete  (Tit.  i.  12). 

The  same  English  traveller  passed  the  island  of  Samos  after 
leaving  that  of  Chios.  So  likewise  did  Paul  (v.  15).  But  the 
former  sailed  along  the  western  side  of  Samos,  and  he  describes 
how  its  towering  cloud-capped  heights  are  contrasted  with  the  next 
low  island  to  the  west.  The  apostle's  course  lay  along  the  eastern 
shore,  where  a  much  narrower  "marine  pass"  intervenes  between 
it  and  a  long  mountainous  ridge  of  the  mainland,  from  which  it 
appears  to  have  been  separated  by  some  violent  convulsion  of 
Nature.  This  high  promontory  is  the  ridge  of  Mycale,  well  known 
in  the  annals  of  Greek  victory  over  the  Persians.  At  its  termina- 
tion, not  more  than  a  mile  from  Samos,  is  the  anchorage  of 
Trogyllium.  Here  the  night  of  Tuesday  was  spent,  apparently  for 
the  same  reason  as  that  which  caused  the  delay  at  Mitylene.  The 
moon  set  early,  and  it  was  desirable  to  wait  for  the  day  before 
running  into  the  harbor  of  Miletus. 


524         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

The  short  voyage  from  Chios  to  Trogyllium  had  carried  Paul 
through  familiar  scenery.  The  bay  across  which  the  vessel  had 
been  passing  was  that  into  which  the  Cayster  flowed.  The  moun- 
tains on  the  eastern  main  were  the  western  branches  of  Messogis 
and  Tmolus,  the  ranges  that  enclose  the  primeval  plain  of  "Asia/' 
The  city  towards  which  it  is  likely  that  some  of  the  vessels  in 
sight  were  directing  their  course  was  Ephesus,  where  the  apostolic 
labors  of  three  years  had  gathered  a  company  of  Christians  in  the 
midst  of  unbelievers.  One  whose  solicitude  was  so  great  for  his 
recent  converts  could  not  willingly  pass  by  and  leave  them  un- 
visited  ;  and  had  he  had  command  of  the  movements  of  the  vessel 
we  can  hardly  believe  that  he  would  have  done  so.  He  would 
surely  have  landed  at  Ephesus,  rather  than  at  Miletus.  The  same 
wind  which  carried  him  to  the  latter  harbor  would  have  been 
equally  advantageous  for  a  quick  passage  to  the  former.  And, 
even  had  the  weather  been  unfavorable  at  the  time  for  landing  at 
Ephesus,  he  might  easily  have  detained  the  vessel  at  Trogyllium, 
and  a  short  journey  by  land  northward  would  have  taken  him  to 
the  scene  of  his  former  labors. 

Yet  every  delay,  whether  voluntary  or  involuntary,  might  have 
been  fatal  to  the  plan  he  was  desirous  to  accomplish.  Luke  in- 
forms us  here  (and  the  occurrence  of  the  remark  shows  us  how 
much  regret  was  felt  by  the  apostle  on  passing  by  Ephesus)  that  his 
intention  was,  if  possible ^  to  be  in  Jerusalem  at  Pentecost  (v.  16). 
Even  with  a  ship  at  his  command,  he  could  not  calculate  on 
favorable  weather  if  he  lost  his  present  opportunity;  nor  could  he 
safely  leave  the  ship  which  had  conveyed  him  hitherto,  for  he  was 
well  aware  that  he  could  not  be  certain  of  meeting  with  another 
that  would  forward  his  progress.  He  determined,  therefore,  to 
proceed  in  the  same  vessel  on  her  southward  course  from  Trogyl- 
lium to  Miletus.  Yet  the  same  watchful  zeal  which  had  urged  him 
to  employ  the  last  precious  moments  of  the  stay  at  Troas  in  his 
Master's  cause  suggested  to  his  prompt  mind  a  method  of  reim- 
pressing  the  lessons  of  eternal  truth  on  the  minds  of  the  Christians 
at  Ephesus,  though  unable  to  revisit  them  in  person.  He  found 
that  the  vessel  would  be  detained  at  Miletus  a  sufficient  time  to 
enable  him  to  send  for  the  presbyters  of  the  Ephesian  Church  with 
the  hope  of  their  meeting  him  there.  The  distance  between  the 
two  cities  was  hardly  thirty  miles,  and  a  good  road  connected  them 
together.    Thus,  though  the  stay  at  Miletus  would  be  short,  and 


THE  CITY  OF  MILETUS. 


525 


it  might  be  hazardous  to  attempt  the  journey  himself,  he  could 
hope  for  one  more  interview — if  not  with  the  whole  Ephesian 
Church,  at  least  with  those  members  of  it  whose  responsibility  was 
the  greatest. 

The  sail  from  Trogyllium  with  a  fair  wind  would  require  but 
li''-i;le  time.  If  the  vessel  weighed  anchor  at  daybreak  on  Wednes- 
day, she  would  be  in  harbor  long  before  noon.  The  message  was 
doubtless  sent  to  Ephesus  immediately  on  her  arrival,  and  Paul 
remained  at  Miletus  waiting  for  those  whom  the  Holy  Spirit,  by 
his  hands,  had  made  "overseers"  over  the  flock  of  Christ  (v.  28). 
The  city  where  we  find  the  Christian  apostle  now  waiting  while 
those  who  had  the  care  of  the  vessel  were  occupied  with  the 
business  that  detained  them  has  already  been  referred  to  as  more 
ancient  than  Ephesus,  though  in  the  age  of  Paul  inferior  to  it  in 
political  and  mercantile  eminence.  Even  in  Homer  the  "Carian 
Miletus"  appears  as  a  place  of  renown.  Eighty  colonies  went 
forth  from  the  banks  of  the  Mseander,  and  some  of  them  were 
spread  even  to  the  eastern  shores  of  the  Black  Sea  and  beyond  the 
Pillars  of  Hercules  to  the  West.  It  received  its  first  blow  in  the 
Persian  war,  when  its  inhabitants,  like  the  Jews,  had  experience  of 
a  Babylonian  captivity.  It  suffered  once  more  in  Alexander's  great 
campaign,  and  after  his  time  it  gradually  began  to  sink  towards  its 
present  condition  of  ruin  and  decay,  from  the  influence,  as  it  would 
seem,  of  mere  natural  causes,  the  increase  of  alluvial  soil  in  the 
delta  having  the  effect  of  removing  the  city  gradually  farther  and 
farther  from  the  sea.  Even  in  the  apostle's  time  there  was  between 
the  city  and  the  shore  a  considerable  space  of  level  ground,  through 
which  the  ancient  river  meandered  in  new  windings  like  the  Forth 
at  Stirling.  Few  events  connect  the  history  of  Miletus  with  the 
transactions  of  the  Eoman  empire.  When  Paul  was  there  it  was 
simply  one  of  the  second-rate  seaports  on  this  populous  coast, 
ranking,  perhaps,  with  Adramyttium  or  Patara,  but  hardly  with 
Ephesus  or  Smyrna. 

The  excitement  and  joy  must  have  been  great  among  the  Chris- 
tians of  Ephesus  when  they  heard  that  their  honored  friend  and 
teacher,  to  whom  they  had  listened  so  often  in  the  school  of 
Tyrannus,  was  in  the  harbor  of  Miletus  within  the  distance  of  a 
few  miles.  The  presbyters  must  have  gathered  together  in  all 
haste  to  obey  the  summons,  and  gone  with  eager  steps  out  of  the 
southern  gate,  which  leads  to  Miletus.    By  those  who  travel  on 


526        LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


such  an  errand  a  journey  of  twenty  or  thirty  miles  is  not  regarded 
long  and  tedious,  nor  is  much  regard  paid  to  the  difference  betweeii 
day  and  night.  The  presbyters  of  Ephesus  might  easily  reach 
Miletus  on  the  day  after  that  on  Avhich  the  summons  was  received. 
And  though  they  might  be  weary  when  they  arrived,  their  fatigue 
would  soon  be  forgotten  at  the  sight  of  their  friend  and  instructor; 
and  God  also,  "who  comforts  them  that  are  cast  down"  (2  Cor. 
vii.  6),  comforted  him  by  the  sight  of  his  disciples.  They  were 
gathered  together — probably  in  some  solitary  spot  upon  the  shore — 
to  listen  to  his  address.  This  little  company  formed  a  singular 
contrast  with  the  crowds  which  used  to  assemble  at  the  times  of 
public  amusement  in  the  theatre  of  Miletus.  But  that  vast  theatre 
is  now  a  silent  ruin,  while  the  words  spoken  by  a  careworn 
traveller  to  a  few  despised  strangers  are  still  living  as  they  were 
that  day,  to  teach  lessons  for  all  time  and  to  make  known  eternal 
truths  to  all  who  will  hear  them,  while  they  reveal  to  us,  as  though 
they  were  merely  human  words,  all  the  tenderness  and  the  affection 
of  Paul,  the  individual  speaker  : 

"  Brethren,  ye  know  yourselves,  from  the  first  day  that  He  reminds 

-r  1  Ti  1  •!     tliem  of  his  past 

1  came  into  Asia,  after  what  manner  I  have  been  with  labors  among 
you  throughout  all  the  time ;  serving  the  Lord  Jesus  with 
all  lowliness  of  mind,  and  in  many  tears  and  trials  which  befell  me 
through  the  plotting  of  the  Jews.  And  how  I  kept  back  none  of  those 
things  which  are  profitable  for  you,  but  declared  them  to  you,  and  taught 
you  both  publicly  and  from  house  to  house ;  testifying  both  to  Jews  and 
Gentiles  their  need  of  repentance  towards  God,  and  faith  in  our  Lord 
J esus  Christ.  And  now  as  for  me,  behold  I  go  to  Jerusalem,  in  spirit 
foredoomed  to  chains ;  yet  I  know  not  the  things  which  shall  befall  me 
there,  save  that  in  every  city  the  Holy  Spirit  gives  the  same  testimony, 
that  bonds  and  afilictions  abide  me.  But  none  of  these  things  move  me, 
neither  count  I  my  life  dear  unto  myself,  so  that  I  might  finish  ray 
course  with  joy,  and  the  ministry  which  I  received  from  the  Lord  Jesus, 
to  testify  the  glad  tidings  of  the  grace  of  God. 

"  And  now,  behold  I  know  that  ye  all,  among  whom  I  His  farewell 
have  gone  from  city  to  city,  proclaiming  the  kingdom  of 
God,  shall  see  my  face  no  more.  Wherefore  I  take  you  to  witness  this 
day,  thai  I  am  clear  from  the  blood  of  all.  For  I  have  not  shunned  to 
declare  unto  you  all  the  counsel  of  God.  Take  heed,  therefore,  unto 
yourselves,  and  to  all  the  flock  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  has  made  you 
overseers,  to  feed  the  Church  of  God  which  he  has  purchased  with  his 


DEPABTUEE  FKOM  MILETUS. 


527 


own  blood.  For  this  I  know,  that  after  my  departure  grievous  wolves 
6ha]l  enter  in  among  you,  who  will  not  spare  the  flock.  And  from  your 
own  selves  will  men  arise  speaking  perverted  words,  that  they  may  draw 
away  the  disciples  after  themselves.  Therefore,  be  watchful,  and  re- 
member that  for  the  space  of  three  years  I  ceased  not  to  warn  every  one 
of  you,  night  and  day,  with  tears. 

"And  now,  brethren,  I  commend  vou  to  God,  and  to  the  Final  com- 

,     -  _  .  /•II         1    M  1  mendation  to 

word  of  his  grace ;  even  to  Him  who  is  able  to  buiid  you  God,  and  ex- 
up  and  to  give  you  an  inheritance  among  all  them  that  are  interested  ex- 
sanctified.  When  1  was  with  you,  I  coveted  no  man's 
silver,  or  gold,  or  raiment.  Yea,  ye  know  yourselves  that  these  hands 
ministered  to  my  necessities,  and  to  those  who  were  with  me.  And  all 
this  I  did  for  your  example ;  to  teach  you  that  so  laboring  we  ought  to 
support  the  helpless,  and  to  remember  the  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  how 
he  said,  ^  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  keceive.'  " 

The  close  of  this  speech  was  followed  by  a  solemn  act  of  united 
supplication  (Acts  xx.  36).  Paul  knelt  down  on  the  shore  with 
all  those  who  had  listened  to  him,  and  offered  up  a  prayer  to  that 
God  who  was  founding  his  Church  in  the  midst  of  difficulties 
apparently  insuperable ;  and  then  followed  an  outbreak  of  natural 
grief  which  even  Christian  faith  and  resignation  were  not  able  to 
restrain.  They  fell  on  the  apostle's  neck  and  clung  to  him,  and 
kissed  him  again  and  again,  sorrowing  most  because  of  his  own 
foreboding  announcement  that  they  should  never  behold  that 
countenance  again  on  which  they  had  often  gazed  with  reverence 
and  love  (ib.  37,  38).  But  no  long  time  could  be  devoted  to  the 
grief  of  separation.  The  wind  was  fair,  and  the  vessel  must  de- 
part. They  accompanied  the  apostle  to  the  edge  of  the  water 
(ib.  38).  The  Christian  brethren  were  torn  from  the  embrace  of 
their  friends,  and  the  ship  sailed  out  into  the  open  sea,  while  the 
presbyters  prepared  for  their  weary  and  melancholy  journey  to 
Ephesus. 

The  narrative  of  the  voyage  is  now  resumed  in  detail.  It  is 
quite  clear,  from  Luke's  mode  of  expression,  that  the  vessel  sailed 
from  Miletus  on  the  day  of  the  interview.  With  a  fair  wind  she 
would  easily  run  down  to  Cos  in  the  course  of  the  same  afternoon. 
The  distance  is  about  forty  nautical  miles;  the  direction  is  due 
south.  The  phrase  used  implies  a  straight  course  and  a  fair  wind; 
and  we  conclude,  from  the  well-known  phenomena  of  the  Levant, 
that  the  wind  was  north-westerly,  which  is  the  prevalent  direction 


628  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

in  those  seas.  With  this  wind  the  vessel  would  make  her  passage 
from  Miletus  to  Cos  in  six  hours,  passing  the  shores  of  Caria,  with 
the  high  summits  of  Mount  Latmus  on  the  left  and  with  groups 
of  small  islands  (among  which  Patmos  (Rev.  i.  9)  would  be  seen 
at  times)  studding  the  sea  on  the  right.  Cos  is  an  island  about 
twenty -three  miles  in  length,  extending  from  south-west  to  north- 
east, and  separated  by  a  narrow  channel  from  the  mainland.  But 
we  should  rather  conceive  the  town  to  be  referred  to  which  lay  at 
the  eastern  extremity  of  the  island.  It  is  described  by  the  an- 
cients as  a  beautiful  and  well-built  city,  and  it  was  surrounded 
with  fortifications  erected  by  Alcibiades  towards  the  close  of  the 
Peloponnesian  war.  Its  symmetry  had  been  injured  by  an  earth- 
quake, and  the  restoration  had  not  yet  been  effected,  but  the  pro- 
ductiveness of  the  island  to  which  it  belonged  and  its  position  in 
the  Levant  made  the  city  a  place  of  no  little  consequence.  The 
wine  and  the  textile  fabrics  of  Cos  were  well  known  among  the 
imports  of  Italy.  Even  now  no  harbor  is  more  frequented  by  the 
merchant-vessels  of  the  Levant.  The  roadstead  is  sheltered  by 
Nature  from  all  winds  except  the  north-east,  and  the  inner  harbor 
was  not  then,  as  it  is  now,  an  unhealthy  lagoon.  Moreover,  Clau- 
dius had  recently  bestowed  peculiar  privileges  on  the  city.  Another 
circumstance  made  it  the  resort  of  many  strangers  and  gave  it 
additional  renown.  It  was  the  seat  of  the  medical  school  tradi- 
tionally connected  with  iEsculapius,  and  the  temple  of  the  god 
of  healing  was  crowded  with  votive  models,  so  as  to  become  in 
effect  a  museum  of  anatomy  and  pathology.  The  Christian  phy- 
sician Luke,  who  knew  these  coasts  so  well,  could  hardly  be  igno- 
rant of  the  scientific  and  religious  celebrity  of  Cos.  We  can 
imagine  the  thankfulness  with  which  he  would  reflect — as  the 
vessel  lay  at  anchor  off  the  city  of  Hippocrates — that  he  had  been 
emancipated  from  the  bonds  of  superstition,  without  becoming  a 
victim  to  that  scepticism  which  often  succeeds  it,  especially  in 
minds  familiar  with  the  science  of  physical  phenomena. 

On  leaving  the  anchorage  of  Cos  the  vessel  would  have  to  pro- 
ceed through  the  channel  which  lies  between  the  southern  shore 
of  the  island  and  that  tongue  of  the  mainland  which  terminates 
in  the  Point  of  Cnidus.  If  the  wind  continued  in  the  north-west, 
the  vessel  would  be  able  to  hold  a  straight  course  from  Cos  to  Cape 
Crio  (for  such  is  the  modern  name  of  the  promontory  of  Triopium 
on  which  Cnidus  was  built),  and  after  rounding  the  point  she 


THE  ISLAND  OF  RHODES. 


529 


would  run  clear  before  the  wind  all  the  way  to  Rhodes.  Another 
of  Paul's  voyages  will  lead  us  to  make  mention  of  Cnidus.  We 
shall  therefore  only  say  that  the  extremity  of  the  promontory 
descends  with  a  perpendicular  precipice  to  the  sea,  and  that  this 
high  rock  is  separated  by  a  level  space  from  the  main,  so  that  at 
a  distance  it  appears  like  one  of  the  numerous  islands  on  the 
coast.  Its  history,  as  well  as  its  appearance,  was  well  impressed 
on  the  mind  of  the  Greek  navigator  of  old,  for  it  was  the  scene 
of  Conon's  victory,  and  the  memory  of  their  great  admiral  made 
the  south-western  corner  of  the  Asiatic  peninsula  to  the  Athenians 
what  the  south-western  corner  of  Spain  is  to  us  through  the  mem- 
ories of  St.  Vincent  and  Trafalgar. 

We  have  supposed  PauFs  vessel  to  have  rounded  Cape  Crio,  to 
have  left  the  western  shore  of  Asia  Minor,  and  to  be  proceeding 
along  the  southern  shore.  The  current  between  Ehodes  and  the 
main  runs  strongly  lo  the  westward,  but  the  north-westerly  wind 
would  soon  carry  the  vessel  through  the  space  of  fifty  miles  to 
the  northern  extremity  of  the  island,  where  its  famous  and  beau- 
tiful city  was  built. 

Until  the  building  of  its  metropolis  the  name  of  this  island  was 
comparatively  unknown.  But  from  the  time  when  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earlier  towns  were  brought  to  one  centre,  and  the  new  city, 
built  by  Hippodamus  (the  same  architect  who  planned  the  streets 
of  the  Piraeus),  rose  in  the  midst  of  its  perfumed  gardens  and  its 
amphitheatre  of  hills  with  unity  so  symmetrical  that  it  appeared 
like  one  house,  Phodes  has  held  an  illustrious  place  among  the 
islands  of  the  Mediterranean.  From  the  very  effect  of  its  situa- 
tion, lying  as  it  did  on  the  verge  of  two  of  the  basins  of  that  sea, 
it  became  the  intermediate  point  of  the  eastern  and  western  trade. 
Even  now  it  is  the  harbor  at  which  most  vessels  touch  on  their 
progress  to  and  from  the  Archipelago.  It  was  the  point  from 
which  the  Greek  geographers  reckoned  their  meridians  of  latitude 
and  longitude.  And  we  may  assert  that  no  place  has  been  so  long 
renowned  for  shipbuilding,  if  we  may  refer  to  the  "benches,  and 
masts,  and  shipboards''  of  "Dodanim  and  Chittim,"  with  the 
feeble  constructions  of  the  modern  Turkish  dockyard,  as  the  ear- 
liest and  latest  efforts  of  that  Ehodian  skill  which  was  celebrated 
by  Pliny  in  the  time  of  Paul.  To  the  copious  supplies  of  ship- 
timber  were  added  many  other  physical  advantages.  It  was  a 
proverb  that  the  sun  shone  every  day  in  Rhodes,  and  her  inhabit- 
34 


530         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

ants  revelled  in  the  luxuriance  of  the  vegetation  which  surrounded 
them.  We  find  this  beauty  and  this  brilliant  atmosphere  typified 
in  her  coins,  on  one  side  of  which  is  the  head  of  Apollo  radiated 
like  the  sun,  while  the  other  exhibits  the  rose-flower,  the  conven- 
tional emblem  which  bore  the  name  of  the  islanti.  But  the  inter- 
est of  what  is  merely  outward  fades  before  the  moral  interest 
associated  with  its  history.  If  we  rapidly  run  over  its  annals,  we 
find  something  in  every  period  with  which  elevated  thoughts  are 
connected.  The  Greek  period  is  the  first — famous  not  merely  for 
the  great  temple  of  the  Sun,  and  the  Colossus,  which,  like  the  statue 
of  Borromeo  at  Arena,  seemed  to  stand  over  the  city  to  protect  it, 
but  far  more  for  the  supremacy  of  the  seas,  which  was  employed 
to  put  down  piracy ;  for  the  code  of  mercantile  law,  by  which  the 
commerce  of  later  times  was  regulated;  and  for  the  legislative 
enactments,  framed  almost  in  the  spirit  of  Christianity,  for  the 
protection  of  the  poor.  This  is*  followed  hy  Ihe  Eoman  period, 
when  the  faithful  ally  which  had  aided  by  her  naval  power  in 
subduing  the  East  was  honored  by  the  senate  and  the  emperors 
with  the  name  and  privileges  of  freedom ;  and  this  by  the  Byzan- 
tine, during  which  Christianity  was  established  in  the  Levant, 
and  the  city  of  the  Ehodians,  as  the  metropolis  of  a  province 
of  islands,  if  no  longer  holding  the  empire  of  the  Mediterranean, 
was  at  least  recognized  as  the  "  Queen  of  the  j3Egean."  During  the 
earlier  portion  of  the  Middle  Ages,  while  mosques  were  gradually 
taking  the  place  of  Byzantine  churches,  Ehodes  was  the  last 
Christian  city  to  make  a  stand  against  the  advancing  Saracens ; 
and  again  during  their  later  portion  she  appears  as  a  city  ennobled 
by  the  deeds  of  Christian  chivalry;  so  that  ever  since  the  success- 
ful siege  of  Solyman  the  Magnificent  her  fortifications  and  her 
stately  harbor  and  the  houses  in  her  streets  continue  to  be  the 
memorials  of  the  Knights  of  St.  John.  Yet  no  point  of  Khodian 
history  ought  to  move  our  spirits  with  so  much  exultation  as  that 
day,  when  the  vessel  that  conveyed  Paul  came  round  the  low 
northern  point  of  the  island  to  her  moorings  before  the  city.  We 
do  not  know  that  he  landed  like  other  great  conquerors  who  have 
visited  Rhodes.  It  would  not  be  necessary  even  to  enter  the 
harbor,  for  a  safe  anchorage  would  be  found  for  the  night  in  the 
open  roadstead.  "  The  kingdom  of  God  cometh  not  with  obser- 
vation;" and  the  vessel  which  was  seen  by  the  people  of  the 
city  to  weigh  anchor  in  the  morning  was  probably  undistin- 


XANTHUS  AND  PATARA. 


531 


guished  from  the  other  coastiiig-craft  with  which  they  were  daily 
familiar. 

No  view  in  the  Levant  is  more  celebrated  than  that  from  Rhodes 
towards  the  opposite  shore  of  Asia  Minor.  The  last  ranges  of 
Mount  Taurus  come  down  in  magnificent  forms  to  the  sea,  and  a 
long  line  of  snowy  summits  is  seen  along  the  Lycian  coast,  while 
the  sea  between  is  often  an  unruffled  expanse  of  water  under  a 
blue  and  brilliant  sky.  Across  this  expanse,  and  towards  a  har- 
bor near  the  farther  edge  of  these  Lycian  mountains,  the  apostle's 
course  was  now  directed  (Acts  xxi.  2).  To  the  eastward  of  Mount 
Cragus — the  steep  sea-front  of  which  is  known  to  the  pilots  of  the 
Levant  by  the  name  of  the  Seven  Capes'' — the  river  Xanthus 
winds  through  a  rich  and  magnificent  valley  and  past  the  ruins  of 
an  ancient  city,  the  monuments  of  which,  after  a  long  concealment, 
have  lately  been  made  familiar  to  the  British  public.  The  harbor 
of  the  city  of  Xanthus  was  situated  a  short  distance  from  the  left 
bank  of  the  river.  Patara  was  to  Xanthus  what  the  Pirjeus  was 
to  Athens ;  and  though  this  comparison  might  seem  to  convey  the 
idea  of  an  importance  which  never  belonged  to  the  Lycian  seaport, 
yet  ruins  still  remain  to  show  that  it  was  once  a  place  of  some 
magnitude  and  splendor.  The  bay  into  which  the  river  Xanthus 
flowed  is  now  a  "  desert  of  moving  sand,"  which  is  blown  by  the 
westerly  wind  into  ridges  along  the  shore,  and  is  gradually  hiding 
the  remains  of  the  ancient  city,  but  a  triple  archway  and  a  vast 
theatre  have  been  described  by  travellers.  Some  have  even  thought 
that  they  have  discovered  the  seat  of  the  oracle  of  Apollo,  who 
was  worshipped  here  as  his  sister  Diana  was  worshipped  at  Ephe- 
sus  or  Perga ;  and  the  city  walls  can  be  traced  among  the  sand- 
hills, with  the  castle  that  commanded  the  harbor.  In  the  war 
against  Antiochus  this  harbor  was  protected  by  a  sudden  storm 
from  the  Roman  fleet  when  Livius  sailed  from  Rhodes.  Now  we 
find  the  apostle  Paul  entering  it  with  a  fair  wind  after  a  short 
sail  from  the  same  island. 

It  seems  that  the  vessel  in  which  Paul  had  been  hitherto  sailing 
either  finished  its  voyage  at  Patara  or  was  proceeding  farther  east- 
ward along  the  southern  coast  of  Asia  Minor,  and  not  to  the  ports 
of  Phoenicia.  Paul  could  not  know  in  advance  whether  it  would 
be  possible"  for  him  to  arrive  in  Palestine  in  time  for  Pentecost 
(xx.  16),  but  an  opportunity  presented  itself  unexpectedly  at  Pa- 
tara.   Providential  circumstances  conspired  with  his  own  convic- 


532         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

tious  to  forward  his  journey,  notwithstanding  the  discouragement 
which  tbe  fears  of  others  had  thrown  across  his  path.  In  the 
harbor  of  Patara  they  found  a  vessel  which  was  on  the  point  of 
crossing  the  open  sea  to  Phoenicia  (xxi.  2).  They  went  on  board 
without  a  moment's  delay,  and  it  seems  evident,  from  the  mode 
of  exprossion,  that  they  sailed  the  very  day  of  their  arrival.  Since 
the  voyage  lay  across  the  open  sea,  with  no  shoals  or  rocks  to  be 
dreaded,  and  since  the  north-westerly  winds  often  blow  steadily 
for  several  days  in  the  Levant  during  spring,  there  could  be  no 
reason  why  the  vessel  should  not  weigh  anchor  in  the  evening  and 
sail  through  the  night. 

We  have  now  to  think  of  Paul  as  no  longer  passing  through 
narrow  channels  or  coasting  along  in  the  shadow  of  great  moun- 
tains, but  as  sailing  continuously  through  the  midnight  hours, 
with  a  prosperous  breeze  filling  the  canvas  and  the  waves  curling 
and  sounding  round  the  bows  of  the  vessel.  There  is  a  peculiar 
freshness  and  cheerfulness  in  the  prosecution  of  a  prosperous  voy- 
age with  a  fair  wind  by  night.  The  sailors  on  the  watch,  and  the 
passengers  also,  feel  it,  and  the  feeling  is  often  expressed  in  songs 
or  in  long-continued  conversation.  Such  cheerfulness  might  be 
felt  by  the  apostle  and  his  companions,  not  without  thankfulness 
to  that  God  "  who  giveth  songs  in  the  night"  (Job  xxxv.  10),  and 
who  hearkeneth  to  those  who  fear  him,  and  speak  often  to  one 
another,  and  think  upon  his  name  (Mai.  iii.  15).  If  w^e  remember, 
too,  that  a  month  had  now  elapsed  since  the  moon  was  shining  on 
the  snows  of  Haemus,  and  that  the  full  moonlight  would  now  be 
resting  on  the  great  sail  of  the  ship,  we  are  not  without  an  ex- 
pressive imagery  which  we  may  allowably  throw  round  the  apostle's 
progress  over  the  waters  between  Patara  and  Tyre. 

The  distance  between  these  two  points  is  three  hundred  and 
forty  geographical  miles ;  and  if  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  north- 
westerly winds  in  April  often  blow  like  monsoons  in  the  Levant, 
and  that  the  rig  of  ancient  sailing-vessels  was  peculiarly  favorable 
to  a  quick  run  before  the  wind,  we  come  at  once  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  voyage  might  easily  be  accomplished  in  forty-eight  hours. 
Everything  in  Luke's  account  gives  a  strong  impression  that  the 
weather  was  in  the  highest  degree  favorable;  and  there  is  one 
picturesque  phrase  employed  by  the  narrator  which  sets  vividly 
before  us  some  of  the  phenomena  of  a  rapid  voyage.  That  which 
is  said  in  the  English  version  concerning  the  "discovering"  of 


THE  CITY  OF  TYRE. 


533 


Cyprus  and  "leaving  it  on  tlie  left  hand"  is  in  the  original  a  nau- 
tical expression  implying  that  the  land  appeared  to  rise  quickly 
as  they  sailed  past  it  to  the  southward.  It  would  be  in  the  course 
of  the  second  day  (probably  in  the  evening)  that  "the  high  blue 
eastern  land  appeared."  The  highest  mountain  of  Cyprus  is  a 
rounded  summit,  and  there  would  be  snow  upon  it  at  that  season 
of  the  year.  After  the  second  night  the  first  land  in  sight  would 
be  the  high  range  of  Lebanon  in  Syria  (xxi.  3),  and  they  w^ould 
easily  arrive  at  Tyre  before  the  evening. 

So  much  has  been  written  concerning  the  past  history  and 
present  condition  of  Tyre  that  these  subjects  are  familiar  to  every 
reader,  and  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  upon  them  here.  When 
Paul  came  to  this  city  it  was  neither  in  the  glorious  state  described 
in  the  prophecies  of  Ezekiel  and  Isaiah,  when  "  its  merchants 
were  princes  and  its  traffickers  the  honorable  of  the  earth,"  nor  in 
the  abject  desolation  in  which  it  now  fulfils  those  prophecies, 
being  "  a  place  to  spread  nets  upon,"  and  showing  only  the  traces 
of  its  maritime  supremacy  in  its  ruined  mole  and  a  port  hardly 
deep  enough  for  boats.  It  w^as  in  the  condition  in  which  it  had 
been  left  by  the  successors  of  Alexander — the  island  which  once 
held  the  city  being  joined  to  the  mainland  by  a  causeway — with  a 
harbor  on  the  north  and  another  on  the  south.  In  honor  of  its 
ancient  greatness  the  Homans  gave  it  the  name  of  a  free  city,  and 
it  still  commanded  some  commerce,  for  its  manufactures  of  glass 
and  purple  were  not  yet  decayed,  and  the  narrow  belt  of  the 
Phoenician  coast  between  the  mountains  and  the  sea  required  that 
the  food  for  its  population  should  be  partly  brought  from  without. 
It  is  allowable  to  conjecture  that  the  ship  which  we  have  just  seen 
crossing  from  Patara  may  have  brought  grain  from  the  Black  Sea 
or  wine  from  the  Archipelago,  with  the  purpose  of  taking  on  from 
Tyre  a  cargo  of  Phoenician  manufactures.  We  know  that  what- 
ever were  the  goods  she  brought,  they  were  unladed  at  Tyre  (v.  3), 
and  that  the  vessel  was  afterward  to  proceed  to  Ptolemais  (v.  7). 
For  this  purpose  some  days  would  be  required.  She  would  be 
taken  into  the  inner  dock,  and  Paul  had  thus  some  time  at  his 
disposal  which  he  could  spend  in  the  active  service  of  his  Master. 
He  and  his  companions  lost  no  time  in  "seeking  out  the  disciples." 
It  is  probable  that  the  Christians  at  Tyre  were  not  numerous,  but  a 
church  had  existed  there  ever  since  the  dispersion  consequent  upon 
the  death  of  Stephen,  and  Paul  had  himself  visited  it,  if  not  on  his 


534 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


mission  of  charity  from  Antioch  to  Jerusalem,  yet  doubtless  on  his 
way  to  the  council.  There  were  not  only  disciples  at  Tyre,  but 
prophets.  Some  of  those  who  had  the  prophetical  powder  foresaw  the 
danger  which  was  hanging  over  Paul,  and  endeavored  to  persuade 
him  to  desist  from  his  purpose  of  going  to  Jerusalem.  We  see  that 
different  views  of  duty  might  be  taken  by  those  who  had  the  same 
spiritual  knowledge,  though  that  knowledge  were  supernatural. 
Paul  looked  on  the  coming  danger  from  a  higher  point.  What  to 
others  was  an  overwhelming  darkness,  to  him  appeared  only  as  a 
passing  storm.  And  he  resolved  to  face  it  in  the  faith  that  He 
who  had  protected  him  hitherto  would  still  give  him  shelter  and 
safety. 

The  time  spent  at  Tyre  in  unlading  the  vessel,  and  probably  taking 
in  a  new  cargo,  and  possibly,  also,  waiting  for  a  fair  wind,  was  "seven 
days,"  including  a  Sunday.  Paul  "  broke  bread  "  with  the  disciples 
and  discoursed  as  he  had  done  at  Troas ;  and  the  week-days,  too, 
would  afford  many  precious  opportunities  of  confirming  those  who 
were  already  Christians,  and  in  making  the  gospel  known  to  others, 
both  Jews  and  Gentiles.  When  the  time  came  for  the  ship  to  sail 
a  scene  was  witnessed  on  the  Phoenician  shore  like  that  which  had 
made  the  apostle's  departure  from  Miletus  so  impressive  and  affect- 
ing. There  attended  him  through  the  city  gate,  as  he  and  his  com- 
panions went  out  to  join  the  vessel  now  ready  to  receive  them,  all 
the  Christians  of  Tyre,  and  even  their  "  wives  and  children."  And 
there  they  knelt  down  and  prayed  together  on  the  level  shore.  We 
are  not  to  imagine  here  any  Jewish  place  of  w^orship,  like  the  pro- 
seueha  at  Philippi,  but  simply  that  they  were  on  their  way  to  the 
ship.  The  last  few  moments  were  precious,  and  could  not  be  so 
well  employed  as  in  praying  to  Him  who  alone  can  give  true  com- 
fort and  protection.  The  time  spent  in  this  prayer  was  soon  passed. 
And  then  they  tore  themselves  from  each  other's  embrace;  the 
strangers  went  on  board,  and  the  Tyrian  believers  returned  home 
sorrowful  and  anxious,  while  the  ship  sailed  southward  on  her  way 
to  Ptolemais. 

There  is  a  singular  contrast  in  the  history  of  those  three  cities 
on  the  Phoenician  shore  which  are  mentioned  in  close  succession 
in  the  concluding  part  of  the  narrative  of  this  apostolic  journey. 
Tyre,  the  city  from  w^liich  Paul  had  just  sailed,  had  been  the  sea- 
port whose  destiny  formed  the  burden  of  the  sublimest  prophecies 
in  the  last  days  of  the  Plebrew  monarchy.    Ccesarea,  the  city  to 


PTOLEMAIS. 


635 


which  he  was  ultimately  bound,  was  the  work  of  the  family  of 
Herod  and  rose  with  the  rise  of  Christianity.  Both  are  fallen  now 
into  utter  decay.  Ptolemais,  which  was  the  intermediate  stage  be- 
tween them,  is  an  older  city  than  either,  and  has  outlived  them 
both.  It  has  never  been  withdrawn  from  the  field  of  history,  and  its 
interest  has  seemed  to  increase  (at  least  in  the  eyes  of  Englishmen) 
v^ith  the  progress  of  centuries.  Under  the  ancient  name  of  Acco 
it  appears  in  the  book  of  Judges  (i.  31)  as  one  of  the  towns  of  the 
tribe  of  Assher.  It  was  the  pivot  of  the  contests  between  Persia 
and  Egypt.  Not  unknown  in  the  Macedonian  and  Eoman  periods, 
it  reappears  with  brilliant  distinction  in  the  Middle  Ages,  when  the 
Crusaders  called  it  St.  Jean  d'Acre.  It  is  needless  to  allude  to  the 
events  which  have  fixed  on  this  sea-fortress  more  than  once  the 
attention  of  our  own  generation.  At  the  particular  time  when  the 
apostle  Paul  visited  this  place  it  bore  the  name  of  Ptolemais — most 
probably  given  to  it  by  Ptolemy  Lagi,  who  was  long  in  possession  of 
this  part  of  Syria — and  it  had  recently  been  made  a  Eoman  colony 
by  the  emperor  Claudius.  It  shared  with  Tyre  and  Sidon,  Antioch 
and  Csesarea,  the  trade  of  the  eastern  coast  of  the  Mediterranean 
Sea.  With  a  fair  wind  a  short  day^s  voyage  separates  it  from  Tyre. 
To  speak  in  the  language  of  our  own  sailors,  there  are  thirteen  miles 
from  Tyre  to  Cape  Blanco,  and  fifteen  from  thence  to  Cape  Car- 
mel ;  and  Acre — the  ancient  Ptolemais — is  situated  on  the  farther 
extremity  of  that  bay  which  sweeps  with  a  wide  curvature  of  sand 
to  the  northward  from  the  headland  of  Carmel.  It  is  evident  that 
PauFs  company  sailed  from  Tyre  to  Ptolemais  within  the  day.  At 
the  latter  city,  as  at  the  former,  there  w^ere  Christian  disciples,  who 
had  probably  been  converted  at  the  same  time  and  under  the  same 
circumstances  as  those  of  Tyre.  Another  opportunity  was  afforded 
for  the  salutations  and  encouragement  of  brotherly  love,  but  the 
missionary  party  stayed  here  only  one  day.  Though  they  had 
accomplished  the  voyage  in  abundant  time  to  reach  Jerusalem  at 
Pentecost,  they  hastened  onward,  that  they  might  linger  some  days 
at  Csesarea. 

One  day's  travelling  by  land  was  suflScient  for  this  part  of  their 
journey.  The  distance  is  between  thirty  and  forty  miles.  At 
Csesarea  there  was  a  Christian  family,  already  known  to  us  in  the 
earlier  passages  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  from  whom  they  were 
sure  of  receiving  a  welcome.  The  last  time  we  made  mention  of 
Philip  the  evangelist  was  when  he  was  engaged  in  making  the 


636 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


gospel  known  on  the  road  which  leads  southward  by  Gaza  towards 
Egypt,  about  the  time  when  Paul  himself  was  converted  on  the 
northern  road  when  travelling  to  Damascus.  Now,  after  many 
years,  the  apostle  and  the  evangelist  are  brought  together  under 
one  roof.  On  the  former  occasion  we  saw  that  Csesarea  was  the 
place  where  the  labors  of  Philip  on  that  journey  ended.  Thence- 
forward it  became  his  residence  if  his  life  was  stationary,  or  it  was 
the  centre  from  which  he  made  other  missionary  circuits  through 
Judsea.  He  is  found,  at  least,  residing  in  this  city  by  the  sea  when 
Paul  arrives  in  the  year  58  from  Achaia  and  Macedonia.  His 
family  consisted  of  four  daughters,  who  were  an  example  of  the 
fulfilment  of  that  prediction  of  Joel  quoted  by  Peter  which  said 
that  at  the  opening  of  the  new  dispensation  God^s  Spirit  should 
come  on  his  "handmaidens,"  as  well  as  his  bondsmen,  and  that  the 
"  daughters,"  as  well  as  the  sons,  should  prophesy.  The  prophetic 
power  was  granted  to  those  four  women  at  Csesarea,  who  seem  to 
have  been  living  that  life  of  single  devotedness  which  is  com- 
mended by  Paul  in  his  letter  to  the  Corinthians  (1  Cor.  vii.), 
and  to  have  exercised  their  gift  in  concert  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Church. 

It  is  not  improbable  that  these  inspired  women  gave  Paul  some 
intimation  of  the  sorrows  which  were  hanging  over  him.  But  soon 
a  more  explicit  Voice  declared  the  very  nature  of  the  trial  he  was 
to  expect.  The  stay  of  the  apostle  at  Csesarea  lasted  some  days 
(v.  10).  He  had  arrived  in  Judsea  in  good  time  before  the  festival, 
and  haste  was  now  unnecessary.  Thus  news  reached  Jerusalem 
of  his  arrival,  and  a  prophet  named  Agabus — whom  we  have  seen 
before  coming  from  the  same  place  on  a  similar  errand — went  down 
to  Csesarea  and  communicated  to  Paul  and  the  company  of  Chris- 
tians by  whom  he  was  surrounded  a  clear  knowledge  of  the  im- 
pending danger.  His  revelation  was  made  in  that  dramatic  form 
which  impresses  the  mind  with  a  stronger  sense  of  reality  than 
mere  words  can  do,  and  which  was  made  familiar  to  the  Jews  o^ 
old  by  the  practice  of  the  Hebrew  prophets.  As  Isaiah  (chap. 
XX.)  loosed  the  sackcloth  from  his  loins  and  put  off  his  shoes  from 
his  feet  to  declare  how  the  Egyptian  captives  should  be  led  away 
into  Assyria  naked  and  barefoot, — or  as  the  girdle  of  Jeremiah 
(chap,  xiii.)  in  its  strength  and  its  decay  was  made  a  type  of  the 
people  of  Israel  in  their  privilege  and  their  fall, — Agabus,  in 
like  manner  using  the  imaginary  action,  took  the  girdle  of  Paul 


DEPARTURE  FROM  C^SAREA. 


537 


and  fastened  it  round  his  own  hands  and  feet,  and  said,  "  Thus 
saith  the  Holy  Ghost ;  So  shall  the  Jews  at  Jerusalem  bind  the 
man  to  whom  this  girdle  belongs,  and  they  shall  deliver  him  into 
the  hands  of  the  Gentiles/' 

The  effect  of  this  emphatic  prophecy,  both  on  Luke,  Aristarchus, 
and  Trophimus,  the  companions  of  Paul's  journey,  and  those 
Christians  of  Csesarea  who,  though  they  had  not  travelled  with 
him,  had  learnt  to  love  him,  was  very  great.  They  wept,  and  im- 
plored him  not  to  go  to  Jerusalem.  But  the  apostle  himself  could 
not  so  interpret  the  supernatural  intimation.  He  was  placed  in  a 
position  of  peculiar  trial.  A  voice  of  authentic  prophecy  had  been 
so  uttered  that,  had  he  been  timid  and  wavering,  it  might  easily 
have  been  construed  into  a  warning  to  deter  him.  Nor  was  that 
temptation  unfelt  which  arises  from  the  sympathetic  grief  of  loving 
friends.  His  affectionate  heart  was  almost  broken  when  he  heard 
their  earnest  supplications  and  saw  the  sorrow  that  was  caused 
by  the  prospect  of  his  danger.  But  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  had 
been  so  revealed  to  him  in  his  own  inward  convictions  that  he 
could  see  the  divine  counsel  through  apparent  hinderances.  His 
resolution  was  "  no  wavering  between  yea  and  nay,  but  was  yea  in 
Jesus  Christ."  His  deliberate  purpose  did  not  falter  for  a  moment. 
He  declared  that  he  was  "  ready  not  only  to  be  bound,  but  to  die 
at  Jerusalem  for  the  name  of  the  Lord  Jesus."  And  then  they 
desisted  from  their  entreaties.  Their  respect  for  the  apostle  made 
them  silent.  They  recognized  the  will  of  God  in  the  steady  pur- 
pose of  his  servant,  and  gave  their  acquiescence  in  those  words  in 
which  Christian  resignation  is  best  expressed,  "  The  will  of  the  Lord 
he  doneP 

The  time  was  now  come  for  the  completion  of  the  journey.  The 
festival  was  close  at  hand.  Having  made  the  arrangements  that 
were  necessary  with  regard  to  their  luggage — and  such  notices  in 
Holy  Scripture  should  receive  their  due  attention,  for  they  help  to 
set  before  us  all  the  reality  of  the  apostle's  journeys — he  and  the 
companions  who  had  attended  him  from  Macedonia  proceeded  tc 
the  Holy  City.  Some  of  the  Christians  of  Csesarea  went  along 
with  them — not  merely,  as  it  would  seem,  to  show  their  respect  and 
sympathy  for  the  apostolic  company,  but  to  secure  their  comfort  on 
arriving  by  taking  him  to  the  house  of  Mnason,  a  native  of  Cyprus, 
who  had  been  long  ago  converted  to  Christianity — possibly  during 
the  life  of  our  Lord  himself — and  who  may  have  been  one  of  those 


538  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Cyprian  Jews  who  first  made  the  gospel  known  to  the  Greeks  at 
Antioch. 

Thus  we  have  accompanied  Paul  on  his  last  recorded  journey  to 
Jerusalem.  It  was  a  journey  full  of  incident,  and  it  is  related 
more  minutely  than  any  other  portion  of  his  travels.  We  know 
all  the  places  by  which  he  passed  or  at  which  he  stayed,  and  we 
are  able  to  connect  them  all  with  familiar  recollections  of  history. 
We  know,  too,  all  the  aspect  of  the  scenery.  He  sailed  along 
those  coasts  of  Western  Asia  and  among  those  famous  islands  the 
beauty  of  which  is  proverbial.  The  very  time  of  the  year  is  known 
to  us.  It  was  when  the  advancing  season  was  clothing  every  low 
shore  and  the  edge  of  every  broken  cliff  with  a  beautiful  and  re- 
freshing verdure — when  the  winter  storms  had  ceased  to  be 
dangerous,  and  the  small  vessels  could  ply  safely  in  shade  and 
sunshine  between  neighboring  ports.  Even  the  state  of  the 
weather  and  the  direction  of  the  wind  are  known.  We  can  point 
to  the  places  on  the  map  where  the  vessel  anchored  for  the  night, 
and  trace  across  the  chart  the  track  that  was  followed  when  the 
moon  was  full.  Yet  more  than  this.  We  are  made  fully  aware 
of  the  state  of  the  apostle's  mind  and  of  the  burdened  feeling 
under  which  this  journey  was  accomplished.  The  expression  of 
this  feeling  strikes  us  the  more  from  its  contrast  with  all  the  out- 
ward circumstances  of  the  voyage.  He  sailed  in  the  finest  season, 
by  the  brightest  coasts,  and  in  the  fairest  weather,  and  yet  his  mind 
was  occupied  with  forebodings  of  evil  from  first  to  last,  so  that  a 
peculiar  shade  of  sadness  is  thrown  over  the  whole  narration.  If 
this  be  true,  we  should  expect  to  find  some  indications  of  this 
pervading  sadness  in  the  letters  written  about  this  time,  for  we 
know  how  the  deeper  tones  of  feeling  make  themselves  known  in 
the  correspondence  of  any  man  with  his  friends.  Accordingly,  we 
do  find  in  The  Epistle  written  to  the  Romans  shortly  before  leaving 
Corinth  a  remarkable  indication  of  discouragement,  and  almost 
despondency,  when  he  asked  the  Christians  at  Eome  to  pray  that 
on  his  arrival  in  Jerusalem  he  might  be  delivered  from  the  Jews 
who  hated  him,  and  be  well  received  by  those  Christians  who  dis- 
regarded his  authority.  The  depressing  anxiety  with  which  he 
thus  looked  forward  to  the  journey  would  not  be  diminished  when 
the  very  moment  of  his  departure  from  Corinth  was  beset  by  a 
Jewish  plot  against  his  life.  And  we  find  the  cloud  of  gloom 
which  thus  gathered  at  the  first  increasing  and  becoming  darker 


FOREBODINGS  OF  EVIL. 


639 


as  we  advance.  At  Philippi  and  at  Troas^  indeed,  no  direct  inti- 
mation is  given  of  coming  calamities ;  but  it  is  surely  no  fancy 
v^^hich  sees  a  foreboding  shadow  thrown  over  that  midnight 
meeting  where  death  so  suddenly  appeared  among  those  that  were 
assembled  there  with  many  lights  in  the  upper  chamber,  while  the 
apostle  seemed  unable  to  intermit  his  discourse  as  "  ready  to  depart 
on  the  morrow."  For  indeed  at  Miletus  he  said  that  already 
every  city''  the  Spirit  had  admonished  him  that  bonds  and  impris- 
onment were  before  him.  At  Miletus  it  is  clear  that  the  heaviness 
of  spirit  under  which  he  started  had  become  a  confirmed  antici- 
pation of  evil.  When  he  wrote  to  Kome  he  hoped  to  be  delivered 
from  the  danger  he  had  too  much  reason  to  fear.  Now  his  fear 
predominates  over  hope,  and  he  looks  forward  sadly  but  calmly 
to  some  imprisonment  not  far  distant.  At  Tyre  the  first  sounds 
that  he  hears  on  landing  are  the  echo  of  his  own  thoughts.  He 
is  met  by  the  same  voice  of  warning  and  the  same  bitter  trial  for 
himself  and  his  friends.  At  Ccesarea  his  vague  forebodings  of 
captivity  are  finally  made  decisive  and  distinct,  and  he  has  a  last 
struggle  with  the  remonstrances  of  those  whom  he  loved.  Never 
had  he  gone  to  Jerusalem  without  a  heart  full  of  emotion — neither 
in  those  early  years  when  he  came  an  enthusiastic  boy  from  Tarsus 
to  the  school  of  Gamaliel,  nor  on  his  return  from  Damascus  after  the 
greatest  change  that  could  have  passed  over  an  inquisitor's  mind, 
nor  when  he  went  with  Barnabas  from  Antioch  to  the  council 
which  was  to  decide  an  anxious  controversy.  Now  he  had  much 
new  experience  of  the  insidious  progress  of  error  and  of  the 
sinfulness  even  of  the  converted.  Yet  his  trust  in  God  did  not 
depend  on  the  faithfulness  of  man,  and  he  went  to  Jerusalem 
calmly  and  resolutely,  though  doubtful  of  his  reception  among 
the  Christian  brethren,  and  not  knowing  what  would  happen  on 
the  morrow. 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


RECEPTION  AT  JERUSALEM. — ASSEMBLING  OF  THE  PRESBYTERS. 
—ADVICE  GIVEN  TO  PAUL.  —  THE  FOUR  NAZARITES.  —  PAUL 
SEIZED  AT  THE  FESTIVAL. — THE  TEMPLE  AND  THE  GARRISON. 
— "HEBREW  SPEECH  ON  THE  STAIRS." — THE  CENTURION  AND 
THE  CHIEF  CAPTAIN. — PAUL  BEFORE  THE  SANHEDRIN. — THE 
PHARISEES  AND  SADDUCEES. — VISION  IN  THE  CASTLE. — CON- 
SPIRACY.— PAULAS  NEPHEW. — LETTER  OF  CLAUDIUS  LYSIAS  TO 
FELIX. — NIGHT-JOURNEY  TO  ANTIPATRIS. — CiESAREA. 

"  When  we  were  come  to  Jerusalem  the  brethren  received  us 
gladly."  Such  is  Luke's  description  of  the  welcome  which  met 
the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles  on  his  arrival  in  the  metropolis  of 
Judaism.  So  we  shall  find  afterv/ard  "  the  brethren"  hailing  his 
approach  to  Eome  and  "coming  to  meet  him  as  far  as  Appii  Fo- 
rum." Thus,  wherever  he  went  or  whatever  might  be  the  strength 
of  hostility  and  persecution  which  dogged  his  footsteps,  he  found 
some  Christian  hearts  who  loved  the  glad  tidings  which  he 
preached,  and  loved  himself  as  the  messenger  of  the  grace  of  God. 

The  apostle's  spirit,  which  was  much  depressed,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  anticipations  of  coldness  and  distrust  on  the  part  of  the  Church 
at  Jerusalem,  must  have  been  lightened  by  his  kind  reception. 
He  seems  to  have  spent  the  evening  of  his  arrival  with  these  sym- 
pathizing brethren,  but  on  the  morrow  a  more  formidable  ordeal 
awaited  him.  He  must  encounter  the  assembled  presbyters  of  the 
Church;  and  he  might  well  doubt  whether  even  the  substantial 
proof  of  loving  interest  in  their  welfare  of  which  he  was  the 
bearer  would  overcome  the  antipathy  with  which  (as  he  was  fully 
aware)  too  many  of  them  regarded  him.  The  experiment,  how- 
ever, must  be  tried,  for  this  was  the  very  end  of  his  coming  to 
Jerusalem  at  all  at  a  time  when  his  heart  called  him  to  Rome. 
His  purpose  was  to  endeavor  to  set  himself  right  with  the  Church 
of  Jerusalem,  to  overcome  the  hostile  prejudices  which  had  already 
80  much  impeded  his  labors,  and  to  endeavor,  by  the  force  of 
540 


RECEPTION  AT  JERUSALEM. 


541 


Christian  love  and  forbearance,  to  win  the  hearts  of  those  whom 
he  regarded,  in  spite  of  all  their  weaknesses  and  errors,  as  brethren 
in  Christ  Jesus.  Accordingly,  when  the  morning  came  the  pres- 
byters or  elders  of  the  Church  were  called  together  by  James  (who, 
as  we  have  before  mentioned,  presided  over  the  Church  of  Jeru- 
salem) to  receive  Paul  and  his  fellow-travellers,  the  messengers 
of  the  Gentile  churches.  We  have  already  seen  how  carefully 
Paul  had  guarded  himself  from  the  possibility  of  suspicion  in  the 
administration  of  his  trust  by  causing  deputies  to  be  elected  by 
the  several  churches  whose  alms  he  bore  as  joint  trustees  with 
himself  of  the  fund  collected.  These  deputies  now  entered 
together  with  him  into  the  assembly  of  the  elders,  and  the  offer- 
ing was  presented — a  proof  of  love  from  the  churches  of  the  Gen- 
tiles to  the  mother-Church  whence  their  spiritual  blessings  had 
been  derived. 

The  travellers  were  received  with  that  touching  symbol  of 
brotherhood,  the  kiss  of  peace,  which  was  exchanged  between  the 
Christians  of  those  days  on  every  occasion  of  public  as  well  as 
private  meeting.  Then  the  main  business  of  the  assembly  was 
commenced  by  an  address  from  Paul.  This  was  not  the  first  occa- 
sion on  which  he  had  been  called  to  take  a  similar  part  in  the 
same  city  and  before  the  same  audience.  Our  thoughts  are  natu- 
rally carried  back  to  the  days  of  the  apostolic  council,  when  he 
first  declared  to  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  the  gospel  which  he 
preached  among  the  Gentiles  and  the  great  things  which  God 
had  wrought  thereby.  The  majority  of  the  Church  had  then, 
under  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  been  brought  over  to  his 
side  and  had  ratified  his  views  by  their  decree.  But  the  battle 
was  not  yet  won ;  he  had  still  to  contend  against  the  same  foes 
with  the  same  weapons. 

We  are  told  that  he  now  gave  a  detailed  account  of  all  that 
"  God  had  wrought  among  the  Gentiles  by  his  ministry"  since  he 
last  parted  from  Jerusalem  four  years  before.  The  foundation  of 
the  great  and  flourishing  Church  of  Ephesus  doubtless  furnished 
the  main  interest  of  his  narrative,  but  he  would  also  dwell  on  the 
progress  of  the  several  churches  in  Phrygia,  Galatia,  and  other 
parts  of  Asia  Minor,  and  likewise  those  in  Macedonia  and  Achaia, 
from  whence  he  was  just  returned.  In  such  a  discourse  he  could 
scarcely  avoid  touching  on  subjects  which  would  excite  painful 
feelings  and  rouse  bitter  prejudice  in  many  of  his  audience.  He 


542         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

could  hardly  speak  of  Galatia  without  mentioning  the  attempted 
perversion  of  his  converts  there.  He  could  not  enter  into  the 
state  of  Corinth  without  alluding  to  the  emissaries  from  Palestine 
who  had  introduced  confusion  and  strife  among  the  Christians  of 
that  city.  Yet  we  cannot  doubt  that  Paul,  with  that  graceful 
courtesy  which  distinguished  both  his  writings  and  his  speeches, 
softened  all  that  was  disagreeable  and  avoided  what  was  person- 
ally offensive  to  his  audience,  and  dwelt,  as  far  as  he  could,  on 
topics  in  which  all  present  would  agree.  Accordingly,  we  find 
that  the  majority  of  the  assembled  elders  were  favorably  impressed 
by  his  address  and  by  the  tidings  which  he  brought  of  the  progress 
of  the  gospel.  The  first  act  of  the  assembly  was  to  glorify  God 
for  the  wonders  he  had  wrought.  They  joined  in  solemn  thanks- 
giving with  one  accord,  and  the  amen  (1  Cor.  xiv.  16)  which  fol- 
lowed the  utterance  of  thanks  and  praise  from  apostolic  lips  was 
swelled  by  many  voices. 

Thus  the  hope  expressed  by  Paul  on  a  former  occasion  concern- 
ing the  result  of  this  visit  to  Jerusalem  was  in  a  measure  fulfilled. 
But  beneath  this  superficial  show  of  harmony  there  lurked  ele- 
ments of  discord  which  threatened  to  disturb  it  too  soon.  We 
have  already  had  occasion  to  remark  upon  the  peculiar  composi- 
tion of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem,  and  we  have  seen  that  a  Phari- 
saic faction  was  sheltered  in  its  bosom  which  continually  strove 
to  turn  Christianity  into  a  sect  of  Judaism.  We  have  seen  that 
this  faction  had  recently  sent  emissaries  into  the  Gentile  churches, 
and  had  endeavored  to  alienate  the  minds  of  PauFs  converts  from 
their  converter.  These  men  were  restless  agitators,  animated  by 
the  bitterest  sectarian  spirit,  and  although  they  were  numerically 
a  small  party,  yet  we  know  the  power  of  a  turbulent  minority. 
But  besides  these  Judaizing  zealots,  there  was  a  large  proportion 
of  the  Christians  at  Jerusalem  whose  Christianity,  though  more 
sincere  than  that  of  those  just  mentioned,  was  yet  very  weak  and 
imperfect.  The  " many  thousands  of  Jews  which  believed"  had 
by  no  means  all  attained  to  the  fulness  of  Christian  faith.  Many 
of  them  still  knew  only  a  Christ  after  the  flesh,  a  Saviour  of  Is- 
rael, a  Jewish  Messiah.  Their  minds  were  in  a  state  of  transition 
between  the  Law  and  the  gospel,  and  it  was  of  great  consequence 
not  to  shock  their  prejudices  too  rudely,  lest  they  should  be 
tempted  to  make  shipwreck  of  their  faith  and  renounce  their 
Christianity  altogether.    Their  prejudices  were  most  wisely  con- 


ADVICE  GIVEN  TO  PAUL. 


543 


suited  in  tilings  indifferent  by  James,  who  accommodated  himself 
in  all  points  to  the  strict  requirements  of  the  Law,  and  thus  dis- 
armed the  hostility  of  the  Judaizing  bigots.  He  was,  indeed, 
divinely  ordained  to  be  the  apostle  of  this  transition  Church,  Had 
its  councils  been  less  wisely  guided,  had  the  gospel  of  Paul  been 
really  repudiated  by  the  Church  of  Jerusalem,  it  is  difficult  to 
estimate  the  evil  which  might  have  resulted.  This  class  of  Chris- 
tians was  naturally  very  much  influenced  by  the  declamation  of 
the  more  violent  partisans  of  Judaism.  Their  feelings  would  be 
easily  excited  by  an  appeal  to  their  Jewish  patriotism.  They 
might  without  difficulty  be  roused  to  fury  against  one  whom  they 
were  taught  to  regard  as  a  despiser  of  the  Law  and  a  reviler  of 
the  customs  of  their  forefathers.  Against  Paul  their  dislike  had 
been  long  and  artfully  fostered,  and  they  would  from  the  first  have 
looked  on  him  perhaps  with  some  suspicion  as  not  being,  like 
themselves,  a  Hebrew  of  the  Holy  City,  but  only  a  Hellenist  of 
the  Dispersion. 

Such  being  the  composition  of  the  great  body  of  the  Church, 
we  cannot  doubt  that  the  same  elements  were  to  be  found  amongst 
the  elders  also.  And  this  will  explain  the  resolution  to  which  the 
assembly  came  at  the  close  of  their  discussion  on  the  matters 
brought  before  them.  They  began  by  calling  Paul's  attention  to 
the  strength  of  the  Judaical  party  among  the  Christians  of  Jeru' 
salem.  They  told  him  that  the  majority  even  of  the  Christian 
Church  had  been  taught  to  hate  his  very  name,  and  to  believe 
that  he  went  about  the  world  "teaching  the  Jews  to  forsake 
Moses,  saying  that  they  ought  not  to  circumcise  their  children, 
neither  to  walk  after  the  customs."  They  further  observed  that 
it  was  impossible  his  arrival  should  remain  unknown ;  his  renown 
was  too  great  to  allow  him  to  be  concealed ;  his  public  appearance 
in  the  streets  of  Jerusalem  would  attract  a  crowd  of  curious  spec- 
tators, most  of  whom  would  be  violently  hostile.  It  was  therefore 
of  importance  that  he  should  do  something  to  disarm  this  hostility 
and  to  refute  the  calumnies  which  had  been  circulated  concerning 
him.  The  plan  they  recommended  was,  that  he  should  take 
charge  of  four  Jewish  Christians  who  were  under  a  Nazaritie 
vow,  accompany  them  to  the  temple,  and  pay  for  them  the  neces- 
sary expenses  attending  the  termination  of  their  vow.  Agrippa  L 
not  long  before  had  given  the  same  public  expression  of  his  sym- 
pathy with  the  Jews  on  his  arrival  from  Rome  to  take  possession 


544  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

of  his  throne.  And  what  the  king  had  done  for  popularity  it  was 
felt  that  the  apostle  might  do  for  the  sake  of  truth  and  peace. 
His  friends  thought  that  he  would  thus  in  the  most  public  man- 
ner exhibit  himself  as  an  observer  of  the  Mosaic  ceremonies  and 
refute  the  accusations  of  his  enemies.  They  added  that  by  so 
doing  he  would  not  countenance  the  errors  of  those  who  sought 
to  impose  the  Law  upon  Gentile  converts,  because  it  had  been 
already  decided  by  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  that  the  ceremonial 
observances  of  the  Law  were  not  obligatory  on  the  Gentiles. 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  conclusion  is  attributed  expressly  in 
the  scriptural  narrative  not  to  James  (who  presided  over  the  meet- 
ing), but  to  the  assembly  itself.  The  lurking  shade  of  distrust  im- 
plied in  the  terms  of  the  admonition  was  certainly  not  shared  by 
that  great  apostle,  who  had  long  ago  given  to  Paul  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship.  We  have  already  seen  indications  that,  however 
strict  might  be  the  Judaical  observances  of  James,  they  did  not 
satisfy  the  Judaizing  party  at  Jerusalem,  who  attempted  under  the 
sanction  of  his  name  to  teach  doctrines  and  enforce  practices  of 
which  he  disapproved.  The  partisans  of  this  faction,  indeed,  are 
called  by  Paul  (while  anticipating  this  very  visit  to  Jerusalem) 
the  disobedient  party.''  It  would  seem  that  their  influence  was 
not  unfelt  in  the  discussion  which  terminated  in  the  resolution 
recorded.  And  though  James  acquiesced  (as  did  Paul)  in  the  ad- 
vice given,  it  appears  not  to  have  originated  with  himself. 

The  counsel,  however,  though  it  may  have  been  suggested  by 
suspicious  prejudice,  or  even  by  designing  enmity,  was  not  in  itself 
unwise.  Paul's  great  object  (as  we  have  seen)  in  this  visit  to  Jeru- 
salem was  to  conciliate  the  Church  of  Palestine.  If  he  could  win 
over  that  Church  to  the  truth,  or  even  could  avert  its  open  hostility 
to  himself,  he  would  be  doing  more  for  the  diffusion  of  Christianity 
than  even  by  the  conversion  of  Ephesus.  Every  lawful  means  for 
such  an  end  he  was  ready  gladly  to  adopt.  His  own  principles, 
stated  by  himself  in  his  Epistles,  required  this  of  him.  He  had 
recently  declared  that  every  compliance  in  ceremonial  observances 
should  be  made,  rather  than  cast  a  stumbling-block  in  a  brother's 
way.  He  had  laid  it  down  as  his  principle  of  action  to  become  a 
Jew  to  Jews,  that  he  might  gain  the  Jews,  as  willingly  as  he  be- 
came a  Gentile  to  Gentiles,  that  he  might  gain  the  Gentiles.  He 
had  given  it  as  a  rule  that  no  man  should  change  his  external 
observances  because  he  became  a  Christian — that  the  Jew  should 


THE  FOUR  NAZARITES. 


545 


remain  a  Jew  in  things  outward.  Nay  more,  he  himself  observed 
the  Jewish  festivals,  had  previously  countenanced  his  friends  in 
the  practice  of  Nazaritic  vows,  and  had  circumcised  Timothy,  the 
son  of  a  Jewess.  So  false  was  the  charge  that  he  had  forbidden 
the  Jews  to  circumcise  their  children.  In  fac^  the  great  doctrine 
of  Paul  concerning  the  worthlessness  of  ceremonial  observances 
rendered  him  equally  ready  to  practise  as  to  forsake  them.  A  mind 
so  truly  catholic  as  his  was  necessarily  free  from  any  repugnance 
to  mere  outward  observances — a  repugnance  equally  superstitious 
with  the  formalism  which  clings  to  ritual.  In  his  view,  circum- 
cision was  nothing  and  uncircumcision  was  nothing,  but  faith,  which 
worketh  by  love.  And  this  love  rendered  him  willing  to  adopt 
the  most  burdensome  ceremonies  if  by  so  doing  he  could  save  a 
brother  from  stumbling.  Hence  he  willingly  complied  with  the 
advice  of  the  assembly,  and  thereby,  while  he  removed  the  preju- 
dices of  its  more  ingenuous  members,  doubtless  exasperated  the 
factious  partisans  who  had  hoped  for  his  refusal. 

Thus  the  meeting  ended  amicably,  with  no  open  manifestation 
of  that  hostile  feeling  towards  Paul  which  lurked  in  the  bosoms 
of  some  who  w^ere  present.  On  the  next  day,  which  was  the  great 
feast  of  Pentecost,  Paul  proceeded  with  the  four  Christian  Naza- 
rites  to  the  temple.  It  is  necessary  here  to  explain  the  nature  of 
their  vow  and  of  the  office  which  he  Vi^as  to  perform  for  them.  It 
was  customary  among  the  Jews  for  those  who  had  received  de- 
liverance from  any  great  peril,  or  who  from  other  causes  desired 
publicly  to  testify  their  dedication  to  God,  to  take  upon  themselves 
the  vow  of  a  Nazarite,  the  regulations  of  which  are  prescribed  in 
the  sixth  chapter  of  the  book  of  Numbers.  In  that  book  no  rule 
is  laid  down  as  to  the  time  during  which  this  life  of  ascetic  rigor 
was  to  continue,  but  we  learn  from  the  Talmud  and  Josephus  that 
thirty  days  was  at  least  a  customary  period.  During  this  time  the 
Nazarite  was  bound  to  abstain  from  wine  and  to  suffer  his  hair  to 
grow  uncut.  At  the  termination  of  the  period  he  was  bound  to 
present  himself  in  the  temple  with  certain  offerings,  and  his  hair 
was  then  cut  off  and  burnt  upon  the  altar.  The  offerings  req  jired 
were  beyond  the  means  of  the  very  poor,  and  consequently  it  was 
thought  an  act  of  piety  for  a  rich  man  to  pay  the  necessary  ex- 
penses, and  thus  enable  his  poorer  countrymen  to  complete  their 
vow.  Paul  was  far  from  rich ;  he  gained  his  daily  bread  by  the 
work  of  his  own  hands ;  and  we  may  therefore  naturally  ask  how  ho 
35 


546         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

was  able  to  take  upon  himself  the  expenses  of  these  four  Nazarites, 
The  answer  probably  is  that  the  assembled  elders  had  requested 
him  to  apply  to  this  purpose  a  portion  of  the  fund  which  he  had 
placed  at  their  disposal.  However  this  may  be,  he  now  made 
himself  responsible  for  these  expenses,  and  accompanied  the  Naz- 
arites  to  the  temple,  after  having  first  performed  the  necessary 
purifications  together  with  them.  On  entering  the  temple  he 
announced  to  the  priests  that  the  period  of  the  Nazaritic  vow 
which  his  friends  had  taken  was  accomplished,  and  he  waited 
within  the  sacred  enclosure  till  the  necessary  offerings  were  made 
for  each  of  them  and  their  hair  cut  off  and  burnt  in  the  sacred 
fire. 

He  might  well  have  hoped,  by  thus  complying  with  the  legal 
ceremonial,  to  conciliate  those,  at  least,  who  were  only  hostile  to 
him  because  they  believed  him  hostile  to  their  national  worship. 
And,  so  far  as  the  great  body  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem  was  con- 
cerned, he  probably  succeeded.  But  the  celebration  of  the  festival 
had  attracted  multitudes  to  the  Holy  City,  and  the  temple  was 
thronged  with  worshippers  from  every  land;  and  amongst  these 
were  some  of  those  Asiatic  Jews  who  had  been  defeated  by  his 
arguments  in  the  synagogue  of  Ephesus,  and  irritated  against  him 
during  the  last  few  years  daily  more  and  more  by  the  continual 
growth  of  a  Christian  Church  in  that  city,  formed  in  .great  part  of 
converts  from  among  the  Jewish  proselytes.  These  men,  whom  a 
zealous  feeling  of  nationality  had  attracted  from  their  distant  home 
to  the  metropolis  of  their  faith,  now  beheld,  where  they  least  ex- 
pected to  find  him,  the  apostate  Israelite  who  had  opposed  their 
teaching  and  seduced  their  converts.  An  opportunity  of  revenge 
which  they  could  not  have  hoped  for  in  the  Gentile  city  where 
they  dwelt  had  suddenly  presented  itself.  They  sprang  upon  their 
enemy,  and  shouted  while  they  held  him  fast,  "Men  of  Israel, 
help  I  This  is  the  man  that  teacheth  all  men  everywhere  against 
the  people  and  the  Law  and  this  place."  Then,  as  the  crowd 
rushed  tumultuously  towards  the  spot,  they  excited  them  yet  fur- 
ther by  accusing  Paul  of  introducing  Greeks  into  the  Holy  Place, 
which  was  profaned  by  the  presence  of  a  Gentile.  The  vast  mul- 
titude which  was  assembled  on  the  spot  and  in  the  immediate 
neighborhood  was  excited  to  madness  by  these  tidings,  which 
spread  rapidly  through  the  crowd.  The  pilgrims  who  flocked  at 
such  seasons  to  Jerusalem  were  of  course  the  most  zealous  of  their 


THE  TEMPLE  AND  ITS  POSITION. 


547 


nation — very  Hebrews  of  the  Hebrews.  We  may  imagine  the 
horror  and  indignation  which  would  fill  their  minds  when  they 
heard  that  an  apostate  from  the  faith  of  Israel  had  been  seized  in 
the  very  act  of  profaning  the  temple  at  this  holy  season.  A  furious 
multitude  rushed  upon  the  apostle,  and  it  was  only  their  reverence 
for  the  Holy  Place  which  preserved  him  from  being  torn  to  pieces 
on  the  spot.  They  hurried  him  out  of  the  sacred  enclosure  and 
assailed  him  with  violent  blows.  Their  next  course  might  have 
been  to  stone  him  or  to  hurl  him  over  the  precipice  into  the  valley 
below.  They  were  already  in  the  Court  of  the  Gentiles,  and  the 
heavy  gates  which  separated  the  inner  from  the  outer  enclosure 
were  shut  by  the  Levites,  when  an  unexpected  interruption  pre- 
vented the  murderous  purpose. 

It  becomes  desirable  here  to  give  a  more  particular  description 
than  we  have  yet  done  of  the  temple-area  and  the  sanctuary  which 
it  enclosed.  Some  reference  has  been  made  to  this  subject  in  the 
account  of  Stephen's  martyrdom,  especially  to  that  "  Stone  Cham- 
ber"— the  hall  Gazith — where  the  Sanhedrin  held  their  solemn 
conclave.  Soon  we  shall  see  Paul  himself  summoned  before  this 
tribunal,  and  hear  his  voice  in  that  hall  where  he  had  listened  to 
the  eloquence  of  the  first  martyr.  But  meantime  other  events 
came  in  rapid  succession,  for  the  better  understanding  of  which 
is  well  to  form  to  ourselves  a  clear  notion  of  the  localities  in  which 
they  occurred. 

The  position  of  the  temple  on  the  eastern  side  of  Jerusalem,  the 
relation  of  Mount  Moriah  to  the  other  eminences  on  which  the 
city  was  built,  the  valley  which  separated  it  from  the  higher  sum- 
mit of  Mount  Zion,  and  the  deeper  ravine  which  formed  a  chasm 
between  the  whole  city  and  the  Mount  of  Olives, — these  facts  of 
general  topography  are  too  well  known  to  require  elucidation.  On 
the  other  hand,  when  we  turn  to  the  description  of  the  temple-area 
itself  and  that  which  it  contained,  we  are  met  with  considerable 
difficulties.  It  does  not,  however,  belong  to  our  present  task  to 
reconcile  the  statements  in  Josephus  and  the  Talmud  with  each 
other  and  with  present  appearances.  Nor  shall  we  attempt  to 
trace  the  architectural  changes  by  which  the  scene  has  been  mod- 
ified in  the  long  interval  between  the  time  when  the  patriarch  built 
the  altar  on  Moriah  for  his  mysterious  sacrifice  and  our  own  day, 
when  the  same  spot  is  the  "  wailing-place  "  of  those  who  are  his 
children  after  the  flesh,  but  not  yet  the  heirs  of  his  faith.  Keep- 


548 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUI.. 


ing  aloof  from  all  difficult  details,  and  withdrawing  ourselves  from 
the  consideration  of  those  events  which  have  invested  this  hill  with 
an  interest  unknown  to  any  other  spot  on  the  earth,  we  confine 
ourselves  to  the  simple  task  of  depicting  the  temple  of  Herod  as 
it  was  when  Paul  was  arrested  by  the  infuriated  Jews. 

That  rocky  summit  which  was  wide  enough  for  the  threshing- 
floor  of  Araunah  was  levelled  after  David's  death,  and  enlarged  by 
means  of  laborious  substructions  till  it  presented  the  appearance 
of  one  broad  uniform  area.  On  this  level  space  the  temples  of 
Solomon  and  Zerubbabel  were  successively  built;  and  in  the  time 
of  the  apostles  there  were  remains  of  the  former  work  in  the  vast 
stones  which  formed  the  supporting  wall  on  the  side  of  the  Valley 
of  Jehosaphat,  and  of  the  latter  in  the  eastern  gate,  which  in  its 
name  and  its  appearance  continued  to  be  a  monument  of  the  Per- 
sian power.  The  architectural  arrangements  of  Herod's  temple 
were,  in  their  general  form,  similar  to  the  two  which  had  preceded 
it.  When  we  think  of  the  Jewish  sanctuary,  whether  in  its  earlier 
or  later  periods,  our  impulse  is  to  imagine  to  ourselves  some  build- 
ing like  a  synagogue  or  a  church ;  but  the  first  effort  of  our  imagi- 
nation should  be  to  realize  the  appearance  of  that  wide  open  space 
which  is  spoken  of  by  the  prophets  as  the  "  Outward  Court"  or 
the  "Court  of  the  Lord's  House,"  and  is  named  by  Josephus  the 
"  Outer  Temple,"  and  both  in  the  Apocrypha  and  the  Talmud  the 
"  Mountain  of  the  House."  That  which  was  the  "  house  "  itself,  or 
the  temple  properly  so  called,  was  erected  on  the  highest  of  a  series 
of  successive  terraces  which  rose  in  an  isolated  mass  from  the 
centre  of  the  court,  or  rather  nearer  to  its  north-western  corner. 

In  form  the  Outer  Court  was  a  square ;  a  strong  wall  enclosed 
it ;  the  sides  corresponded  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  heavens,  and 
each  was  a  stadium  or  a  furlong  in  length.  Its  pavement  of  stone 
was  of  various  colors,  and  it  was  surrounded  by  a  covered  colonnade, 
the  roof  of  which  was  of  costly  cedar,  and  was  supported  on  lofty 
and  massive  columns  of  the  Corinthian  order  and  of  the  whitest 
marble.  On  three  sides  there  were  two  rows  of  columns,  but  on 
the  southern  side  the  cloister  deepened  into  a  fourfold  colonnade, 
the  innermost  supports  of  the  roof  being  pilasters  in  the  enclosing 
wall.  About  the  south-eastern  angle,  where  the  valley  was  most 
depressed  below  the  plateau  of  the  temple,  we  are  to  look  for  that 
"Porch  of  Solomon"  (John  x.  3;  Acts  iii*  11)  which  is  familiar  to 
us  in  the  New  Testament ;  and  under  the  colonnades  or  on  the 


THE  COURT  OF  THE  WOMEN. 


549 


open  area  in  the  midst  were  the  "tables  of  the  money-changers 
and  the  seats  of  them  who  sold  doves/'  which  turned  that  which 
w^as  intended  for  a  house  of  prayer  into  a  "  house  of  merchandise 
(John  ii.  16)  and  "a  den  of  thieves  "  (Matt.  xxi.  13).  Free  access 
was  ajforded  into  this  wdde  enclosure  by  gates  on  each  of  the  four 
sides,  one  of  which  on  the  east  was  the  Royal  Gate,  and  was  per- 
haps identical  vrith  the  "  Beautiful  Gate of  sacred  history,  while 
another  on  the  west  was  connected  with  the  crowded  streets  of 
Mount  Zion  by  a  bridge  over  the  intervening  valley. 

Nearer  (as  we  have  seen)  to  the  north-western  corner  than  the 
centre  of  the  square  arose  that  series  of  enclosed  terraces  on  the 
summit  of  which  was  the  sanctuary.  These  more  sacred  limits 
w^ere  fenced  off  by  a  low  balustrade  of  stone,  with  columns  at 
intervals,  on  which  inscriptions  in  Greek  and  Latin  warned  all 
Gentiles  against  advancing  beyond  them  on  pain  of  death.  It  was 
within  this  boundary  that  Paul  was  accused  of  having  brought  his 
heathen  companions.  Besides  this  balustrade,  a  separation  was 
formed  by  a  flight  of  fourteen  steps  leading  up  to  the  first  platform, 
which  in  its  western  portion  was  a  narrow  terrace  of  fifteen  feet 
wide  round  the  walls  of  the  innermost  sanctuary,  while  the  eastern 
portion  expanded  into  a  second  court,  called  the  Court  of  the  Women, 
By  this  term  we  are  not  to  understand  that  it  was  exclusively  de- 
voted to  that  sex,  but  that  no  women  were  allowed  to  advance 
beyond  it.  This  court  seems  to  have  contained  the  Treasury 
(Mark  xii.  41 ;  Luke  xxi.  1)  and  various  chambers,  of  which  that 
at  the  south-eastern  corner  should  be  mentioned  here,  for  there  the 
Nazarites  performed  their  vows;  and  the  whole  court  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  wall  of  its  own,  with  gates  on  each  side,  the  eastern- 
most of  which  was  of  Corinthian  brass,  with  folding  doors  and 
strong  bolts  and  bars,  requiring  the  force  of  twenty  men  to  close 
them  for  the  night.  We  conceive  that  it  was  the  closing  of  these 
doors  by  the  Levites  which  is  so  pointedly  mentioned  by  Luke 
(Acts  xxi.  30),  and  we  must  suppose  that  Paul  had  been  first  seized 
within  them,  and  was  then  dragged  down  the  flight  of  steps  into 
the  Outer  Court. 

The  interest,  then,  of  this  particular  moment  is  to  be  associated 
with  the  eastern  entrance  of  the  Inner  from  the  Outer  Temple. 
But  to  complete  our  description  we  must  now  cross  the  Court  of 
the  Women  to  its  western  gate.  The  Holy  Place  and  the  Holy  of 
Holies  were  still  within  and  above  the  spaces  we  have  mentioned. 


550  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Two  courts  yet  intervened  between  the  court  last  described  and  the 
Holy  House  itself.  The  first  was  the  Court  of  Israel,  the  ascent  to 
whicli  was  by  a  flight  of  fifteen  semicircular  steps;  the  second, 
the  Court  of  the  Priests,  separated  from  the  former  by  a  low 
balustrade.  Where  these  spaces  bordered  on  each  other,  to  the 
south,  was  the  hall  Gazith,  the  meeting-place  of  the  Sanhedrin, 
partly  in  one  court,  and  partly  in  the  other.  A  little  farther 
towards  the  north  were  all  those  arrangements  which  we  are 
hardly  able  to  associate  with  the  thought  of  worship,  but  which 
daily  reiterated  in  the  sight  of  the  Israelites  that  awful  truth  that 
"without  shedding  of  blood  there  is  no  remission  " — the  rings  at 
which  the  victims  were  slaughtered,  the  beams  and  hooks  from 
which  they  were  suspended  when  dead,  and  the  marble  tables  at 
which  the  entrails  w^ere  washed  ;  here,  above  all,  was  the  Altar, 
the  very  place  of  which  has  been  now  identified  by  the  bore  in  the 
sacred  rock  of  the  Moslems  which  corresponds  exactly  with  the 
description  given  in  the  Mischna  of  the  drain  and  cesspool  which 
communicated  with  the  sewer  that  ran  off  into  the  Kedron. 

The  house  itself  remains  to  be  described.  It  was  divided  into 
three  parts — the  Vestibule,  the  Holy  Place,  and  the  Holij  of  Holies, 
From  the  Altar  and  the  Court  of  the  Priests  to  the  Vestibule  was 
another  flight  of  twelve  steps,  the  last  of  the  successive  approaches 
by  which  the  temple  was  ascended  from  the  east.  The  Vestibule 
was  wider  than  the  rest  of  the  house :  its  front  was  adorned  with 
a  golden  vine  of  colossal  proportions,  and  it  was  separated  by  a 
richly-embroidered  curtain  or  veil  from  the  Holy  Place,  which 
contained  the  Table  of  Shew-bread,  the  Candlestick,  and  the 
Altar  of  Incense.  After  this  was  the  "second  veil''  (Heb.  ix.  3), 
closing  the  access  to  the  innermost  shrine,  which  in  the  days  of 
the  tabernacle  had  contained  the  golden  censer  and  the  ark  of  the 
covenant,  but  which  in  Herod's  temple  was  entirely  empty,  though 
still  regarded  as  the  "  Holiest  of  AH"  (ib).  The  interior  height  of 
the  Holy  Place  and  the  Holy  of  Holies  was  comparatively  mall, 
but  above  them  and  on  each  side  were  chambers  so  arranged  that 
the  general  exterior  effect  was  that  of  a  clerestory  rising  above  the 
aisles;  and  the  whole  was  surmounted  with  gilded  spikes,  to  pre- 
vent the  birds  from  settling  on  the  sacred  roof. 

Such  is  a  bare  outline  of  the  general  plan  of  the  Jewish  temple. 
Such  was  the  arrangement  of  its  parts,  which  could  be  traced 
as  in  a  map  by  those  who  looked  down  from  the  summit  of 


THE  TOWER  OF  ANTONIA. 


551 


the  Mount  of  Olives,  as  the  modern  traveller  looks  now  from  the 
same  place  upon  the  mosque  of  Omar  and  its  surrounding  court. 
As  seen  from  this  eminence — when  the  gilded  front  of  the  Vestibule 
flashed  back  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  all  the  courts  glittered  (to  use 
the  comparison  of  Josephus)  with  the  whiteness  of  snow,  while 
the  column  of  smoke  rose  over  all,  as  a  perpetual  token  of  accept- 
able sacrifice,  and  worshippers  were  closely  crowded  on  the  eastern 
steps  and  terraces  in  front  of  the  Holy  House,  and  pilgrims  from 
all  countries  under  heaven  were  moving  through  the  Outer  Court 
and  flocking  to  the  same  point  from  all  streets  in  the  city — the 
temple  at  the  time  of  the  festival  must  have  been  a  proud  specta- 
cle to  the  religious  Jew.  It  must  have  been  with  sad  and  incred- 
ulous wonder  that  the  four  disciples  heard  from  Him  who  wept  over 
Jerusalem  that  all  this  magnificence  was  presently  to  pass  away. 
None  but  a  Jew  can  understand  the  passionate  enthusiasm  inspired 
by  the  recollections  and  the  glorious  appearance  of  the  national 
sanctuary.  And  none  but  a  Jew  can  understand  the  bitter  grief 
and  deep  hatred  which  grew  out  of  the  degradation  in  which  his 
nation  was  sunk  at  that  particular  time.  This  ancient  glory  was 
now  under  the  shadow  of  an  alien  power.  The  sanctuary  was  all 
but  trodden  under  foot  by  the  Gentiles.  The  very  worship  was 
conducted  under  the  surveillance  of  Roman  soldiers.  We  cannot 
conclude  this  account  of  the  temple  without  describing  the  fortress 
which  was  contiguous,  and  almost  a  part  of  it. 

If  we  were  to  remount  to  the  earlier  history  of  the  temple,  we 
might  perhaps  identify  the  Tower  of  Antonia  with  the  "  palace  " 
of  which  we  read  in  the  book  of  Nehemiah  (ii.  8;  vii.  2).  It  was 
certainly  the  building  which  the  Asmonean  princes  erected  for 
their  own  residence  under  the  name  of  Baris.  Afterward  rebuilt 
with  greater  strength  and  splendor  by  the  first  Herod,  it  was  named 
by  him,  after  his  Romanizing  fashion,  in  honor  of  Mark  Antony. 
Its  situation  is  most  distinctly  marked  out  by  Josephus,  who  tells 
us  that  it  was  at  the  north-western  corner  of  the  temple-area,  with 
the  cloisters  of  which  it  communicated  by  means  of  staircases 
(Acts  xxi.  35,  40).  It  is  difficult,  however,  to  define  the  exact 
extent  of  ground  which  it  covered  in  its  renewed  form  during  the 
time  of  the  Herods.  There  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  it  ex- 
tended along  the  whole  northern  side  of  the  great  temple  court, 
from  the  north-western  corner,  where  it  abutted  on  the  city,  to  the 
north-eastern,  where  it  was  suddenly  stopped  by  the  precipice 


552  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

which  fronted  the  valUy;  and  that  the  tank  which  is  now  com- 
monly called  the  Pool  cf  Bethesda  was  part  of  the  fosse  which 
protected  it  on  the  north.  Though  the  ground  on  which  the  Tower 
of  Antonia  stood  was  low3r  than  that  of  the  temple  itself,  yet  it 
was  raised  to  such  a  heigl.t  that  at  least  the  south-eastern  of  its 
four  turrets  commanded  a  view  of  all  that  went  on  within  the 
temple,  and  thus  both  in  position  and  in  elevation  it  was  in  ancient 
Jerusalem  what  the  Turkish  governor's  house  is  now,  whence  the 
best  view  is  obtained  over  the  enclosure  of  the  mosque  of  Omar. 
But  this  is  an  inadequate  comparison.  If  we  wish  to  realize  the 
influence  of  this  fortress  in  reference  to  political  and  religious  in- 
terests, we  must  turn  rather  to  that  which  is  the  most  humiliating 
spectacle  in  Christendom — the  presence  of  the  Turkish  troops  at  the 
Church  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre,  where  they  are  stationed  to  control 
the  fury  of  the  Greeks  and  Latins  at  the  most  solemn  festival 
of  the  Christian  year.  Such  was  the  office  of  the  Koman  troops 
that  were  quartered  at  the  Jewish  festivals  in  the  fortress  of  An- 
tonia. Within  its  walls  there  were  barracks  for  at  least  a  thousand 
soldiers.  Not  that  we  are  to  suppose  that  all  the  garrison  in  Jeru- 
salem was  always  posted  there.  It  is  probable  that  the  usual  quar- 
ters of  the  "whole  cohort''  (Matt,  xxvii.  27),  or  the  greater  part 
of  it,  were  towards  the  western  quarter  of  the  city,  in  that  "  prse- 
torium"  (John  xviii.  28)  or  official  residence  where  Jesus  was 
mocked  by  the  soldiers,  and  on  the  tessellated  pavement  in  front 
of  which  Pilate  sat  and  condemned  the  Saviour  of  the  world.  But 
at  the  time  of  the  greater  festivals,  when  a  vast  concourse  of  people 
full  of  religious  fanaticism  and  embittered  by  hatred  of  their  rulers 
flocked  into  the  temple  courts,  it  was  found  necessary  to  order  a 
strong  military  force  into  Antonia,  and  to  keep  them  under  arms, 
so  that  they  might  act  immediately  and  promptly  in  the  case  of 
any  outbreak. 

A  striking  illustration  of  the  connection  between  the  fortress 
and  the  temple  is  afforded  by  the  history  of  those  quarrels  which 
arose  in  reference  to  the  pontifical  vestments.  These  robes  were 
kept  in  Antonia  during  the  time  of  Herod  the  Great.  When  he 
died  they  came  under  the  superintendence  of  the  Roman  procu- 
rator. Agrippa  I.  during  his  short  reign  exercised  the  right  which 
had  belonged  to  his  grandfather.  At  his  death  the  command  that 
the  procurator,  Cuspius  Fadus,  should  take  the  vestments  under 
his  care  raised  a  ferment  among  the  whole  Jewish  people,  and 


INTERFERENCE  OF  THE  SOLDIERS. 


553 


they  were  only  kept  from  an  outbreak  by  tbe  presence  of  an  over- 
whelming force  under  Longinus,  the  governor  of  Syria.  An  em- 
bassy to  Eome,  with  the  aid  of  the  younger  Agrippa,  who  was 
then  at  the  imperial  court,  obtained  the  desired  relaxation ;  and 
the  letter  is  still  extant  in  which  Claudius  assigned  to  Herod,  king 
of  Chalcis,  the  privilege  which  had  belonged  to  his  brother.  But 
under  the  succeeding  procurators  the  relation  between  the  fortress 
Antonia  and  the  religious  ceremonies  in  the  temple  became  more 
significant  and  ominous.  The  hatred  between  the  embittered  Jews 
and  those  soldiers  who  were  soon  to  take  part  in  their  destruction 
grew  deeper  and  more  implacable.  Under  Yentidius  Cumanus  a 
frightful  loss  of  life  had  taken  place  on  one  occasion  at  the  Pass- 
over, in  consequence  of  an  insult  perpetrated  by  one  of  the  mili- 
tary. When  Felix  succeeded  him  assassination  became  frequent 
in  Jerusalem;  the  high  priest  Jonathan  was  murdered,  like  Becket, 
in  the  temple  itself,  with  the  connivance  of  the  procurator;  and  at 
the  very  moment  of  which  we  write  both  the  soldiers  and  the  pop- 
ulace were  in  great  excitement  in  consequence  of  the  recent  '^up- 
roar" caused  by  an  Egyptian  impostor  (Acts  xxi.  38),  who  had  led 
out  a  vast  number  of  fanatic  followers  ^'into  the  wilderness"  to  be 
slain  or  captured  by  the  troops  of  Felix. 

This  imperfect  description  of  the  temple-area  and  of  the  rela- 
tions subsisting  between  it  and  the  contiguous  fortress  is  sufficient 
to  set  the  scene  before  us  on  which  the  events  we  are  now  to  relate 
occurred  in  rapid  succession.  We  left  Paul  at  the  moment  when 
the  Levites  had  closed  the  gates,  lest  the  Holy  Place  should  be 
polluted  by  murder,  and  when  the  infuriated  mob  vvere  violently 
beating  the  apostle  with  the  full  intention  of  putting  him  to  death. 
The  beginning  and  rapid  progress  of  the  commotion  must  have 
been  seen  by  the  sentries  on  the  cloisters  and  the  tower,  and  news 
was  sent  up  immediately  to  Claudius  Lysias,  the  commandant  of 
the  garrison,  that  " all  Jerusalem  was  in  an  uproar''  (v.  31).  The 
epark  had  fallen  on  materials  the  most  inflammable,  and  not  a 
moment  was  to  be  lost  if  conflagration  was  to  be  averted.  Lysias 
himself  rushed  down  instantly,  with  some  of  his  subordinate  ofli- 
cers  and  a  strong  body  of  men,  into  the  temple  court.  At  the 
sight  of  the  flashing  arms  and  disciplined  movements  of  the  im- 
perial soldiers  the  Jewish  mob  desisted  from  their  murderous  vio- 
lence. "They  left  off  beating  of  Paul."  They  had  for  a  moment 
forgotten  that  the  eyes  of  the  sentries  were  upon  them,  but  this 


554  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

sudden  invasion  by  their  hated  and  dreaded  tyrants  reminded 
them  that  they  were  "  in  danger  to  be  called  in  question  for  that 
day's  uproar"  (Acts  xix.  40). 

Claudius  Lysias  proceeded  with  the  soldiers  promptly  and  di- 
rectly to  Paul,  whom  he  perceived  to  be  the  central  object  .  f  all 
the  excitement  in  the  temple  court,  and  in  the  first  place  he 
ordered  him  to  be  chained  by  each  hand  to  a  soldier,  for  he  sus- 
pected that  he  might  be  the  Egyptian  rebel,  who  had  himself 
bafOied  the  pursuit  of  the  Roman  force,  though  his  followers  were 
dispersed.  This  being  done,  he  proceeded  to  question  the  bystand- 
ers, who  were  watching  this  summary  proceeding  half  in  disap- 
pointed rage  at  the  loss  of  their  victim  and  half  in  satisfaction 
that  they  saw  him  at  least  in  captivity.  But  "  when  Lysias  de- 
manded who  he  was  and  what  he  had  done,  some  cried  one  thing, 
and  some  another,  among  the  multitude''  (v.  33,  34);  and  when 
he  found  that  he  could  obtain  no  certain  information  in  conse- 
quence of  the  tumult,  he  gave  orders  that  the  prisoner  should  be 
conveyed  into  the  barracks  within  the  fortress.  The  multitude 
pressed  and  crowded  on  the  soldiers  as  they  proceeded  to  exe- 
cute this  order,  so  that  the  apostle  was  actually  "  carried  up  "  the 
staircase  in  consequence  of  the  violent  pressure  from  below.  And 
meanwhile  deafening  shouts  arose  from  the  stairs  and  from  the 
court — the  same  shouts  which  nearly  thirty  years  before  surrounded 
the  prsetorium  of  Pilate:  "Away  with  him  !  away  with  him!" 

At  this  moment  the  apostle,  with  the  utmost  presence  of  mind, 
turned  to  the  commanding  officer  who  was  near  him,  and,  address- 
ing him  in  Greek,  said  respectfully,  "May  I  speak  with  thee?" 
Claudius  Lysias  was  startled  when  he  found  himself  addressed  by 
his  prisoner  in  Greek,  and  asked  him  whether  he  was  then  mis- 
taken in  supposing  he  was  the  Egyptian  ringleader  of  the  late 
rebellion.  Paul  replied  calmly  that  he  was  no  Egyptian,  but  a 
Jew;  and  he  readily  explained  his  knowledge  of  Greek,  and  at 
the  same  time  asserted  his  claim  to  respectful  treatment,  by  say- 
ing that  he  was  a  native  of  "Tarsus  in  Cilicia,  a  citizen  of  no 
mean  city;"  and  he  proceeded  to  request  that  he  might  be  allowed 
to  address  the  people.  The  request  was  a  bold  one,  and  we  are 
almost  surprised  that  Lysias  should  have  granted  it;  but  there 
seems  to  have  been  something  in  Paul's  aspect  and  manner  which 
from  the  first  gained  an  influence  over  the  mind  of  the  Eoman 
officer,  and  his  consent  was  not  refused.    And  now  the  whole 


HEBREW  SPEECH  ON  THE  STAIRS. 


555 


scene  was  changed  in  a  moment.  Paul  stood  upon  the  stairs  and 
turned  to  the  people,  and  made  a  motion  with  the  hand,  as  about 
to  address  them.  And  they  too  felt  the  influence  of  his  presence. 
Tranquillity  came  on  the  sea  of  heads  below:  there  was  ''a  great 
silence,"  and  he  began,  saying — 

Brethren  and  fathers,  hear  me,  and  let  me  now  defend  myself  before 
you. 

The  language  which  he  spoke  was  Hebrew.  Had  he  spoken  in 
Greek,  the  majority  of  those  who  heard  him  would  have  under- 
stood his  words.  But  the  sound  of  the  holy  tongue  in  that  holy 
place  fell  like  a  calm  on  the  troubled  waters.  The  silence  became 
universal  and  breathless,  and  the  apostle  proceeded  to  address  his 
countrymen  as  follows : 

I  am  myself  an  Israelite,  bom  indeed  at  Tarsus  in  Cilicia,  His  birth  and 

1  1  i^i'i^  education. 

yet  brought  up  in  this  city,  and  taught  at  the  leet  oi  (ja- 
maliel,  in  the  strictest  doctrine  of  the  Law  of  our  fathers ;  and  was  zeal- 
ous in  the  cause  of  God,  as  ye  all  are  this  day.    And  I  per-  His  persecution 

-,    1  .  1-111.-..         .  ,     ,    .  ,    of  the  Chria- 

secuted  this  sect  unto  the  death,  binding  with  chains  and  tians. 
casting  into  prison  both  men  and  women.    And  of  this  the  high  priest 
is  my  witness,  and  all  the  Sanhedrin ;  from  whom  I  received  letters  to 
the  brethren,  and  went  to  Damascus,  to  bring  those  also  who  were  there 
to  Jerusalem  in  chains,  that  they  might  be  punished. 

But  it  came  to  pass  that  as  I  journeyed,  when  I  drew  nigh  Hia  conversion, 
to  Damascus,  about  mid-day,  suddenly  there  shone  from  heaven  a  great 
light  round  about  me.  And  I  fell  to  the  ground,  and  heard  a  voice  say- 
ing unto  me,  Sauly  Saul,  vjhy  persecutest  thou  me  f  And  I  answered.  Who 
art  thou,  Lord  f  and  he  said  unto  me,  /  am  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  whom  thou 
persecutest.  And  the  men  who  were  with  me  saw  the  light,  and  were 
terrified  ;  but  they  heard  not  the  voice  of  Him  that  spake  unto  me.  And 
I  said.  What  shall  I  do,  Lord  ?  And  the  Lord  said  unto  me  Arise,  and  go 
into  Damascus,  and  there  thou  shall  be  told  of  all  things  which  are  appointed 
for  thee  to  do. 

And  when  I  could  not  see,  from  the  brightness  of  that  His  blindness, 
light,  my  companions  led  me  by  the  hand,  and  so  I  entered  tism! 
into  Damascus.  And  a  certain  Ananias,  a  devout  man  according  to  the 
Law,  well  reported  of  by  all  the  Jews  who  dwelt  there,  came  and  stood 
beside  me,  and  said  to  me.  Brother  Saul,  receive  thy  sight;  and  in  that 
instant  I  received  my  sight  and  saw  him.  And  he  said.  The  God  of 
our  fathers  hath  ordained  thee  to  know  his  will,  and  to  behold  the  Just  (Me, 


556 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


and  to  hear  the  voice  of  his  mouth.  For  thou  shalt  be  his  witness  to  all  the 
world  of  what  thou  hast  seen  and  heard.  And  now,  why  dost  thou  delay  f 
Arise  and  be  baptized,  and  wash  away  tl^j  sins,  calling  on  the  name  of  Jesus, 
And  it  came  to  pass,  after  I  had  returned  to  Jerusalem,  His  return  to 
and  while  I  was  praying  in  the  temple,  that  I  was  in  a 
trance^  and  saw  Him  saying  unto  me,  Make  haste  and  go  He  is  command- 
forth  quickly  from  Jerusalem;  for  they  will  not  receive  thy  tes-  go  \o*he^  Gen- 
timony  concerning  me.  And  I  said.  Lord,  they  them^selves 
know  that  I  continually  imprisoned  and  scourged  in  every  synagogue  the  be- 
lievers in  thee.  And  when  the  blood  of  thy  martyr  Stephen  was  shed,  I  also 
myself  ivas  standing  by  and  consenting  gladly  to  his  death,  and  keeping  the 
raiment  of  them  who  slew  him.  And  he  said  unto  me,  Depart;  for  I  will 
send  thee  far  hence  unto  the  Gentiles, 

At  these  words  PauPs  address  to  his  countrymen  was  suddenly 
interrupted.  Up  to  this  point  he  had  riveted  their  attention. 
They  listened  while  he  spoke  to  them  of  his  early  life,  his  perse- 
cution of  the  Church,  his  mission  to  Damascus.  Many  were  pres- 
ent who  could  testify,  on  their  own  evidence,  to  the  truth  of  what 
he  said.  Even  when  he  told  them  of  his  miraculous  conversion, 
his  interview  with  Ananias,  and  his  vision  in  the  temple,  they 
listened  still.  With  admirable  judgment  he  deferred  till  the  last 
all  mention  of  the  Gentiles.  He  spoke  of  Ananias  as  a  devout 
man  according  to  the  Law"  (v.  12),  as  one  "well  reported  of  by 
all  the  Jews"  (16),  as  one  who  addressed  him  in  the  name  of  "the 
God  of  their  fathers"  (v.  14).  In  his  vision  he  showed  how  he 
had  pleaded  before  that  God  the  energy  of  his  former  persecution 
as  a  proof  that  his  countrymen  must  surely  be  convinced  by  his 
conversion;  and  when  he  alluded  to  the  death  of  Stephen,  and 
the  part  which  he  had  taken  himself  in  that  cruel  martyrdom 
(v.  20),  all  the  associations  of  the  place  w^here  they  stood  must 
(we  should  have  thought)  have  brought  the  memory  of  that  scene 
with  pathetic  force  before  their  minds.  But  when  his  mission  to 
the  Gentiles  was  announced — though  the  words  quoted  were  the 
words  of  Jehovah  spoken  in  the  temple  itself,  even  as  the  Lord 
had  once  spoken  to  Samuel — one  outburst  of  frantic  indignation 
rose  from  the  temple-area  and  silenced  the  speaker  on  the  stairs. 
Their  national  pride  bore  down  every  argument  which  could  in- 
fluence their  reason  or  their  reverence.  They  could  not  bear  the 
thought  of  uncircumcised  heathens  being  made  equal  to  the  sons 
of  Abraham.    They  cried  out  that  such  a  wretch  ought  not  to 


Paul's  claim  of  roman  citizenship. 


557 


pollute  the  earth  with  his  presence — that  it  was  a  shame  to  have 
preserved  his  life ;  and  in  their  rage  and  impatience  they  tossed 
oflf  their  outer  garments  (as  on  that  other  occasion  when  the  gar- 
ments were  laid  at  the  feet  of  Saul  himself),  and  threw  up  dust 
into  the  air  with  frantic  violence.  This  commotion  threw  Lysias 
into  new  perplexity.  He  had  not  been  able  to  understand  the 
apostle's  Hebrew  speech,  and  when  he  saw  its  results  he  concluded 
that  his  prisoner  must  be  guilty  of  some  enormous  crime.  He 
ordered  him  therefore  to  be  taken  immediately  from  the  stairs 
into  the  barracks,  and  to  be  examined  by  torture  in  order  to  elicit 
a  confession  of  his  guilt.  Whatever  instruments  were  necessary 
for  this  kind  of  scrutiny  w^ould  be  in  readiness  within  a  Eoman 
fortress,  and  before  long  the  body  of  the  apostle  was  ''stretched 
out,"  like  that  of  a  common  malefactor,  "  to  receive  the  lashes,'' 
wdth  the  officer  standing  by  to  whom  Lysias  had  entrusted  the 
superintendence  of  this  harsh  examination. 

Thus  Paul  was  on  the  verge  of  adding  another  suffering  and  dis- 
grace to  that  long  catalogue  of  afflictions  which  he  gave  in  the  last 
letter  he  wrote  to  Corinth  before  his  recent  visit  to  that  city  (2  Cor. 
xi.  23-25).  Five  times  scourged  by  the  Jews,  once  beaten  with 
rods  at  Philippi,  and  twice  on  other  unknown  occasions,  he  had 
indeed  been  "  in  stripes  above  measure."  And  now  he  was  in  a 
Eoman  barrack,  among  rude  soldiers,  with  a  similar  indignity  in 
prospect,  when  he  rescued  himself,  and  at  the  same  time  gained  a 
vantage-ground  for  tlie  gospel,  by  that  appeal  to  his  rights  as  a 
Eoman  citizen  under  which  he  had  before  sheltered  his  sacred 
cause  at  Philippi.  He  said  these  few  words  to  the  centurion  who 
stood  by :  "  Is  it  law^ful  to  put  to  the  rack  one  who  is  a  Eoman 
citizen  and  uncondemned?"  The  magic  of  the  Eoman  law  pro- 
duced its  effect  in  a  moment.  The  centurion  immediately  reported 
the  words  to  his  commanding  officer,  and  said  significantly,  "Take 
heed  what  thou  doest,  for  this  man  is  a  Eoman  citizen."  Lysias 
was  both  astonished  and  alarmed.  He  knew  full  well  that  no  man 
would  dare  assume  the  right  of  citizenship  if  it  did  not  really  be- 
long to  him ;  and  he  hastened  in  person  to  his  prisoner.  A  hurried 
dialogue  took  place,  from  which  it  appeared  not  only  that  Paul 
was  indeed  a  Eoman  citizen,  but  that  he  had  held  this  privilege 
under  circumstances  far  more  honorable  than  his  interrogator ;  for 
while  Claudius  Lysias  had  purchased  the  right  for  "a  great  sum," 
Paul  was  "free-born."  Orders  were  instantly  given  for  the  removal 


558         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


of  the  instruments  of  torture,  and  those  who  had  been  about  t^ 
conduct  the  examination  retired.  Lysias  was  compelled  to  keep 
the  apostle  still  in  custody,  for  he  was  ignorant  of  the  nature  of 
his  offence ;  and  indeed  this  was  evidently  the  only  sure  method 
of  saving  him  from  destruction  by  the  Jews.  But  the  E-oman 
officer  was  full  of  alarm,  for  in  his  treatment  of  the  prisoner  he 
had  already  been  guilty  of  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  law. 

On  the  following  day  the  commandant  of  the  garrison  adopted 
a  milder  method  of  ascertaining  the  nature  of  his  prisoner's  offence. 
He  summoned  a  meeting  of  the  Jewish  Sanhedrin  with  the  high 
priests,  and  brought  Paul  down  from  the  fortress  and  set  him  be- 
fore them,  doubtless  taking  due  precautions  to  prevent  the  conse- 
quences which  might  result  from  a  sudden  attack  upon  his  safety. 
Only  a  narrow  space  of  the  great  temple  court  intervened  between 
the  steps  which  led  down  from  the  Tower  of  Antonia  and  those 
which  led  up  to  the  hall  Gazith,  the  Sanhedrin's  accustomed  place 
of  meeting.  If  that  hall  was  used  on  this  occasion,  no  heathen 
soldiers  would  be  allowed  to  enter  it,  for  it  was  within  the  balus- 
trade which  separated  the  sanctuary  from  the  court.  But  the  feai 
of  pollution  would  keep  the  apostle's  life  in  safety  within  that 
enclosure.  There  is  good  reason  for  believing  that  the  Sanhedrin 
met  at  that  period  in  a  place  less  sacred,  to  which  the  soldiers 
would  be  admitted,  but  this  is  a  question  into  which  we  need  not 
enter.  Wherever  the  council  sat,  w^e  are  suddenly  transferred  from 
the  interior  of  a  Roman  barrack  to  a  scene  entirely  Jewish. 

Paul  was  now  in  presence  of  that  council  before  which,  when  he 
was  himself  a  member  of  it,  Stephen  had  been  judged.  That 
moment  could  hardly  be  forgotten  by  him,  but  he  looked  steadily 
at  his  inquisitors,  among  whom  he  would  recognize  many  who  had 
been  his  fellow-pupils  in  the  school  of  Gamaliel  and  his  associ- 
ates in  the  persecution  of  the  Christians.  That  unflinching  look 
of  conscious  integrity  offended  them,  and  his  confident  words. 

Brethren,  I  have  always  lived  a  conscientious  life  before  God,  up 
to  this  very  day,"  so  enraged  the  high  priest  that  he  commanded 
those  who  stood  near  to  strike  him  on  the  mouth.  This  brutal 
insult  roused  the  apostle's  feelings,  and  he  exclaimed,  "  God  shall 
smite  thee,  thou  whited  wall :  sittest  thou  to  judge  me  according 
to  the  Law,  and  then  in  defiance  of  the  Law  dost  thou  command 
me  to  be  struck?"  If  we  consider  these  words  as  an  outburst  of 
natural  indignation,  w^e  cannot  severely  blame  them  when  we  re- 


PAUL  BEFORE  THE  SANHEDRIN. 


559 


member  Pau?s  temperament  and  how  they  were  provoked.  If  we 
regard  them  as  a  prophetic  denunciation,  they  were  terribly  ful- 
filled when  this  hypocritical  president  of  the  Sanhedrin  was  mur- 
dered by  the  assassins  in  the  Jewish  war.  In  whatever  light  we 
view  them  now,  those  who  were  present  in  the  Sanhedrin  treated 
them  as  profane  and  rebellious.  "Eevilest  thou  God's  high 
priest?"  was  the  indignant  exclamation  of  the  bystanders.  And 
then  Paul  recovered  himself,  and  said,  with  Christian  meekness 
and  forbearance,  that  he  did  not  consider  that  Ananias  was  high 
priest,  otherwise  he  would  not  so  have  spoken,  seeing  that  it  is 
written  in  the  Law,  ^^Thou  shalt  not  revile  the  ruler  of  thy  people,'" 
But  the  apostle  had  seen  enough  to  be  convinced  that  there  was 
no  prospect  before  this  tribunal  of  a  fair  inquiry  and  a  just  decision. 
He  therefore  adroitly  adopted  a  prompt  measure  for  enlisting  the 
sympathies  of  those  who  agreed  with  him  in  one  doctrine  which, 
though  held  to  be  an  open  question  in  Judaism,  was  an  essential 
truth  in  Christianity.  He  knew  that  both  Pharisees  and  Saddu- 
cees  were  among  his  judges,  and  well  aware  that,  however  united 
they  might  be  in  the  outward  work  of  persecution,  they  were 
divided  by  an  impassable  line  in  the  deeper  matters  of  religious 
faith,  he  cried  out,  "  Brethren,  I  am  a  Pharisee,  and  all  my  fore- 
fathers were  Pharisees :  it  is  for  the  hope  of  a  resurrection  from 
the  dead  that  I  am  to  be  judged  this  day.''  This  exclamation  pro- 
duced an  instantaneous  effect  on  the  assembly.  It  was  the  watch- 
word which  marshalled  the  opposing  forces  in  antagonism  to  each 
other.  The  Pharisees  felt  a  momentary  hope  that  they  might  use 
their  ancient  partisan  as  a  new  weapon  against  their  rivals,  and 
their  hatred  against  the  Sadducees  was  even  greater  than  their 
hatred  of  Christianity.  They  were  vehement  in  their  vociferations, 
and  their  language  was  that  which  Gamaliel  had  used  more  calmly 
many  years  before  (and  possibly  the  aged  rabban  may  have  been 
present  himself  in  this  very  assembly) — "If  this  doctrine  be  of 
God,  ye  cannot  destroy  it :  beware  lest  ye  be  found  to  be  fighting 
against  God."  "  We  find  no  fault  in  this  man :  what  if  (as  he 
Bays)  an  angel  or  a  spirit  have  indeed  spoken  to  him? — "  The 
sentence  was  left  incomplete  or  unheard  in  the  uproar.  The  judg- 
ment-hall became  a  scene  of  the  most  violent  contention,  and 
presently  Claudius  Lysias  received  information  of  what  was  tak- 
ing place,  and  fearing  lest  the  Roman  citizen  whom  he  was  bound 
to  protect  should  be  torn  in  pieces  between  those  who  sought  to 


560 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


protect  him  and  those  who  thirsted  for  his  destruction,  he  ordered 
the  troops  to  go  down  instantly  and  bring  him  back  into  the 
soldiers'  quarters  within  the  fortress. 

So  passed  this  morning  of  violent  excitement.  In  the  e  vening, 
when  Paul  was  isolated  both  from  Jewish  enemies  and  Christian 
friends,  and  surrounded  by  the  uncongenial  sights  and  sounds  of 
a  soldiers'  barrack, — when  the  agitation  of  his  mind  subsided,  and 
he  was  no  longer  strung  up  by  the  presence  of  his  persecutors  or 
supported  by  sympathizing  brethren, — can  we  wonder  that  his 
heart  sank  and  that  he  looked  with  dread  on  the  vague  future  that 
was  before  him  ?  Just  then  it  was  that  he  had  one  of  those  visions 
by  night  which  were  sometimes  vouchsafed  to  him  at  critical  sea- 
sons of  his  life,  and  in  providential  conformity  with  the  circum- 
stances in  which  he  was  placed.  The  last  time  when  we  were 
informed  of  such  an  event  was  when  he  was  in  the  house  of  Aquila 
and  Priscilla  at  Corinth,  and  when  he  was  fortified  against  the 
intimidation  of  the  Jews  by  the  words,  "  Fear  not :  for  I  am  with 
thee"  (Acts  xviii.  9,  10).  The  next  instance  we  shall  have  to  re- 
late is  in  the  worst  part  of  the  storm  at  sea  between  Fair  Havens 
and  Malta,  when  a  similar  assurance  was  given  to  him,  "  Fear  not: 
thou  must  stand  before  Caesar''  (ib.  xxvii.  24).  On  the  present 
occasion  events  were  not  sufficiently  matured  for  him  to  receive  a 
prophetic  intimation  in  this  explicit  form.  He  had  indeed  long 
looked  forward  to  a  visit  to  Eome,  but  the  prospect  now  seemed 
farther  off  than  ever.  And  it  was  at  this  anxious  time  that  he  was 
miraculously  comforted  and  strengthened  by  Him  who  is  "the 
confidence  of  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  of  them  that  are 
afar  off  upon  the  sea ;  who  by  his  strength  setteth  fast  the  moun- 
tains; who  stilieth  the  noise  of  the  seas  and  the  tumult  of  the 
people."  In  the  visions  of  the  night  the  Lord  himself  stood  by 
him  and  said,  "  Be  of  good  cheer,  Paul ;  for  as  thou  hast  testi- 
fied of  me  at  Jerusalem,  so  must  thou  testify  also  at  Eome  "  (ib. 
xxiii.  11). 

The  contrast  is  great  between  the  peaceful  assurance  thus  secretly 
given  to  the  faith  of  the  apostle  in  his  place  of  imprisonment  and 
the  active  malignity  of  his  enemies  in  the  city.  When  it  was  day 
more  than  forty  of  the  Jews  entered  into  a  conspiracy  to  assassi- 
nate Paul ;  and  that  they  might  fence  round  their  crime  with  all 
the  sanction  of  religion,  they  bound  themselves  by  a  curse  that 
they  would  eat  and  drink  nothing  till  the  deed  was  accomplished. 


THE  apostle's  NEPHEW. 


561 


Thus  fortified  by  a  dreadful  oath,  they  came  before  the  chief  priests 
and  members  of  the  Sanhedrin,  and  proposed  the  following  plan, 
which  seems  to  have  been  readily  adopted :  The  Sanhedrists  were 
to  present  themselves  before  Claudius  Lysias  with  the  request  that 
he  would  allow  the  prisoner  to  be  brought  once  more  before  the 
Jewish  court,  that  they  might  enter  into  a  further  investigation  ; 
and  the  assassins  were  to  lie  in  wait  and  murder  the  apostle  on  hia 
way  down  from  the  fortress.  The  plea  to  be  brought  before  Lysias 
was  very  plausible ;  and  it  is  probable  that,  if  he  had  received  no 
further  information,  he  would  have  acted  on  it,  for  he  well  knew 
that  the  proceedings  of  the  court  had  been  suddenly  interrupted 
the  day  before,  and  he  would  be  glad  to  have  his  perplexity  re- 
moved by  the  results  of  a  new  inquiry.  The  danger  to  which  the 
apostle  was  exposed  was  most  imminent ;  and  there  has  seldom 
been  a  more  horrible  example  of  crime  masked  under  the  show  of 
religious  zeal. 

The  plot  was  ready,  and  the  next  day  it  would  have  been  carried 
into  effect,  when  God  was  pleased  to  confound  the  schemes  of  the 
conspirators.  The  instrument  of  Paul's  safety  was  one  of  his  own 
relations,  the  son  of  that  sister  whom  we  have  before  mentioned 
as  the  companion  of  his  childhood  at  Tarsus.  It  is  useless  to  at- 
tempt to  draw  that  veil  aside  which  screens  the  history  of  this 
relationship  from  our  view,  though  the  narrative  seems  to  give  us 
hints  of  domestic  intercourse  at  Jerusalem  of  which,  if  it  were 
permitted  to  us,  we  would  gladly  know  more.  Enough  is  told  to 
us  to  give  a  favorable  impression  both  of  the  affection  and  dis- 
cretion of  the  apostle's  nephew;  nor  is  he  the  only  person  the 
traits  of  whose  character  are  visible  in  the  artless  simplicity  of  the 
narrative.  The  young  man  came  into  the  barracks  and  related 
what  he  knew  of  the  conspiracy  to  his  uncle,  to  whom  he  seems  to 
have  had  perfect  liberty  of  access.  Paul,  with,  his  usual  prompti- 
tude and  prudence,  called  one  of  the  centurions  to  him  and 
requested  him  to  take  the  youth  to  the  commandant,  saying  that 
he  had  a  communication  to  make  to  him.  The  officer  complied  at 
once,  and  took  the  young  man  with  this  message  from  "the 
prisoner  Paul"  to  Claudius  Lysias,  who — partly  from  the  interest 
he  felt  in  the  prisoner,  and  partly,  we  need  not  doubt,  from  the 
natural  justice  and  benevolence  of  his  disposition — received  the 
stranger  kindly,  "  took  him  by  the  hand,  and  led  him  aside,  and 
asked  him  in  private  "  to  tell  him  what  he  had  to  say.  He  related 
36 


662  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


the  story  of  the  conspiracy  in  full  detail  and  with  much  feeling. 
Lysias  listened  to  his  statement  and  earnest  entreaties  ;  then  with 
a  soldier^s  promptitude,  and  yet  with  the  caution  of  one  who  felt 
the  difficulty  of  the  situation,  he  decided  at  once  on  what  he  would 
do,  but  without  communicating  the  plan  to  his  informant.  He 
simply  dismissed  him,  with  a  significant  admonition  :  "  Be  careful 
that  thou  tell  no  man  that  thou  hast  laid  this  information  before 
me." 

When  the  young  man  was  gone  Claudius  Lysias  summoned  one 
or  two  of  his  subordinate  officers,  and  ordered  them  to  have  in 
readiness  two  hundred  of  the  legionary  soldiers,  with  seventy  of 
the  cavalry  and  two  hundred  spearmen,  so  as  to  depart  for  Csesarea 
at  nine  in  the  evening,  and  take  Paul  in  safety  to  Felix  the 
governor.  The  journey  was  long,  and  it  would  be  requisite  to 
accomplish  it  as  rapidly  as  possible.  He  therefore  gave  directions 
that  more  than  one  horse  should  be  provided  to  the  prisoner.  We 
may  be  surprised  that  so  large  a  force  was  sent  to  secure  the  safety 
of  one  man ;  but  we  must  remember  that  this  man  was  a  Roman 
citizen,  while  the  garrison  in  Antonia,  consisting  of  more  than  a 
thousand  men,  could  easily  spare  such  a  number  for  one  day  on 
such  a  service ;  and  further,  that  assassinations,  robberies,  and  re- 
bellions were  frequent  occurrences  at  that  time  in  Judsea,  and  that 
a  conspiracy  always  wears  a  formidable  aspect  to  those  who  are 
responsible  for  the  public  peace.  The  utmost  secrecy  as  well  as 
promptitude  was  evidently  required,  and  therefore  an  hour  was 
chosen  when  the  earliest  part  of  the  night  would  be  already  past. 
At  the  time  appointed  the  troops,  with  Paul  in  the  midst  of  them, 
marched  out  of  the  fortress  and  at  a  rapid  pace  took  the  road  to 
Csesarea. 

It  is  to  the  quick  journey  and  energetic  researches  of  an  Ameri- 
can traveller  (Eev.  Eli  Smith)  that  we  owe  the  power  of  following 
the  exact  course  of  this  night-march  from  Jerusalem  to  Ca2sarea. 
In  an  earlier  part  of  this  work  we  have  endeavored  to  give  an 
approximate  representation  of  the  Roman  roads  as  they  existed  in 
Palestine,  and  we  have  had  occasion  more  than  once  to  allude  to  the 
route  which  lay  between  the  religious  and  political  capitals  of  the 
country.  To  the  roads  thus  described  we  must  add  another,  which 
passes,  not  by  Lydda  (or  Diospolis),  but  more  directly  across  the 
intermediate  space  from  Gophna  to  Antipatris.  We  have  thus  the 
whole  route  to  Csesarea  before  us,  and  we  are  enabled  to  picture  to 


NIGHT-JOURNEY  TO  ANTIPATRIS. 


663 


ourselves  the  entire  progress  of  the  little  army  which  took  Paul 
in  safety  from  the  conspiracies  of  the  Jews  and  placed  him  wilder 
the  protection  of  Felix  the  governor. 

The  road  lay  first,  for  about  three  hours,  northward  along  the 
high  mountainous  region  which  divides  the  valley  of  the  Jordan 
from  the  great  western  plain  of  Judaea.  About  midnight  they 
would  reach  Gophna.  Here,  after  a  short  halt,  they  quitted  the 
northern  road  which  leads  to  Neapolis  and  Damascus — once  trav- 
elled by  Paul  under  widely  different  circumstances — and  turned 
towards  the  coast  on  the  left.  Presently  they  began  to  descend 
among  the  western  eminences  and  valleys  of  the  mountain-coun- 
try, startling  the  shepherd  on  the  hills  of  Ephraim,  and  rousing 
the  village  peasant,  who  woke  only  to  curse  his  oppressor  as  he 
heard  the  hoofs  of  the  horses  on  the  pavement  and  the  well- 
known  tramp  of  the  Eoman  soldiers.  A  second  resting-place 
might  perhaps  be  found  at  Thamna,  a  city  mentioned  by  Josephus 
in  the  Jeioish  Wars,  and  possibly  the  "Timnath  Heres^'  where 
Joshua  was  buried  "  in  Mount  Ephraim,  in  the  border  of  his  in- 
heritance." And  then  they  proceeded,  still  descending  over  a 
rocky  and  thinly-cultivated  tract,  till  about  daybreak  they  came 
to  the  ridge  of  the  last  hill  and  overlooked  "the  great  plain  of 
Sharon,  coming  quite  up  to  its  base  on  the  west."  The  road  now 
turned  northward,  across  the  rich  land  of  the  plain  of  Sharon, 
through  fields  of  wheat  and  barley,  just  then  almost  ready  for  the 
harvest.  "On  the  east  were  the  mountains  of  Samaria,  rising 
gradually  above  each  other  and  bounding  the  plain  in  that  direc- 
tion; on  the  left  lay  a  line  of  low  wooded  hills,  shutting  it  in 
from  the  sea."  Between  this  higher  and  lower  range,  but  on  the 
level  ground,  in  a  place  well  watered  and  richly  wooded,  was  the 
town  of  Antipatris.  Both  its  history  and  situation  are  described 
10  us  by  Josephus.  The  ancient  Caphar-Saba,  from  which  one  of 
the  Asmonean  princes  had  dug  a  trench  and  built  a  wall  to  Joppa 
to  protect  the  country  from  invasion,  was  afterward  rebuilt  by 
Herod  and  named  in  honor  of  his  father,  Antipater.  It  is  de» 
scribed  in  one  passage  as  being  near  the  mountains,  and  in  another 
as  in  the  richest  plain  of  his  dominions,  with  abundance  both  of 
water  and  wood.  In  the  narrative  of  the  Jewish  war  Antipatris 
is  mentioned  as  one  of  the  scenes  of  Vespasian's  first  military 
proceedings.  It  afterward  disappears  from  history,  but  the  an- 
cient name  is  still  familiarly  used  by  the  peasantry,  and  remains 


664 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OP  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


with  the  physical  features  of  the  neighborhood  to  identify  the 
site. 

The  foot-soldiers  proceeded  no  farther  than  Antipatris,  but  re- 
turned from  thence  to  Jerusalem  (xxii.  32).  They  were  no  longer 
necessary  to  secure  PauFs  safety,  for  no  plot  by  the  way  was  now 
to  be  apprehended,  but  they  might  very  probably  be  required  in 
the  fortress  of  Antonia.  It  would  be  in  the  course  of  the  after- 
noon that  the  remaining  soldiers  with  their  weary  horses  entered 
the  streets  of  Csesarea.  The  centurion  who  remained  in  command 
of  them  proceeded  at  once  to  the  governor  and  gave  up  his  pris- 
oner, and  at  the  same  time  presented  the  despatch  with  which  he 
was  charged  by  the  commandant  of  the  garrison  at  Jerusalem. 

We  have  no  record  of  the  personal  appearance  of  Felix,  but  if 
we  may  yield  to  the  impression  naturally  left  by  what  we  know 
of  his  sensual  and  ferocious  character,  we  can  imagine  the  coun- 
tenance with  which  he  read  the  following  despatch:  "Claudius 
Lysias  sends  greeting  to  the  most  excellent  Felix  the  governor. 
This  man  was  apprehended  by  the  Jews,  and  on  the  point  of  being 
killed  by  them,  when  I  came  and  rescued  him  with  my  military 
guard ;  for  I  learnt  that  he  was  a  Eoman  citizen.  And  when  I 
wished  to  ascertain  the  charge  which  they  had  to  allege  against 
him,  I  took  him  down  to  their  Sanhedrin ;  and  there  I  found  that 
the  charge  had  reference  to  certain  questions  of  their  Law,  and 
that  he  was  accused  of  no  offence  worthy  of  death  or  imprison- 
ment. And  now,  having  received  information  that  a  plot  is  about 
to  be  formed  against  the  man's  life,  I  send  him  to  thee  forthwith, 
and  I  have  told  his  accusers  that  they  must  bring  their  charge 
before  thee.  Farewell.'' 

Felix  raised  his  eyes  from  the  paper  and  said,  To  what  prov- 
ince does  he  belong?''  It  was  the  first  question  which  a  Eoman 
governor  would  naturally  ask  in  such  a  case.  So  Pilate  had  for- 
merly paused  when  he  found  he  was  likely  to  trespass  on  "Herod's 
jurisdiction."  Besides  the  delicacy  required  by  etiquette,  the  Ro- 
man law  laid  down  strict  rules  for  all  interprovincial  communica- 
tions. In  the  present  case  there  could  be  no  great  difficulty  for 
the  moment.  A  Roman  citizen  with  certain  vague  charges  brought 
against  him  was  placed  under  the  protection  of  a  provincial  gov- 
ernor, who  was  bound  to  keep  him  in  safe  custody  till  the  cause 
should  be  heard.  Having  therefore  ascertained  that  Paul  was  a 
native  of  the  province  of  Cilicia,  Felix  simply  ordered  him  to  be 


PAUL  IN  C^SAREA. 


565 


kept  in  "  Herod's  pr^torium,"  and  said  to  Paul  liimself,  "  I  will 
hear  and  decide  thy  case  when  thy  accusers  are  come.''  Here, 
then,  we  leave  the  apostle  for  a  time.  A  relation  of  what  befell 
him  at  Csesarea  wall  be  given  in  another  chapter,  to  wdiich  an  ac- 
count of  the  political  state  of  Palestine  and  a  description  of 
Herod's  city  will  form  a  suitable  introduction. 


CHAPTER  XXII. 


HISTORY  OF  JUDiEA  RESUMED. — ROMAN  GOVERNORS. — FEIIX.— 
TROOPS  QUARTERED  IN  PALESTINE. — DESCRIPTION  OF  CMSA- 
REA. — PAUL  ACCUSED  THERE. — "SPEECH  BEFORE  FELIX." — 
CONTINUED  IMPRISONMENT. — ACCESSION  OF  FESTUS. — APPEAL 
TO  THE  EMPEROR. — "SPEECH  BEFORE  AGRIPPA." 

We  have  pursued  a  long  and  varied  narrative  since  we  last  took  a 
general  view  of  the  political  history  of  Judaea.  The  state  of  this 
part  of  the  empire  in  the  year  44  was  briefly  summed  up  in  a 
previous  chapter  (Chap.  IV.).  It  was  then  remarked  that  this 
year  and  the  year  60  were  the  two  only  points  which  we  can  re- 
gard as  fixed  in  the  annals  of  the  earliest  Church,  and  therefore 
the  two  best  chronological  pivots  of  the  apostolic  history.  We 
have  followed  the  life  of  the  apostle  Paul  through  a  space  of  four- 
teen years  from  the  former  of  these  dates,  and  now  we  are  rapidly 
approaching  the  second.  Then  we  recounted  the  miserable  end 
of  King  Agrippa  I.  Now  we  are  to  speak  of  Agrippa  II.,  who, 
like  his  father,  had  the  title  of  king,  though  his  kingdom  was  not 
identically  the  same. 

The  life  of  the  second  Agrippa  ranges  over  the  last  period  of 
national  Jewish  history  and  the  first  age  of  the  Christian  Church, 
and  both  his  life  and  that  of  his  sisters  Drusilla  and  Berenice  are 
curiously  connected  by  manifold  links  with  the  general  history 
of  the  times.  Agrippa  saw  the  destruction  of  JerUvSalem,  and 
lived  till  the  first  century  was  closed  in  the  old  age  of  John — the 
last  of  a  dynasty  eminent  for  magnificence  and  intrigue.  Bere- 
nice concluded  a  life  of  profligacy  by  a  criminal  connection  with 
Titus  the  conqueror  of  Jerusalem.  Drusilla  became  the  wife  of 
Felix,  and  perished  with  the  child  of  that  union  in  the  eruption 
of  Vesuvius. 

We  have  said  that  the  kingdom  of  this  Agrippa  was  not  coinci- 
dent with  that  of  his  father.   He  was  never,  in  fact,  king  of  Judcea, 


HISTORY  OF  JUD^A. 


567 


The  three  years  diiriDg  which  Agrippa  I.  reigned  at  Ca^sarea  were 
only  an  interpolation  in  the  long  series  of  Eoman  procurators  who 
ruled  Juda?a  in  subordination  to  the  governors  of  Syria  from  the 
death  of  Herod  the  Great  to  the  final  destruction  of  Jerusalem. 
In  the  year  44  the  second  Agrippa  was  only  sixteen  years  old,  and 
he  was  detained  about  the  court  of  Claudius,  whilst  Cuspius  Fadus 
was  sent  out  to  direct  the  provincial  affairs  at  Csesarea.  It  was 
under  the  administration  of  Fadus  that  those  religious  movements 
took  place  which  ended  in  placing  under  the  care  of  the  Jews  the 
sacred  vestments  kept  in  the  Tower  of  Antonia,  and  which  gave  to 
Herod,  king  of  Chalcis,  the  management  of  the  temple  and  its 
treasury  and  the  appointment  of  the  high  priests.  And  in  other 
respects  the  Jews  had  reason  to  remember  his  administration  with 
gratitude,  for  he  put  down  the  banditti  w^hich  had  been  the  pest 
of  the  country  under  Agrippa;  and  the  slavish  compliment  of 
Tertullus  to  Felix  (Acts  xxiv.  2,  3)  might  have  been  addressed  to 
him  with  truth — that  "  by  him  the  Jews  enjoyed  great  quietness 
and  that  very  worthy  deeds  had  been  done  to  the  nation  by  his 
providence."  He  was  succeeded  by  Tiberius  Alexander,  a  rene- 
gade Alexandrian  Jew  and  the  nephew  of  the  celebrated  Philo. 
In  relation  to  the  life  of  this  official  in  Judaea  there  are  no  inci- 
dents worth  recording :  at  a  later  period  we  see  him  at  the  siege 
of  Jerusalem  in  command  of  Koman  forces  under  Titus,  and  the 
consequent  inscriptions  in  his  honor  at  Eome  served  to  point  the 
sarcasm  of  the  Roman  satirist.  Soon  after  the  arrival  of  Ven- 
tidius  Cumanus  to  succeed  him  as  governor  in  the  year  48,  Herod, 
king  of  Chalcis,  died,  and  Agrippa  II.  was  placed  on  his  throne, 
with  the  same  privileges  in  reference  to  the  temple  and  its  wor- 
ship w^hich  had  been  possessed  by  his  uncle.  "During  the  govern- 
ment of  Cumanus  the  low  and  sullen  murmurs  which  announced 
the  approaching  eruption  of  the  dark  volcano  now  gathering  its 
strength  in  Palestine  became  more  distinct.  The  people  and  the 
Eoman  soldiery  began  to  display  mutual  animosity.''  One  indi- 
cation of  this  animosity  has  been  alluded  to  before — the  dreadful 
loss  of  life  in  the  temple  which  resulted  from  the  wanton  insolence 
of  one  of  the  soldiers  in  Antonia  at  the  time  of  a  festival.  Another 
was  the  excitement  which  ensued  after  the  burning  of  the  Scrip- 
tures by  the  Eoman  troops  at  Beth-Horon,  on  the  road  between 
Jerusalem  and  Ciesarea.  An  attack  made  by  the  Samaritans  on 
some  Jews  who  were  proceeding  through  their  country  to  a  festival 


568        LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

led  to  wider  results.  Appeal  was  made  to  Quadratus,  governor  of 
Syria,  and  Cumanus  was  sent  to  Eome  to  answer  for  bis  conduct 
to  the  emperor.  In  the  end  he  was  deposed,  and  Felix,  the  brother 
of  Pallas,  the  freedman  and  favorite  of  Claudius,  was  (partly  by  the 
influence  of  Jonathan  the  high  priest)  appointed  to  succeed  him. 

The  mention  of  this  governor,  who  was  brought  into  such  inti- 
mate relations  with  Paul,  demands  that  we  should  enter  now  more 
closely  into  details.  The  origin  of  Felix  and  the  mode  of  his  ele- 
vation would  prepare  us  to  expect  in  him  such  a  character  as  that 
which  is  condensed  into  a  few  words  by  Tacitus — that  in  the 
practice  of  all  kinds  of  lust  and  cruelty  he  exercised  the  power  of 
a  king  with  the  temper  of  a  slave."  The  Jews  had  indeed  to  thank 
him  for  some  good  services  to  their  nation.  He  cleared  various 
parts  of  the  country  from  robbers,  and  he  pursued  and  drove  away 
that  Egyptian  fanatic  with  whom  Claudius  Lysias  too  hastily 
identified  Paul.  But  the  same  historian  from  whom  we  derive 
this  information  gives  us  a  terrible  illustration  of  his  cruelty  in 
the  story  of  the  murder  of  Jonathan,  to  whom  Felix  was  partly 
indebted  for  his  own  elevation.  The  high  priest  had  presumed  to 
expostulate  with  the  governor  on  some  of  his  practices,  and  assas- 
sins were  forthwith  employed  to  murder  him  in  the  sanctuary  of 
the  temple.  And  as  this  crime  illustrates  one  part  of  the  sentence 
in  which  Tacitus  describes  his  character,  so  we  may  see  the  other 
parts  of  it  justified  and  elucidated  in  the  narrative  of  Luke — that 
which  speaks  of  him  as  a  voluptuary  by  his  union  with  Drusilla, 
whom  he  had  enticed  from  her  husband  by  the  aid  of  a  magician 
who  is  not  unreasonably  identified  by  some  with  Simon  Magus ; 
and  that  which  speaks  of  his  servile  meanness  by  his  trembling 
without  repentance  at  the  preaching  of  Paul,  and  by  his  detention 
of  him  in  prison  from  the  hope  of  a  bribe.  When  he  finally  left 
the  apostle  in  bonds  at  Csesarea,  this  also  (as  we  shall  see)  was 
done  from  a  mean  desire  to  conciliate  those  who  were  about  to 
accuse  him  at  Kome  of  maladministration  of  the  province.  The 
final  breach  between  him  and  the  provincials  seems  to  have  arisen 
from  a  quarrel  at  Caesarea  between  the  Jewish  and  heathen  popu- 
lation, which  grew  so  serious  that  the  troops  were  called  out  into 
the  streets,  and  both  slaughter  and  plunder  were  the  result. 

The  mention  of  this  circumstance  leads  us  to  give  some  ac- 
count of  the  troops  quartered  in  Palestine  and  of  the  general  dis- 
tribution of  the  Eoman  army;  without  some  notion  of  which  no 


THE  ROMAN  LEGIONS. 


569 


adequate  idea  can  be  obtained  of  the  empire  and  the  provinces. 
Moreover,  Paul  is  brought,  about  this  part  of  his  life,  into  such 
close  relations  with  different  parts  of  that  military  service  from 
which  he  draws  some  of  his  most  forcible  imagery  that  our  nar- 
rative would  be  incomplete  w^ithout  some  account  both  of  the 
prsetorian  guards  and  the  legionary  soldiers.  The  latter  force  may 
be  fitly  described  in  connection  with  Csesarea,  and  we  shall  see 
that  it  is  not  out  of  place  to  allude  here  to  the  former  also,  though 
its  natural  association  is  with  the  city  of  Eome. 

That  division  between  the  armed  and  unarmed  provinces  to 
which  attention  has  been  called  before  will  serve  to  direct  us  to 
the  principle  on  which  the  Koman  legions  were  distributed.  They 
were  chiefly  posted  in  the  outer  provinces  or  along  the  frontier, 
the  immediate  neighborhood  of  the  Mediterranean  being  com- 
pletely subdued  under  the  sway  of  Rome.  The  military  force 
required  in  Gaul  and  Spain  was  much  smaller  than  it  had  been  in 
the  early  days  of  Augustus.  Even  in  Africa  the  frontier  was  easily 
maintained,  for  the  Eomans  do  not  seem  to  have  been  engaged 
there  in  that  interminable  war  with  native  tribes  which  occupies 
the  French  in  Algeria.  The  greatest  accumulation  of  legions  was 
on  the  northern  and  eastern  boundaries  of  the  empire,  along  the 
courses  of  the  three  frontier  rivers,  the  Ehine,  the  Danube,  and 
the  Euphrates;  and,  finally,  three  legions  were  stationed  in  Britaiu 
and  three  in  Judsea.  We  know  the  very  names  of  these  legions. 
Just  as  we  find  memorials  of  the  second,  the  ninth,  and  the 
twentieth  in  connection  with  Chester  or  York,  so  by  the  aid  of  his- 
torians or  historic  monuments  we  can  trace  the  presence  of  the 
fifth,  the  tenth,  and  the  fifteenth  in  Csesarea,  Ptolemais,  or  Jeru- 
salem. And  here  two  principles  must  be  borne  in  mind  which 
regulated  the  stations  of  the  legions.  They  did  not  move  from 
province  to  province,  as  our  troops  are  taken  in  succession  from 
one  colony  to  another,  but  they  remained  on  one  station  for  a  vast 
number  of  years.  And  they  were  recruited,  for  the  most  part,  from 
provinces  where  they  were  posted,  for  the  time  had  long  passed 
away  when  every  legionary  soldier  was  an  Italian  and  a  free-bora 
Roman  citizen.  Thus ,  Josephus  tells  us  repeatedly  that  the  troops 
quartered  in  his  native  country  were  reinforced  from  thence — not, 
indeed  from  the  Jews,  for  they  were  exempt  from  the  duty  of 
serving,  but  from  the  Greek  and  Syrian  population. 

But  what  were  these  legions  ?   We  must  beware  of  comparing 


670         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

them  too  exactly  with  our  own  regiments  of  a  few  hundred  men, 
for  they  ought  rather  to  be  called  brigades,  each  consisting  of  more 
than  six  thousand  infantry,  with  a  regiment  of  cavalry  attached. 
Here  we  see  the  explanation  of  one  part  of  the  force  sent  down  by 
Claudius  Lysias  to  Antipatris.  Within  the  fortress  of  Antonia 
were  stables  for  the  horses  of  the  troopers  as  well  as  quarters  for  a 
cohort  of  infantry.  But,  moreover,  every  legion  had  attached  to 
it  a  body  of  auxiliaries  levied  in  the  province  of  almost  equal 
number;  and  here,  perhaps,  we  find  the  true  account  of  the  two 
hundred  "  spearmen who  formed  a  part  of  Paul's  escort,  with  the 
two  hundred  legionary  soldiers.  Thus  we  can  form  to  ourselves 
some  notion  of  these  troops  (amounting,  perhaps,  to  thirty-five 
thousand  men),  the  presence  of  which  w^as  so  familiar  a  thing  in 
Judaea  that  the  mention  of  them  appears  in  the  most  solemn  pas- 
sages of  the  evangelic  and  apostolic  history,  while  a  Jewish  his- 
torian gives  us  one  of  the  best  accounts  of  their  discipline  and 
exercises. 

But  the  legionary  soldiers,  with  their  cavalry  and  auxiliaries, 
were  not  the  only  military  force  in  the  empire,  and,  as  it  seems, 
not  the  only  one  in  Judaea  itself.  The  great  body  of  troops  at 
Eome  (as  we  shall  see  when  we  have  followed  Paul  to  the  metrop- 
olis) were  the  praetorian  guards,  amounting  at  this  period  to  ten 
thousand  men.  These  favored  forces  were  entirely  recruited  from 
Italy;  their  pay  was  higher  and  their  time  of  service  shorter,  and, 
for  the  most  part,  they  were  not  called  out  on  foreign  service.  Yet 
there  is  much  weight  in  the  opinion  which  regards  the  Augmtan 
cohort  of  Acts  xxvii.  1  as  a  part  of  this  imperial  guard.  Possibly 
it  was  identical  with  the  Italic  cohort  of  Acts  x.  1.  It  might  well 
be  that  the  same  corps  might  be  called  "  Italic  "  because  its  men 
were  exclusively  Italians,  and  Augustan'^  because  they  were 
properly  part  of  the  emperor's  guard,  though  a  part  of  them 
might  occasionally  be  attached  to  the  person  of  a  provincial  gov- 
ernor. And  we  observe  that  while  Cornelius  (x.  1)  and  Julius 
(xxvii.  1)  are  both  Eoman  names,  it  is  at  Caesarea  that  each  of 
these  cohorts  is  said  to  have  been  stationed.  As  regards  the  Au- 
gustan cohort,  if  the  view  above  given  is  correct,  one  result  of  it 
is  singularly  interesting ;  for  it  seems  that  Julius,  the  centurion, 
who  conducted  the  apostle  Paul  to  Eome,  can  be  identified  with  a 
high  degree  of  probability  with  Julius  Priscus,  who  was  afterward 
prefect  of  the  praetorian  guards  under  the  emperor  Vitellius. 


DESCRIPTION  OF  C^SAREA. 


571 


This  brief  notice  may  suffice  concerning  the  troops  quartered  in 
Palestine,  and  especially  at  Csesarea.  The  city  itself  remains  to 
be  described.  Little  now  survives  on  the  spot  to  aid  us  in  the  res- 
toration of  this  handsome  metropolis.  On  the  wide  area  once 
occupied  by  its  busy  population  there  is  silence,  interrupted  only 
by  the  monotonous  washing  of  the  sea,  and  no  signs  of  human  life 
save  the  occasional  encampment  of  Bedouin  Arabs  or  the  accident 
of  a  small  coasting-vessel  anchoring  off  the  shore.  The  best  of  the 
ruins  are  engulfed  by  the  sand  or  concealed  by  the  encroaching  sea. 
The  nearest  road  passes  at  some  distance,  so  that  comparatively  few 
travellers  have  visited  Caesarea.  Its  glory  was  short-lived.  Its 
decay  has  been  complete  as  its  rise  was  arbitrary  and  sudden. 
Strabo,  in  the  reign  of  Augustus,  describes  at  this  part  of  the 
inhospitable  coast  of  Palestine  nothing  but  a  landing-place,  with 
a  castle  called  Strato's  Tower.  Less  than  eighty  years  afterward 
we  read  in  Tacitus  and  Pliny  of  a  city  here  which  was  in  posses- 
sion of  honorable  privileges,  and  which  was  the  "head  of  Juda3a," 
as  Antioch  was  of  Syria.  Josephus  explains  to  us  the  change 
which  took  place  in  so  short  an  interval  by  describing  the  work 
which  Herod  the  Great  began  and  completed  in  twelve  years.  Be- 
fore building  Antipatris  in  honor  of  his  father  he  built  on  the  shore 
between  Dora  and  Joppa,  where  Strato's  Castle  stood  near  the 
boundary  of  Galilee  and  Samaria,  a  city  of  sumptuous  palaces  in 
honor  of  Augustus  Caesar.  The  city  was  provided  with  everything 
that  could  contribute  to  magniticence,  amusement,  and  health. 
But  its  great  boast  was  its  harbor,  which  provided  for  the  ships 
which  visited  that  dangerous  coast  a  safe  basin  equal  in  extent  to 
the  Piraeus.  Vast  stones  were  sunk  in  the  sea  to  the  depth  of 
twenty  fathoms,  and  thus  a  stupendous  breakwater  was  formed, 
curving  round  so  as  to  afford  complete  protection  from  the  south- 
westerly winds,  and  open  only  on  the  north.  Such  is  an  imperfect 
description  of  that  city  which  in  its  rise  and  greatest  eminence  is 
exactly  contemporaneous  with  the  events  of  which  we  read  in  the 
Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles.  It  has,  indeed,  some  con- 
nection with  later  history.  Vespasian  was  here  declared  emperor, 
and  he  conferred  on  it  the  title  of  a  colony,  with  the  additional 
honor  of  being  called  by  his  own  name.  Here  Eusebius  and  Pro- 
copius  were  born,  and  thus  it  is  linked  with  the  recollections  of 
Constantine  and  Justinian.  After  this  time  its  annals  are  obscured, 
though  the  character  of  its  remains — which  have  been  aptly  termed 


672 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


"ruins  of  ruins" — shows  that  it  must  have  long  been  a  city  of  note 
under  the  successive  occupants  of  Palestine.  Its  chief  association, 
however,  must  always  be  with  the  age  of  which  w^e  are  writing.  Its 
tw^o  great  features  were  its  close  connection  with  Eome  and  the 
emperors,  and  the  large  admixture  of  heathen  strangers  in  its  pop- 
ulation. Not  only  do  we  see  here  the  residence  of  lioman  procura- 
tors, the  quarters  of  imperial  troops,  and  the  port  by  which  Judjea 
was  entered  from  the  west,  but  a  Koman  impress  w^as  ostentatiously 
given  to  everything  that  belonged  to  Ccesarea.  The  conspicuous 
object  to  those  who  approached  from  the  sea  was  a  temple  dedi- 
cated to  Caesar  and  to  Eome ;  the  harbor  was  called  the  "  Augus- 
tan harbor;"  the  city  itself  was  "  Augustan  Csesarea."  And,  finally, 
the  foreign  influence  here  w^as  so  great  that  the  Septuagint  trans- 
lation of  the  Scriptures  was  read  in  the  synagogues.  There  was  a 
standing  quarrel  between  the  Greeks  and  the  Jews  as  to  whether  it 
was  a  Greek  city  or  a  Jewish  city.  The  Jews  appealed  to  the  fact 
that  it  was  built  by  a  Jewish  prince.  The  Greeks  pointed  to  the 
temples  and  statues.  This  quarrel  was  never  appeased  till  the  great 
war  broke  out,  the  first  act  of  which  was  the  slaughter  of  twenty 
thousand  Jews  in  the  streets  of  Csesarea. 

Such  was  the  city  in  which  Paul  was  kept  in  detention  among 
the  Roman  soldiers  till  the  time  should  come  for  his  trial  before 
that  unscrupulous  governor  whose  character  has  been  above  de- 
scribed. His  accusers  were  not  long  in  arriving.  The  law  required 
that  causes  should  be  heard  speedily,  and  the  apostle's  enemies  at 
Jerusalem  were  not  wanting  in  zeal.  Thus,  "  after  five  days  "  the 
high  priest  Ananias  and  certain  members  of  the  Sanhedrin  ap- 
peared, with  one  of  those  advocates  who  practised  in  the  law-courts 
of  the  provinces,  where  the  forms  of  Eoman  law  were  imperfectly 
known  and  the  Latin  language  imperfectly  understood.  The  man 
whose  professional  services  were  engaged  on  this  occasion  was 
called  Tertullus.  The  name  is  Eoman,  and  there  is  little  doubt 
that  he  was  an  Italian  and  spoke  on  this  occasion  in  Latin.  The 
criminal  information  was  formally  laid  before  the  governor.  The 
prisoner  was  summoned,  and  Tertullus  brought  forward  the  charges 
against  him  in  a  set  speech,  which  we  need  not  quote  at  length. 
He  began  by  loading  Felix  with  unmerited  praises,  and  then  pro- 
ceeded to  allege  three  distinct  heads  of  accusation  against  Paul — 
charging  him,  first,  with  causing  factious  disturbances  aaiong  all 
the  Jews  throughout  the  empire  (which  was  an  offence  against  the 


Paul's  speech  before  feltx. 


673 


Roman  government,  and  amounted  to  majestas  or  treason  against 
the  emperor) ;  secondly,  with  being  a  ringleader  of  "the  sect  of 
the  Nazarenes  (which  involved  heresy  against  the  Law  of  Moses) ; 
and  thirdly,  with  an  attempt  to  profane  the  temple  at  Jerusalem 
(an  offence  not  only  against  the  Jewish,  but  also  against  the  Roman 
law,  which  protected  the  Jews  in  the  exercise  of  their  worship). 
He  concluded  by  asserting  (with  serious  deviations  from  the  truth) 
that  Lysias,  the  commandant  of  the  garrison,  had  forcibly  taken 
the  prisoner  away  when  the  Jews  w^ere  about  to  judge  him  by  their 
own  ecclesiastical  Law,  and  had  thus  improperly  brought  the 
matter  before  Felix.  The  drift  of  this  representation  was  evidently 
to  persuade  Felix  to  give  up  Paul  to  the  Jewish  courts,  in  which 
case  his  assassination  would  have  been  easily  accomplished.  And 
the  Jews  who  were  present  gave  a  vehement  assent  to  the  state- 
ments of  Tertullus,  making  no  secret  of  their  animosity  against 
Paul,  and  asserting  that  these  things  were  indeed  so. 

The  governor  now  made  a  gesture  to  the  prisoner  to  signify  that 
he  might  make  his  defence.  The  Jews  were  silent;  and  the 
apostle,  after  briefly  expressing  his  satisfaction  that  he  had  to 
plead  his  cause  before  one  so  well  acquainted  with  Jewish  customs, 
refuted  Tertullus  step  by  step.  He  said  that  on  his  recent  visit  to 
Jerusalem  at  the  festival  (and  he  added  that  it  was  only  "twelve 
days  "  since  he  had  left  Csesarea  for  that  purpose)  he  had  caused 
no  disturbance  in  any  part  of  Jerusalem  ;  that  as  to  heresy,  he  had 
never  swerved  from  his  belief  in  the  Law  and  the  prophets,  and 
that  in  conformity  with  that  belief  he  held  the  doctrine  of  a 
resurrection,  and  sought  to  live  conscientiously  before  the  God  of 
his  fixthers  ;  and  as  to  the  temple,  so  far  from  profaning  it,  he  had 
been  found  in  it  deliberately  observing  the  very  strictest  ceremonies. 
The  Asiatic  Jews,  he  added,  who  had  been  his  first  accusers,  ought 
to  have  been  present  as  witnesses  now.  Those  who  were  present 
knew  full  well  that  no  other  charge  was  brought  home  to  him 
before  the  Sanhedrin  except  what  related  to  the  belief  that  he  held 
in  common  with  the  Pharisees.  But,  without  further  introduction, 
we  quote  Luke's  summary  of  his  own  words  : 

"Knowing,  as  I  do,  that  thou  hast  been  judge  over  this  He  denies  the 
nation  for  many  years,  I  defend  myself  in  the  matters  J^.^^^^es  agams 
brought  against  me  with  greater  confidence.  For  it  is  in  thy  power  to 
learn  that  only  twelve  days  have  passed  since  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem  to 
worship.    And  neither  in  the  temple,  nor  in  the  synagogues,  nor  in  the 


574         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


streets,  did  they  find  me  disputing  with  any  man,  or  causing  any  dis- 
orderly concourse  of  people ;  nor  can  they  prove  against  me  the  things 
whereof  they  now  accuse  me. 

"  But  this  I  acknowledge  to  thee,  that  I  follow  the  opin-  His  own  9tat<»- 

•  11  ment    of  his 

ion,  which  they  call  a  sect,  and  thus  worship  the  God  of  case, 
my  fathers.  And  I  believe  all  things  which  are  written  in  the  Law  and 
in  the  prophets ;  and  I  hold  a  hope  towards  God,  which  my  accusers 
themselves  entertain,  that  there  will  be  a  resurrection  of  the  dead,  both 
of  the  just  and  of  the  unjust.  Wherefore  also  I  myself  strive  earnestly 
to  keep  a  conscience  always  void  of  offence  towards  God  and  man. 

Now  after  several  years  I  came  hither,  to  bring  alms  to  my  nation 
and  offerings  to  the  temple.  And  they  found  me  so  doing  in  the  temple, 
after  I  had  undergone  i)urification ;  not  gathering  together  a  multitude, 
nor  causing  a  tumult ;  but  certain  Jews  from  Asia  discovered  me,  who 
ought  to  have  been  here  before  thee  to  accuse  me,  if  they  had  anything 
to  object  against  me, 

"  Or  let  these  my  accusers  themselves  say  whether  they  He  appeals  to 
found  me  guilty  of  any  offence,  when  I  was  brought  before  quittai  by  the 
the  Sanhedrin,  except  it  be  for  these  words  only  which  I 
cried  out  as  I  stood  in  the  midst  of  them :  *  Concerning  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead,  I  am  called  in  question  before  you  this  day.^ " 

There  was  all  the  appearance  of  truthfulness  in  PauPs  words, 
and  they  harmonized  entirely  with  the  statement  contained  in  the 
despatch  of  Claudius  Lysias.  Moreover,  Felix  had  resided  so  long 
in  Csesarea — where  the  Christian  religion  had  been  known  for 
many  years  and  had  penetrated  even  among  the  troops — that  he 
had  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  their  "religion'^  (v.  22)  than  to 
be  easily  deceived  by  the  misrepresentations  of  the  Jews.  Thus  a 
strong  impression  was  made  on  the  mind  of  this  wicked  man.  But 
his  was  one  of  those  characters  which  are  easily  affected  by  feelings, 
but  always  drawn  away  from  right  action  by  the  overpowering 
motive  of  self-interest.  He  could  not  make  up  his  mind  to  acquit 
Paul.     He  deferred  all  inquiry  into  the  case  for  the  present. 

When  Lysias  comes  down,"  he  said,  I  will  decide  finally  between 
you."  Meanwhile,  he  placed  him  under  the  charge  of  the  centu- 
rion who  had  brought  him  to  Coesarea,  with  directions  that  he  should 
be  treated  with  kindness  and  consideration.  Close  confinement 
was  indeed  necessary,  both  to  keep  him  in  safety  from  the  Jews 
and  because  he  was  not  yet  acquitted,  but  orders  were  given  that 
he  should  have  every  relaxation  which  could  be  allowed  in  such 


CONTINUED  IMPRISONMENT  OF  PAUL. 


575 


a  case,  and  that  any  of  his  friends  should  be  allowed  to  visit  him 
and  to  minister  to  his  comfort. 

We  read  nothing,  however,  of  Lysias  coming  to  Csesarea  or  of 
any  further  judicial  proceedings.  Some  few  days  afterward  Felix 
came  into  the  audience-chamber  with  his  wife  Drusilla,  and  the 
prisoner  was  summoned  before  them.  Drusilla,  "  being  a  Jewess 
(v.  24),  took  a  lively  interest  in  what  Felix  told  her  of  Paul,  and 
was  curious  to  hear  something  of  this  faith  which  had  "  Christ 
for  its  object.  Thus  Paul  had  an  opportunity  in  his  bonds  of 
preaching  the  gospel,  and  such  an  opportunity  as  he  could  hardly 
otherwise  have  obtained.  His  audience  consisted  of  a  Eomaa 
libertine  and  a  profligate  Jewish  princess,  and  he  so  preached  as 
a  faithful  apostle  must  needs  have  preached  to  such  hearers.  In 
speaking  of  Christ  he  spoke  of  "righteousness  and  temperance 
and  judgment  to  come,'^  and  while  he  was  so  discoursing  "Felix 
trembled.''  Yet  still  we  hear  of  no  decisive  result.  "  Go  thy  way 
for  this  time:  when  I  have  a  convenient  season  I  will  send  for 
thee,"  was  the  response  of  the  conscience-stricken  but  impenitent 
sinner — the  response  which  the  divine  word  has  received  ever 
since  when  listened  to  in  a  like  spirit. 

We  are  explicitly  informed  why  this  governor  shut  his  ears  to 
conviction,  and  even  neglected  his  official  duty  and  kept  his  pris- 
oner in  cruel  suspense.  "  He  hoped  that  he  might  receive  from 
Paul  a  bribe  for  his  liberation."  He  was  not  the  only  governor 
of  Judoea  against  whom  a  similar  accusation  is  brought;  and 
Felix,  well  knowing  how  the  Christians  aided  one  another  in 
distress,  and  possibly  having  some  information  of  the  funds  with 
which  Paul  had  recently  been  entrusted,  and  ignorant  of  those 
principles  which  make  it  impossible  for  a  true  Christian  to  tamper 
by  bribes  with  the  course  of  law,  might  naturally  suppose  that  he 
had  here  a  good  prospect  of  enriching  himself.  "Hence  he  fre- 
quently sent  for  Paul,  and  had  many  conversations  with  him." 
But  his  hopes  were  unfulfilled.  Paul,  who  was  ever  ready  to 
claim  the  protection  of  the  law,  would  not  seek  to  evade  it  by 
dishonorable  means ;  and  the  Christians  who  knew  how  to  pray 
for  an  apostle  in  bonds  (Acts  xii.)  would  not  forget  the  duty  of 
"  rendering  unto  Caesar  the  things  that  are  Caesar's."  Thus  Paul 
remained  in  the  praetorium,  and  the  suspense  continued  "two 
years." 

Such  a  pause  in  a  career  of  such  activity,  such  an  arrest  of  the 


576  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

apostle's  labors  at  so  critical  a  time — two  years  taken  from  the 
best  part  of  a  life  of  such  importance  to  the  world — would  seem 
to  us  a  mysterious  dispensation  of  Providence  if  we  did  not  know 
that  God  has  an  inner  work  to  accomplish  in  those  who  are  the 
chosen  instruments  for  effecting  his  greatest  purposes.  As  Paul 
might  need  the  repose  of  preparation  in  Arabia  before  he  entered 
on  his  career,  so  his  prison  at  Ciesarea  might  be  consecrated  to  the 
calm  meditation,  the  less  interrupted  prayer,  which  resulted  in  a 
deeper  experience  and  knowledge  of  the  power  of  the  gospel. 
Nor  need  we  assume  that  his  active  exertions  for  others  were 
entirely  suspended.  ''The  care  of  all  the  churches"  might  still 
be  resting  on  him :  many  messages,  and  even  letters,  of  which  we 
know  nothing,  may  have  been  sent  from  Ca^sarea  to  brethren  at  a 
distance.  And  a  plausible  conjecture  fixes  this  period  and  place 
for  the  writing  of  Luke's  Gospel  under  the  superintendence  of  the 
apostle  of  the  Gentiles. 

All  positive  information,  however,  is  denied  as  concerning  the 
employments  of  Paul  while  imprisoned  at  Caesarea.  We  are  the 
more  disposed,  therefore,  to  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  consideration 
of  the  nature  and  outward  circumstances  of  his  confinement ;  and 
this  inquiiy  is  indeed  necessary  for  the  due  elucidation  o^  the  nar- 
rative. 

When  an  accusation  was  brought  against  a  Eoman  citizen  the 
magistrate  who  had  criminal  jurisdiction  in  the  case  appointed 
the  time  for  hearing  the  cause,  and  detained  the  accused  in  custody 
during  the  interval.  He  was  not  bound  to  fix  any  definite  time 
for  the  trial,  but  might  defer  it  at  his  own  arbitrary  pleasure ;  and 
he  might  also  commit  the  prisoner  at  his  discretion  to  any  of  the 
several  kinds  of  custody  recognized  by  the  Roman  law.  These 
were  as  follows:  first,  confinement  in  the  public  jail  [custodia pub- 
lico), which  was  the  most  severe  kind,  the  common  jails  through- 
out the  empire  being  dungeons  of  the  worst  description,  where  the 
prisoners  were  kept  in  chains  or  even  bound  in  positions  of  torture. 
Of  this  we  have  seen  an  example  in  the  confinement  of  Paul  and 
Silas  at  Philippi.  Secondly,  free  custody  [custodia  libera),  which 
was  the  mildest  kind.  Here  the  accused  party  was  committed  to 
the  charge  of  a  magistrate  or  senator,  who  became  responsible  for 
his  appearance  on  the  day  of  trial;  but  this  species  of  detention 
was  only  employed  in  the  case  of  men  of  high  rank.  Thirdly, 
military  custody  [custodia  militaris),  which  was  introduced  at  the 


FELIX  SUMMONED  TO  ROME. 


577 


beginning  of  the  imperial  regime.  In  this  last  species  of  custody 
the  accused  person  was  given  in  charge  to  a  soldier,  who  was  re- 
sponsible with  his  own  life  for  the  safe-keeping  of  his  prisoner. 
This  was  further  secured  by  chaining  the  prisoner's  right  hand  to 
the  soldier's  left.  The  soldiers  of  course  relieved  one  another 
in  this  duty.  Their  prisoner  was  usually  kept  in  their  barracks, 
but  sometimes  allowed  to  reside  in  a  private  house  under  their 
charge. 

It  was  under  this  latter  species  of  custody  that  Paul  was  now 
placed  by  Felix,  who  gave  him  in  charge  to  the  centurion,  that 
he  should  be  kept  in  custody"  (Acts  xxiv.  23),  but  (as  we  have 
seen)  he  added  the  direction  that  he  should  be  treated  with  such 
indulgence  as  this  kind  of  detention  permitted.  Josephus  tells  us 
that  when  the  severity  of  Agrippa's  imprisonment  at  Rome  was 
mitigated  his  chain  was  relaxed  at  meal- times.  This  illustrates 
the  nature  of  the  alleviations  which  such  confinement  admitted; 
and  it  is  obvious  that  the  centurion  might  render  it  more  or  less 
galling  according  to  his  inclination  or  the  commands  he  had  re- 
ceived. The  most  important  alleviation  of  Paul's  imprisonment 
consisted  in  the  order  which  Felix  added,  that  his  friends  should 
be  allowed  free  access  to  him. 

Meantime,  the  political  state  of  Judiea  grew  more  embarrassing. 
The  exasperation  of  the  people  under  the  maladministration  of 
Felix  became  more  implacable,  and  the  crisis  was  rapidly  approach- 
ing. It  was  during  the  two  years  of  Paul's  imprisonment  that  the 
disturbances  to  which  allusion  has  been  made  before  took  place  in 
the  streets  of  Csesarea.  The  troops,  who  were  chiefly  recruited  in 
the  province,  fraternized  with  the  heathen  population,  while  the 
Jews  trusted  chiefly  to  the  influence  of  their  wealth.  In  the  end 
Felix  was  summoned  to  Rome,  and  the  Jews  followed  him  with 
their  accusations.  Thus  it  was  that  he  was  anxious,  even  at  his 
departure,  ^' to  confer  obligations  upon  them"  (v.  27),  and  one 
eflbrt  to  diminish  his  unpopularity  was  "  to  leave  Paul  in  bonds." 
In  so  doing  he  doubtless  violated  the  law  and  trifled  with  the  rights 
of  a  Roman  citizen,  but  the  favor  of  the  provincial  Jews  was  that 
which  he  needed,  and  the  Christians  were  weak  in  comparison  with 
them ;  nor  were  such  delays  in  the  administration  of  justice  un- 
precedented either  at  Rome  or  in  the  provinces.  Thus  it  was  that 
as  another  governor  of  Judaea  opened  the  prisons  that  he  might 
make  himself  popular,  Felix  for  the  same  motive  riveted  the 
37 


578         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


chains  of  an  innocent  man.  The  same  enmity  of  the  world 
against  the  gospel  which  set  Barabbas  free  left  Paul  a  prisoner. 

No  change  seems  to  have  taken  place  in  the  outward  circum- 
stances of  the  apostle  when  Festus  came  to  take  command  of  the 
province.  He  was  still  in  confinement  as  before.  But  immedi- 
ately on  the  accession  of  the  new  governor  the  unsleeping  hatred 
of  the  Jews  made  a  fresh  attempt  upon  his  life,  and  the  course  of 
their  proceedings  presently  changed  the  whole  aspect  of  his  case 
and  led  to  unexpected  results. 

When  a  Eoman  governor  came  to  his  province — whether  his 
character  was  coarse  and  cruel,  like  that  of  Felix,  or  reasonable 
and  just,  as  that  of  Festus  seems  to  have  been — his  first  step  would 
be  to  make  himself  acquainted  with  the  habits  and  prevalent  feel- 
ings of  the  people  he  was  come  to  rule,  and  to  visit  such  places  as 
might  seem  to  be  more  peculiarly  associated  with  national  inte- 
rests. The  Jews  were  the  most  remarkable  people  in  the  whole 
extent  of  the  Jewish  provinces,  and  no  city  was  to  any  other 
people  what  Jerusalem  was  to  the  Jews.  We  are  not  surprised, 
therefore,  to  learn  that  three  days  "  after  his  arrival  at  the  polit- 
ical metropolis  Festus  "  went  up  to  Jerusalem."  Here  he  was  im- 
mediately met  by  an  urgent  request  against  Paul  preferred  by  the 
chief  priests  and  leading  men  among  the  Jews,  and  seconded,  as  it 
seems,  by  a  general  concourse  of  the  people,  who  came  round  him 
with  no  little  vehemence  and  clamor.  They  asked  as  a  favor  (and 
they  had  good  reason  to  hope  that  the  new  governor  on  his  acces- 
sion would  not  refuse  it)  that  he  would  allow  Paul  to  be  brought 
up  to  Jerusalem.  The  plea  doubtless  was  that  he  should  be  tried 
again  before  the  Sanhedrin.  But  the  real  purpose  was  to  assassi- 
nate him  on  some  part  of  the  road  over  which  he  had  been  safely 
brought  by  the  escort  two  years  before,  so  bitter  and  so  enduring 
was  their  hatred  against  the  apostate  Pharisee.  The  answer  of 
Festus  was  dignified  and  just,  and  worthy  of  his  office.  He  said 
that  Paul  was  in  custody  at  Caesarea,  and  that  he  himself  was 
shortly  to  return  thither  (v.  4),  adding  that  it  was  not  the  custom 
of  the  Eomans  to  give  up  an  uneondemned  person  as  a  mere  favor 
(v.  16).  The  accused  must  have  the  accuser  face  to  face,  and  full 
opportunity  must  be  given  for  a  defence  (ib.).  Those,  therefore, 
who  were  competent  to  undertake  the  task  of  accusers  should 
come  down  with  him  to  Caesarea,  and  there  prefer  the  accusation 
(V.  5). 


PAUL   APPEALS  TO  C^SAR. 


579 


Festiis  remained  "eight  or  ten  days"  in  Jerusalem,  and  then 
returned  to  Csesarea,  and  the  accusers  went  down  the  same  day. 
No  time  was  lost  after  their  arrival.  The  very  next  day  Festus 
took  his  seat  on  the  judicial  tribunal,  with  his  assessors  near  him 
(v.  12),  and  ordered  Paul  to  be  brought  before  him.  "  The  Jews 
who  had  come  down  from  Jerusalem'*  stood  round,  bringing  vari- 
ous heavy  accusations  against  him  (which,  however,  they  could 
not  establish),  and  clamorously  asserting  that  he  was  worthy  of 
death.  We  must  not  suppose  that  the  charges  now  brought  were 
different  in  substance  from  those  urged  by  Tertullus.  The  prose- 
cutors were  in  fact  the  same  now  as  then — namely,  delegates  from 
the  Sanliedrin — and  the  prisoner  was  still  lying  under  the  former 
accusation,  which  had  never  been  withdrawn.  We  see  from  what 
is  said  of  Paul's  defence  that  the  charges  were  still  classed  under 
the  same  three  heads  as  before — viz.  heresy,  sacrilege,  and  treason. 
But  Festus  saw  very  plainly  that  Paul's  offence  was  really  con- 
nected with  the  religious  opinions  of  the  Jews,  instead  of  relating, 
as  he  at  first  suspected,  to  some  political  movement  (vs.  18,  19), 
and  he  was  soon  convinced  that  he  had  done  nothing  worthy  of 
death  (v.  25).  Being,  therefore,  in  perplexity  (v.  20),  and  at  the 
same  time  desirous  of  ingratiating  himself  with  the  provincials  (v. 
9),  he  proposed  to  Paul  that  he  should  go  up  to  Jerusalem,  and  bo 
tried  there  in  his  presence,  or  at  least  under  his  protection.  But 
the  apostle  knew  full  well  the  danger  that  lurked  in  this  proposal, 
and,  conscious  of  the  rights  which  he  possessed  as  a  Eoman  citizen, 
he  refused  to  accede  to  it,  and  said  boldly  to  Festus  : 

"  I  stand  before  Caesar's  tribunal,  and  there  ought  my  trial  to  be.  To 
the  Jews  I  have  done  no  wrong,  as  thou  knowest  full  well.  If  I  am 
guilty  of  breaking  the  law,  and  have  done  anything  worthy  of  death, 
I  refuse  not  to  die  ;  but  if  the  things  whereof  these  men  accuse  me  are 
naught,  no  man  can  give  me  up  to  them.    I  appeal  unto  C-5:sar." 

Festus  was  probably  surprised  by  this  termination  of  the  pro- 
ceedijigs,  but  no  choice  was  open  to  him.  Paul  had  urged  his 
prerogative  as  a  Roman  citizen  to  be  tried  not  by  the  Jewish  but 
by  the  Roman  law — a  claim  which,  indeed,  was  already  admitted 
by  the  words  of  Festus,  who  only  proposed  to  transfer  him  to  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  Sanhedrin  with  his  own  consent.  He  ended 
by  availing  himself  of  one  of  the  most  important  privileges  of 
Roman  citizenship,  the  right  of  appeal.    By  the  mere  pronuncia- 


580 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


tion  of  those  potent  words,  "  I  appeal  unto  Csesar,"  he  instantly 
removed  his  cause  from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  magistrate  before 
whom  he  stood,  and  transferred  it  to  the  supreme  tribunal  of  the 
emperor  at  Eome. 

To  explain  the  full  effect  of  this  proceeding  we  must  observe 
that  in  the  provinces  of  Eome  the  supreme  criminal  jurisdiction 
(both  under  the  republic  and  the  empire)  was  exercised  by  the 
governors,  whether  they  were  proconsuls,  propraetors,  or  (as  in  the 
case  of  Judaea)  procurators.  To  this  jurisdiction  the  provincials 
were  subject  without  appeal,  and  it  is  needless  to  say  that  it  was 
often  exercised  in  the  most  arbitrary  manner.  But  the  Roman 
citizens  in  the  provinces,  though  also  liable  to  be  brought  before 
the  judgment-seat  of  the  governor,  were  protected  from  the  abuse 
of  his  authority,  for  they  had  the  right  of  stopping  his  proceedings 
against  them  by  appealing  to  the  tribunes,  whose  intervention  at 
once  transferred  the  cognizance  of  the  cause  to  the  ordinary  tribu- 
nals at  Rome.  This  power  was  only  one  branch  of  that  prerogative 
of  intercession  (as  it  was  called)  by  which  the  tribunes  could  stop 
the  execution  of  the  sentences  of  all  other  magistrates.  Under  the 
imperial  regime  the  emperor  stood  in  the  place  of  the  tribunes, 
Augustus  and  his  successors  being  invested  with  the  tribunitian 
power  as  the  most  important  of  the  many  republican  offices  which 
were  concentrated  in  their  persons.  Hence  the  emperors  consti- 
tutionally exercised  the  right  of  intercession^  by  which  they  might 
stop  the  proceedings  of  inferior  authorities.  But  they  extended 
this  prerogative  much  beyond  the  limits  which  had  confined  it 
during  the  republican  epoch.  They  not  only  arrested  the  execu- 
tion of  the  sentences  of  other  magistrates,  but  claimed  and  exer- 
cised the  right  of  reversing  or  altering  them,  and  of  re-hearing  the 
causes  themselves.  In  short,  the  imperial  tribunal  was  erected 
into  a  supreme  court  of  appeal  from  all  inferior  courts  either  in 
Rome  or  in  the  provinces. 

Such  was  the  state  of  things  when  Paul  appealed  from  Festus 
to  Caesar.  If  the  appeal  was  admissible,  it  at  once  suspended  all 
further  proceedings  on  the  part  of  Festus.  There  were,  however, 
a  few  cases  in  which  the  right  of  appeal  was  disallowed;  a 
bandit  or  a  pirate,  for  example,  taken  in  the  fact,  might  be  con- 
demned and  executed  by  the  proconsul,  notwithstanding  his  ap- 
peal to  the  emperor.  Accordingly,  we  read  that  Festus  took 
counsel  with  his  assessors  concerning  the  admissibility  of  PauPs 


HEROD  AGRIPPA  II. 


581 


appeal.  But  no  doubt  could  be  entertained  on  this  head,  and  he 
immediately  pronounced  the  decision  of  the  court:  "Thou  hast 
appealed  unto  Csesar;  to  Csesar  thou  shalt  be  sent." 

Thus  the  hearing  of  the  cause,  so  far  as  Festus  was  concerned, 
bad  terminated.  There  only  remained  for  him  the  office  of  remit- 
ting to  the  supreme  tribunal,  before  which  it  was  to  be  carried,  his 
official  report  upon  its  previous  progress.  He  was  bound  to  for- 
ward to  Rome  all  the  acts  and  documents  bearing  upon  the  trial, 
the  depositions  of  the  witnesses  on  both  sides,  and  the  record  of 
his  own  judgment  on  the  case.  And  it  was  his  further  duty  to 
keep  the  person  of  the  accused  in  safe  custody,  and  to  send  him  to 
Eome  for  trial  at  the  earliest  opportunity. 

Festus,  however,  was  still  in  some  perplexity.  Though  the  ap- 
peal had  been  allowed,  yet  the  information  elicited  on  the  trial  was 
so  vague  that  he  hardly  knew  what  statement  to  insert  in  his  de- 
spatch to  the  emperor,  and  it  seemed  a  foolish  thing  to  him  to 
send  a  prisoner  to  Rome  without  at  the  same  time  specifying  the 
charges  against  him"  (v.  27).  It  happened  about  this  time  that 
Herod  Agrippa  II.,  king  of  Chalcis,  with  his  sister  Berenice,  came 
on  a  complimentary  visit  to  the  new  governor,  and  stayed  "  some 
days"  at  Caesarea.  This  prince  had  been  familiarly  acquainted 
from  his  youth  with  all  that  related  to  the  Jewish  law,  and,  more- 
over, was  at  this  time  (as  we  have  seen)  superintendent  of  the 
temple,  with  the  power  of  appointing  the  high  priest.  Festus 
took  advantage  of  this  opportunity  of  consulting  one  better  in- 
formed than  himself  on  the  points  in  question.  He  recounted  to 
Agrippa  what  has  been  summarily  related  above,  confessing  his 
ignorance  of  Jewish  theology,  and  alluding  especially  to  PauFs 
reiterated  assertion  concerning  "  one  Jesus  who  had  died  and  was 
alive  again."  This  cannot  have  been  the  first  time  that  Agrippa 
had  heard  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus,  or  of  the  apostle  Paul. 
His  curiosity  was  aroused,  and  he  expressed  a  wish  to  see  the 
prisoner.  Festus  readily  acceded  to  the  request,  and  fixed  the 
next  day  for  the  interview. 

At  the  time  appointed  Agrippa  and  Berenice  came  with  great 
pomp  and  display,  and  entered  into  the  audience-chamber  with  a 
suite  of  military  officers  and  the  chief  men  of  Caesarea,  and,  at  the 
command  of  Festus,  Paul  was  brought  before  them.  The  proceed- 
ings were  opened  by  a  ceremonious  speech  from  Festus  himself, 
describing  the  circumstances  under  which  the  prisoner  had  been 


682 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


brought  under  his  notice,  and  ending  with  a  statement  of  his  per- 
plexity as  to  what  he  should  write  to  *'his  lord"  the  emperor.  This 
being  concluded,  Agrippa  said  condescendingly  to  Paul  that  he  was 
now  permitted  to  speak  for  himself.  And  the  apostle,  "stretching 
out  the  hand  "  which  was  chained  to  the  soldier  who  guarded  him, 
spoke  thus : 

I  think  myself  happy,  King  Agrippa,  that  I  shall  de-  Complimentary 
fend  myself  to-day,  before  thee,  against  all  the  charges  of  Agrippa/^ 
my  Jewish  accusers ;  especially  because  thou  art  expert  in  all  Jewish 
customs  and  questions.    Wherefore  I  pray  thee  to  hear  me  patiently. 

" My  life  and  conduct  from  my  youth,  as  it  was  at  first  He  defend* 
among  my  own  nation  at  Jerusalem,  is  known  to  all  tlie  {h?^char|e  "of 
Jews.  They  knew  me  of  old  (I  say)  from  the  beginning, 
and  can  testify  (if  they  would)  that,  following  the  strictest  sect  of  our 
religion,  I  lived  a  Pharisee.  And  now  I  stand  here  to  be  judged,  for 
the  hope  of  the  promise  made  by  God  unto  our  fathers.  Which  promise 
is  the  end  whereto,  in  all  their  zealous  worship,  night  and  day,  our 
twelve  tribes  hope  to  come.  Yet  this  hope,  0  King  Agrippa,  is  charged 
against  me  as  a  crime,  and  that  by  Jew^s.  What !  is  it  judged  among 
you  a  thing  incredible  that  God  should  raise  the  dead  ? 

" Now  I  myself  determined,  in  my  own  mind,  that  I  He  describes 
ought  exceedingly  to  oppose  the  name  of  Jesus  the  Naza-  e ecu^^o^n^^of 
rene.  And  this  I  did  in  Jerusalem,  and  many  of  the  holy  ^^^"st^^^^- 
people  I  myself  shut  up  in  prison,  having  received  from  the  chief  priests 
authority  so  to  do ;  and  when  they  were  condemned  to  death,  I  gave  my 
vote  against  them.  And  in  every  synagogue  I  continually  punished 
them,  and  endeavored  to  compel  them  to  blaspheme ;  and  being  exceed- 
ingly mad  against  them,  I  went  even  to  foreign  cities  to  persecute  them. 

"  With  this  purpose  I  was  on  my  road  to  Damascus,  His  conversion 

•I        .  xi      'j.  J  •    '        r  J.1         1  •  J?  and  divine  com- 

bearmg  my  authority  and  commission  from  the  chief  mission, 
priests,  when  I  saw  in  the  way,  O  king,  at  mid-day  a  light  from  heaven, 
above  the  brightness  of  the  sun,  shining  round  about  me  and  those  who 
journeyed  with  me.  And  when  we  all  were  fallen  to  the  earth,  I  heard 
a  voice  speaking  to  me,  and  saying  in  the  Hebrew  tongue,  Saul,  Saul, 
why  persecuted  thou  me  ?  it  is  hard  for  thee  to  kick  against  the  goad.  And 
I  said,  Who  art  thou,  Lordf  And  the  Lord  said,  T  am  Jesus  whom  thou 
persecutest.  But  rise  and  stand  upon  thy  feet;  for  to  this  end  I  have  appear- 
ed unto  thee,  to  ordain  thee  a  minister  and  a  witness  both  of  those  things 
which  thou  hast  sfen,  and  of  those  things  wherein  I  shall  appear  unto  thee. 
And  thee  have  I  chosen  from  the  house  of  Israel,  and  from  among  the  Gen- 
tiles; unto  whom  now  I  send  thee,  to  open  their  eyes,  that  they  may  turn  from 


PAUL  BEFORE  AGRIPPA  AND  FESTUS. 


583 


darhiess  to  light,  and  from  the  power  of  Satan  unto  God  ;  that  by  faith  in 
me,  they  may  receive  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  an  inheritance  among  the 
sanctified, 

"  Whereupon,  O  Kin?  Agrippa,  I  was  not  disobedient  His  execution 

.  .  -rt       n  1  T>w  whereof  had 

to  the  heavenly  vision.    But  first  to  those  at  Damascus  brought  on^him 
and  Jerusalem,  and  throughout  all  the  land  of  Judaea,  and  the  Jews, 
also  to  the  Gentiles,  I  proclaimed  the  tidings  that  they  should  repent 
and  turn  to  God,  and  do  works  worthy  of  their  repentance. 

"  For  these  causes  the  Jews,  when  they  caught  me  in  the  temple, 
endeavored  to  kill  me. 

"  Therefore,  through  the  succor  which  I  have  received  Yet  his  teach- 
from  God,  I  stand  firm  unto  this  day,  and  bear  my  testi-  wuh  the^Jewlsh 
mony  both  to  small  and  great ;  but  I  declare  nothing  else  ^^^'P'^^'^^- 
than  what  the  prophets  and  Moses  foretold.  That  the  Messiah  should 
sufier,  and  that  he  should  be  the  first  to  rise  from  the  dead,  and  should 
be  the  messenger  of  light  to  the  house  of  Israel,  and  also  to  the  Gentiles. 

Here  Festus  broke  out  into  a  loud  exclamation  expressive  of 
ridicule  and  surprise.  To  the  cold  man  of  the  world,  as  to  the 
inquisitive  Athenians,  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  was  foolish- 
ness: and  he  said,  "Paul,  thou  art  mad:  thy  incessant  study  is 
turning  thee  to  madness.''  The  apostle  had  alluded  in  his  speech 
to  writings  which  had  a  mysterious  sound,  to  the  prophets,  and  to 
Moses  (vs.  22,  23),  and  it  is  reasonable  to  believe  that  in  his  im- 
prisonment such  "  books  and  parchments  "  as  he  afterward  wrote 
for  in  his  second  letter  to  Timotheus  were  brought  to  him  by  his 
friends.  Thus  Festus  adopted  the  conclusion  that  he  had  before 
him  a  mad  enthusiast  whose  head  had  been  turned  by  poring  over 
strange  learning.  The  apostle's  reply  was  courteous  and  self-pos- 
sessed, but  intensely  earnest : 

"  I  am  not  mad,  most  noble  Festus,  but  speak  forth  the  words  of  truth 
and  soberness ;  for  the  king  has  knowledge  of  these  matters ;  and  more- 
over I  speak  to  him  with  boldness,  because  I  am  persuaded  that  none 
of  these  things  is  unknown  to  him,  for  this  has  not  been  done  in  a 
comer  " 

Then  turning  to  the  Jewish  voluptuary  who  sat  beside  the  gov- 
ernor, he  made  this  solemn  appeal  to  him : 

"King  Agrippa,  believest  thou  the  prophets?  I  know  that  thou 
believest." 


584         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

The  king^s  reply  was,  "  Thou  wilt  soon  persuade  me  to  be  a 
Christian."  The  words  were  doubtless  spoken  ironically  and  in 
contempt ;  but  Paul  took  them  as  though  they  had  been  spoken  in 
earnest,  and  made  that  noble  answer  which  expresses  as  no  other 
words  ever  expressed  it  that  union  of  enthusiastic  zeal  with  gen- 
uine courtesy  which  is  the  true  characteristic  of  "  a  Christian 

"  I  would  to  God,  that  whether  soon  or  late,  not  only  thou,  but  also  all 
who  hear  me  to-day,  were  such  as  I  am,  excepting  these  chains." 

This  concluded  the  interview.  King  Agrippa  had  no  desire  to 
hear  more,  and  he  rose  from  his  seat,  with  the  governor  and  Bere- 
nice and  those  who  sat  with  them.  As  they  retired  they  discussed 
the  case  with  one  another,  and  agreed  that  Paul  was  guilty  of  noth- 
ing worthy  of  death  or  even  imprisonment.  Agrippa  said  posi- 
tively to  Festus,  "This  man  might  have  been  set  at  liberty  if  he 
had  not  appealed  to  the  emperor."  But  the  appeal  had  been 
made.  There  was  no  retreat  either  for  Festus  or  Paul.  On  the 
new  governor's  part  there  was  no  wish  to  continue  the  procrasti- 
nation of  Felix,  and  nothing  now  remained  but  to  wait  for  a  con- 
venient opportunity  of  sending  his  prisoner  to  Eome. 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 


SHIPS  AND  NAVIGATION  OF  THE  ANCIENTS. — ROMAN  COMMERCE 
IN  THE  MEDITERRANEAN. — CORN-TRADE  BETWEEN  ALEX- 
ANDRIA AND  PUTEOLI. — TRAVELLERS  BY  SEA. — PAUL'S  VOYAGE 
FROM  C^SAREA,  BY  SIDON,  TO  MYRA.  —  FROM  MYRA,  BY 
CNIDUS  AND  CAPE  SALMONE,  TO  FAIR  HAVENS. — PHENICE. — 
THE  STORM. — SEAMANSHIP  DURING  THE  GALE. — PAULAS  VIS- 
ION.— ANCHORING  IN  THE  NIGHT. — SHIPWRECK. — PROOF  THAT 
IT  TOOK  PLACE  IN  MALTA. — WINTER  IN  THE  ISLAND.— OB- 
JECTIONS CONSIDERED.  —  VOYAGE,  BY  SYRACUSE  AND  RHE- 
GIUM,  TO  PUTEOLI. 

Before  entering  on  the  narrative  of  that  voyage  which  brought 
the  apostle  Paul,  through  manifold  and  imminent  dangers,  from 
Caesarea  to  Rome,  it  will  be  convenient  to  make  a  few  introductory 
remarks  concerning  the  ships  and  navigation  of  the  ancients.  By 
fixing  clearly  in  the  mind  some  of  the  principal  facts  relating  to 
the  form  and  structure  of  Greek  and  Roman  vessels,  the  manner 
in  which  these  vessels  were  worked,  the  prevalent  lines  of  traffic 
in  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  opportunities  afforded  to  travellers 
of  reaching  their  destination  by  sea,  we  shall  be  better  able  to 
follow  this  voyage  without  distractions  or  explanations,  and  with 
a  clearer  perception  of  each  event  as  it  occurred. 

With  regard  to  the  vessels  and  seamanship  of  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  many  popular  mistakes  have  prevailed,  to  which  it  is 
hardly  necessary  to  allude  after  the  full  illustration  which  the 
subject  has  recently  received.  We  must  not  entertain  the  notion 
that  all  the  commerce  of  the  ancients  was  conducted  merely  by 
means  of  small  craft,  which  proceeded  timidly  in  the  day-time 
and  only  in  the  summer  season  along  the  coasts  from  harbor  to 
harbor,  and  which  were  manned  by  mariners  almost  ignorant  of 
the  use  of  sails  and  always  trembling  at  the  prospect  of  a  storm. 
We  cannot,  indeed,  assert  that  the  arts  either  of  shipbuilding  or 

585 


586         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

navigation  were  matured  in  the  Mediterranean  so  early  as  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era.  The  Greeks  and  Eomans  were 
ignorant  of  the  use  of  the  compass;  the  instruments  with  which 
they  took  observations  must  have  been  rude  compared  with  our 
modern  quadrants  and  sextants ;  and  we  have  no  reason  to  believe 
that  their  vessels  were  provided  with  nautical  charts;  and  thus, 
when  "  neither  sun  nor  stars  appeared,"  and  the  sky  gave  indica- 
tions of  danger,  they  hesitated  to  try  the  open  sea.  But  the  an- 
cient sailor  was  well  skilled  in  the  changeable  weather  of  the 
Levant,  and  his  very  ignorance  of  the  aids  of  modern  science 
made  him  the  more  observant  of  external  phenomena  and  more 
familiar  with  his  own  coasts.  He  was  not  less  prompt  and  prac- 
tical than  a  modern  seaman  in  the  handling  of  his  ship  when 
overtaken  by  stormy  weather  on  a  dangerous  coast. 

The  ship  of  the  Greek  and  Eoman  mariner  was  comparatively 
rude,  both  in  its  build  and  its  rig.  The  hull  was  not  laid  down 
with  the  fine  lines  with  which  we  are  so  familiar  in  the  competing 
vessels  of  England  and  America,  and  the  arrangement  of  the  sails 
exhibited  little  of  that  complicated  distribution  yet  effective  com- 
bination of  mechanical  forces  which  we  admire  in  the  East  India- 
man  or  modern  frigate.  With  the  war-ships  of  the  ancients  we 
need  not  here  occupy  ourselves  or  the  reader,  but  two  peculiarities 
in  the  structure  of  Greek  and  Roman  merchantmen  must  be  care- 
fully noticed,  for  both  of  them  are  much  concerned  in  the  sea- 
manship described  in  the  narrative  before  us. 

The  ships  of  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  like  those  of  the  early 
Northmen,  were  not  steered  by  means  of  a  single  rudder,  but  by 
two  paddle-rudders  J  one  on  each  quarter.  Hence  "  rudders"  are 
mentioned  in  the  plural  by  Luke  (Acts  xxvii.  40)  as  by  heathen 
writers;  and  the  fact  is  made  still  more  palpable  by  the  represen- 
tations of  art,  as  in  the  coins  of  imperial  Rome  or  the  tapestry 
of  Bayeux ;  nor  does  the  hinged  rudder  appear  on  any  of  the  re- 
mains of  antiquity  or  till  a  late  period  in  the  Middle  Ages. 

And  as  this  mode  of  steering  is  common  to  the  two  sources 
from  which  we  must  trace  our  present  art  of  shipbuilding,  so  also 
is  the  same  mode  of  rigging  characteristic  of  the  ships  both  of 
the  North  Sea  and  the  Mediterranean.  We  find  in  these  ancient 
ships  one  large  mast,  with  strong  ropes  rove  through  a  block  at 
the  masthead,  and  one  large  sail,  fastened  to  an  enormous  yard. 
We  shall  see  the  importance  of  attending  to  this  arrangement 


ANCIENT  SHIPS. 


587 


wlien  we  enter  upon  the  incidents  of  Paul's  voyage  (xxvii.  17, 19). 
One  consequence  was,  that  instead  of  the  strain  being  distributed 
over  the  hull,  as  in  a  modern  ship,  it  was  concentrated  upon  a 
smaller  portion  of  it,  and  thus  in  ancient  times  there  must  have 
been  a  greater  tendency  to  leakage  than  at  present;  and  we  have 
the  testimony  of  ancient  writers  to  the  fact  that  a  vast  proportion 
of  the  vessels  lost  were  lost  by  foundering.  Thus,  Virgil,  whose 
descriptions  of  everything  which  relates  to  the  sea  are  peculiarly 
exact,  speaks  of  the  ships  in  the  fleet  of  jiEneas  as  lost  in  various 
ways,  some  on  rocks  and  some  on  quicksands,  but  "  all  with  fasten- 
ings loosened;"  and  Josephus  relates  that  the  ship  from  which  he 
so  narrowly  escaped  foundered  in  "Adria,"  ,and  that  he  and  his 
companions  saved  themselves  by  swimming  through  the  night — 
an  escape  which  found  its  parallel  in  the  experience  of  the  apostle, 
who  in  one  of  those  shipwrecks  of  which  no  particular  narration 
has  been  given  to  us  was  *^a  night  and  a  day  in  the  deep"  (2  Cor. 
xi.  25).  The  same  danger  w^as  apprehended  in  the  ship  of  Jonah, 
from  which  "they  cast  forth  the  w^ares  that  were  in  the  ship  into 
the  sea  to  lighten  it"  (i.  5),  as  well  as  in  the  ship  of  Paul,  from 
which,  after  having  "lightened"  it  the  first  day,  they  "cast  out 
the  tackling"  on  the  second  day,  and  finally  "threw  out  the  cargo 
of  wheat  into  the  sea"  (xxvii.  18,  19,  38). 

This  leads  us  to  notice  what  may  be  called  a  third  peculiarity 
of  the  appointments  of  ancient  ships  as  compared  with  those  of 
modern  times.  In  consequence  of  the  extreme  danger  to  which 
they  were  exposed  from  leaking,  it  was  customary  to  take  to  sea, 
as  part  of  their  ordinary  gear,  under  girders^  ^  (vTro^^/iara)  ^  which 
tvere  simply  ropes  for  passing  round  the  hull  of  the  ship  and  thus 
preventing  the  planks  from  starting.  One  of  the  most  remark- 
able proofs  of  the  truth  of  this  statement  is  to  be  found  in  the 
inscribed  marbles  dug  up  within  the  last  twenty  years  at  the  Pi- 
raeus, which  give  us  an  inventory  of  the  Attic  fleet  in  its  flourishing 
period,  as  one  of  the  most  remarkable  accounts  of  the  application 
of  these  artificial  "helps"  (xxvii.  17)  in  a  storm  is  to  be  found  in 
the  narrative  before  us. 

If  these  differences  between  ancient  ships  and  our  own  are  borne  • 
in  mind,  the  problems  of  early  seamanship  in  the  Mediterranean 
are  nearly  reduced  to  those  with  which  the  modern  navigator  has 
to  deal  in  the  same  seas.  The  practical  questions  which  remain  to 
be  asked  are  these :  What  were  the  dimensions  of  ancient  ships  ? 


588  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


How  near  the  wind  could  they  sail  ?  And,  with  a  fair  wind,  at 
"what  rate  ? 

As  regards  the  first  of  these  questions,  there  seems  no  reason  why 
we  should  suppose  the  old  trading-vessels  of  the  Mediterranean  to 
be  much  smaller  than  our  own.  We  may  rest  this  conclusion  both 
on  the  character  of  the  cargoes  with  which  they  were  freighted, 
and  on  the  number  of  persons  we  know  them  to  have  sometimes 
conveyed.  Though  the  great  ship  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus  may 
justly  be  regarded  as  built  for  ostentation  rather  than  for  use,  the 
Alexandrian  vessel  which  forms  the  subject  of  one  of  Lucian's 
dialogues,  and  is  described  as  driven  by  stress  of  weather  into  the 
Piraeus,  furnishes  us  with  satisfactory  data  for  the  calculation  of 
the  tonnage  of  ancient  ships.  Two  hundred  and  seventy-six  souls 
were  on  board  the  ship  in  which  Paul  was  wrecked  (xxvii.  37), 
and  the  Castor  and  Pollux  conveyed  them,  in  addition  to  her  own 
crew,  from  Malta  to  Puteoli  (xxviii.  11);  while  Josephus  informs 
us  that  there  were  six  hundred  on  board  the  ship  from  which  he, 
with  about  eighty  others,  escaped.  Such  considerations  lead  U8 
to  suppose  that  the  burden  of  many  ancient  merchantmen  may 
have  been  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand  ions, 

A  second  question  of  greater  consequence  in  reference  to  the 
present  subject  relates  to  the  angle  which  the  course  of  an  ancient 
ship  could  be  made  to  assume  with  the  direction  of  the  wind,  or, 
to  use  the  language  of  English  sailors  (who  divide  the  compass 
into  thirty-two  points),  within  how  many  points  of  the  wind  she  could 
sail.  That  ancient  vessels  could  not  work  to  windward  is  one  of 
the  popular  mistakes  which  need  not  be  refuted.  They  doubtless 
took  advantage  of  the  Etesian  winds,  just  as  the  traders  in  the 
Eastern  Archipelago  sail  with  the  monsoons ;  but  those  who  were 
accustomed  to  a  seafaring  life  could  not  avoid  discovering  that  a 
ship's  course  can  be  made  to  assume  a  less  angle  than  a  right 
angle  with  the  direction  of  the  wind,  or,  in  other  words,  that  she 
can  be  made  to  sail  within  less  than  eight  points  of  the  wind ;  and 
Pliny  distinctly  says  that  it  is  possible  for  a  ship  to  sail  on  contrary 
tacks.  The  limits  of  this  possibility  depend  upon  the  character  of 
the  vessel  and  the  violence  of  the  gale.  We  shall  find  that  the 
vessel  in  which  Paul  was  wrecked  "  could  not  look  at  the  wind  " — 
for  so  the  Greek  word  (xxvii.  15)  may  be  literally  translated  in  the 
language  of  English  sailors — though  with  a  less  violent  gale  an 
English  ship,  well  managed,  could  easily  have  kept  her  course. 


ANCIENT  RATE  OF  SAILING. 


589 


A  modern  merchantman  in  moderate  weather  can  sail  within  six 
points  of  the  wind.  In  an  ancient  vessel  the  yard  could  not  be 
braced  so  sharp  and  the  hull  was  more  clumsy,  and  it  would  not  be 
safe  to  say  that  she  could  sail  nearer  the  wind  than  within  seven 
points. 

To  turn  now  to  the  third  question — the  rate  of  sailing — the  very 
nature  of  the  rig,  which  was  less  adapted  than  our  own  for  work- 
ing to  windward,  was  peculiarly  favorable  to  a  quick  run  before 
the  wund.  In  the  China  seas,  during  the  monsoons,  junks  have 
been  seen  from  the  deck  of  a  British  vessel  behind  in  the  horizon 
in  the  morning  and  before  in  the  horizon  in  the  evening.  Thus 
we  read  of  passages  accomplished  of  old  in  the  Mediterranean 
which  would  do  credit  to  a  well-appointed  modern  ship.  Pliny, 
who  was  himself  a  seaman  and  in  command  of  a  fleet  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  might  furnish  us  wath  several  instances.  We  might 
quote  the  story  of  the  fresh  fig  which  Cato  produced  in  the  senate 
at  Eome  when  he  urged  his  countrymen  to  undertake  the  third 
Punic  war  by  impressing  on  them  the  imminent  nearness  of  their 
enemy.  "  This  fruit,"  he  says,  "  was  gathered  fresh  at  Carthage 
three  days  ago.''  Other  voyages  w^hich  he  adduces  are  such  as 
these :  seven  days  from  Cadiz  to  Ostia,  seven  days  from  the  Straits 
of  Messina  to  Alexandria,  nine  days  from  Puteoli  to  Alexandria. 
These  instances  are  quite  in  harmony  with  w^hat  w^e  read  in  other 
authors.  Thus,  Rhodes  and  Cape  Salmone,  at  the  eastern  extremity 
of  Crete,  are  reckoned  by  Diodorus  and  Strabo  as  four  days  from 
Alexandria ;  Plutarch  tells  us  of  a  voyage  within  the  day  from 
Brundusium  to  Corcyra;  Procopius  describes  Belisarius  as  sailing 
on  one  day  with  his  fleet  from  Malta,  and  landing  on  the  next  day 
some  leagues  to  the  south  of  Carthage.  A  thousand  stades  (or 
between  one  hundred  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles)  are  reckoned 
by  the  geographers  a  common  distance  to  accomplish  in  the  twenty- 
four  hours.  And  the  conclusion  to  which  we  are  brought  is,  that 
with  a  fair  wind  an  ancient  merchantman  would  easily  sail  at  the 
late  of  seven  knots  an  hour — a  conclusion  in  complete  harmony  both 
with  what  we  have  observed  in  a  former  voyage  of  Paul  (Chap. 
XX.)  and  what  Avill  demand  our  attention  at  the  close  of  that 
voyage  which  brought  him  at  length  from  Malta  by  Ehegium  to 
Puteoli  (Acts  xxviii.  13). 

The  remarks  which  have  been  made  will  convey  to  the  reader  a 
sufficient  notion  of  the  ships  and  navigation  of  the  ancients.  If 


690         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

to  the  above-mentioned  peculiarities  of  build  and  rig  we  add  the 
eye  painted  at  the  prow,  the  conventional  ornaments  at  stem  and 
stern  which  are  familiar  to  us  in  remaining  works  of  art,  and  the 
characteristic  figures  of  heathen  divinities,  we  shall  gain  a  sufficient 
idea  of  an  ancient  merchantman.  And  a  glance  at  the  chart  of 
the  Mediterranean  will  enable  us  to  realize  in  our  imagination  the 
nature  of  the  voyages  that  were  most  frequent  in  the  ancient  world. 
With  the  same  view  of  elucidating  the  details  of  our  subject 
beforehand,  we  may  now  devote  a  short  space  to  the  prevalent  lines 
of  traffic  and  to  the  opportunities  of  travellers  by  sea  in  the  first 
century  of  the  Christian  era. 

Though  the  Eomans  had  no  natural  love  for  the  sea,  and  though 
a  commercial  life  was  never  regarded  by  them  as  an  honorable 
occupation,  and  thus  both  the  experience  of  practical  seamanship 
and  the  business  of  the  carrying-trade  remained  in  a  great  measure 
with  the  Greeks,  yet  a  vast  development  had  been  given  to  com- 
merce by  the  consolidation  of  the  Roman  empire.  Piracy  had 
been  effectually  put  down  before  the  close  of  the  republic.  The 
annexation  of  Egypt  drew  towards  Italy  the  rich  trade  of  the 
Indian  seas.  After  the  effectual  reduction  of  Gaul  and  Spain, 
Roman  soldiers  and  Roman  slave-dealers  invaded  the  shores  of 
Britain.  The  trade  of  all  the  countries  which  surround  the  Medi- 
terranean began  to  flow  towards  Rome.  The  great  city  herself  was 
passive,  for  she  had  nothing  to  export.  But  the  cravings  of  her 
luxury  and  the  necessities  of  her  vast  population  drew  to  one 
centre  the  converging  lines  of  a  busy  traffic  from  a  wide  extent  of 
provinces.  To  leave  out  of  view  w^hat  hardly  concerns  us  here, 
the  commerce  by  land  from  the  north,  some  of  the  principal  direc- 
tions of  trade  by  sea  may  be  briefly  enumerated  as  follows  :  The 
harbors  of  Ostia  and  Puteoli  were  constantly  full  of  ships  from  the 
west,  which  had  brought  wool  and  other  articles  from  Cadiz — a 
circumstance  which  possesses  some  interest  for  us  here,  as  illus- 
trating the  mode  in  which  Paul  might  hope  to  accomplish  his 
voyage  to  Spain  (Rom.  xv.  24).  On  the  south  w^as  Sicily,  ofte:L 
called  the  storehouse  of  Italy,"  and  Africa,  which  sent  furniture- 
woods  to  Rome  and  heavy  cargoes  of  marble  and  granite.  On  the 
east,  Asia  Minor  was  the  intermediate  space  through  which  the 
caravan-trade  passed,  conveying  silks  and  spices  from  beyond  the 
Euphrates  to  the  markets  and  wharves  of  Ephesus.  We  might 
extend  this  enumeration  by  alluding  to  the  fisheries  of  the  Black 


THE  ALEXANDRIAN  CORN-TRADE. 


591 


Sea  and  the  wine-trade  of  the  ArchipeLago.  But  enough  has  been 
said  to  give  some  notion  of  the  commercial  activity  of  which  Italy 
was  the  centre ;  and  our  particular  attention  here  is  required  only 
to  one  branch  of  trade,  one  line  of  constant  traffic  across  the  watera 
of  the  Mediterranean  to  Eome. 

Alexandria  has  been  mentioned  already  as  a  city  which,  next 
after  Athens,  exerted  the  strongest  intellectual  influence  over  the 
age  in  which  Paul's  appointed  work  was  done ;  and  we  have  had 
occasion  to  notice  some  indirect  connection  between  this  city  and 
the  apostle's  own  labors.  But  it  was  eminent  commercially  not 
less  than  intellectually.  The  prophetic  views  of  Alexander  were 
at  that  time  receiving  an  ampler  fulfilment  than  at  any  former 
period.  The  trade  with  the  Indian  seas,  which  had  been  encour- 
aged under  the  Ptolemies,  received  a  vast  impulse  in  the  reign  of 
Augustus  ;  and  under  the  reigns  of  his  successors  the  valley  of  the 
Kile  was  the  channel  of  an  active  transit-trade  in  spices,  dyes, 
I'ewels,  and  perfumes,  which  were  brought  by  Arabian  mariners 
from  the  far  East  and  poured  into  the  markets  of  Italy.  But 
Egypt  was  not  only  the  medium  of  transit-trade.  She  had  her 
own  manufactures  of  linen,  paper,  and  glass,  which  she  exported 
in  large  quantities.  And  one  natural  product  of  her  soil  has  been 
a  staple  commodity  from  the  time  of  Pharaoh  to  our  own.  We 
have  only  to  think  of  the  fertilizing  inundations  of  the  Nile  on  the 
one  hand,  and  on  the  other  of  the  multitudes  composing  the  free 
and  slave  population  of  Italy,  in  order  to  comprehend  the  activity 
and  importance  of  the  Alexandrian  corn-trade.  At  a  later  period 
the  emperor  Commodus  established  a  company  of  merchants  to 
convey  the  supplies  from  Egypt  to  Eome,  and  the  commendations 
which  he  gave  himself  for  this  forethought  may  still  be  read  in  the 
inscription  round  the  ships  represented  on  his  coins.  The  harbor 
to  which  the  Egyptian  corn-vessels  were  usually  bound  was  Pu- 
teoli.  At  the  close  of  this  chapter  we  shall  refer  to  some  passages 
which  give  an  animated  picture  of  the  arrival  of  these  ships. 
Meanwhile,  it  is  well  to  have  called  attention  to  this  line  of  traffic 
between  Alexandria  and  Puteoli,  for  in  so  doing  we  have  described 
the  means  which  Divine  Providence  employed  for  bringing  th€ 
apostle  to  Eome. 

The  transition  is  easy  from  the  commerce  of  the  Mediterranean 
to  the  progress  of  travellers  from  point  to  point  in  that  sea.  If  to 
this  enumeration  of  the  main  lines  of  traffic  by  sea  we  add  all  the 


592         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

ramifications  of  the  coasting- trade  which  depended  on  them,  we 
have  before  us  a  full  view  of  the  opportunities  which  travellers 
possessed  of  accomplishing  their  voyages.  Just  in  this  way  we 
have  lately  seen  Paul  completing  the  journey  on  which  his  mind 
was  set  from  Philippi,  by  Miletus  and  Patara,  to  Csesarea  (Chap. 
XX.).  We  read  of  no  periodical  packets  for  the  conveyance  of 
passengers  sailing  between  the  great  towns  of  the  Mediterranean. 
Emperors  themselves  were  usually  compelled  to  take  advantage 
of  the  same  opportunities  to  which  Jewish  pilgrims  and  Christian 
apostles  were  limited.  When  Vespasian  went  to  Eome,  leaving 
Titus  to  prosecute  the  siege  of  Jerusalem,  "he  went  on  board  a 
merchant-ship  and  sailed  from  Alexandria  to  Rhodes,"  and  thence 
pursued  his  way  through  Greece  to  the  Adriatic,  and  finally  went 
to  Rome  through  Italy  by  land.  And  when  the  Jewish  war  was 
ended,  and  when,  suspicions  having  arisen  concerning  the  alle- 
giance of  Titus  to  Vespasian,  the  son  was  anxious  to  rejoin 
his  father,"  he  also  left  Alexandria  in  a  "merchant-ship"  and 
"hastened  to  Italy,"  touching  at  the  very  places  at  which  Paul 
touched — first  at  Rhegium  (xxviii.  13),  and  then  at  Puteoli  (ib.). 

If  such  was  the  mode  in  which  even  royal  personages  travelled 
from  the  provinces  to  the  metropolis,  we  must  of  course  conclude 
that  those  who  travelled  on  the  business  of  the  state  must  often 
have  been  content  to  avail  themselves  of  similar  opportunities. 
The  sending  of  state  prisoners  to  Rome  from  various  parts  of  the 
empire  w^as  an  event  of  frequent  occurrence.  Thus  we  are  told  by 
Josephus  that  Felix  "  for  some  slight  offence  bound  and  sent  to 
Rome  several  priests  of  his  acquaintance,  honorable  and  good 
men,  to  answer  for  themselves  to  Caesar."  Such  groups  must 
often  have  left  Csesarea  and  the  other  eastern  ports  in  merchant- 
vessels  bound  for  the  west;  and  such  was  the  departure  of  Paul 
when  the  time  at  length  came  for  that  eventful  journey  which 
had  been  so  long  and  earnestly  cherished  in  his  own  wishes,  so 
emphatically  foretold  by  divine  revelation,  and  which  was  des- 
tined to  involve  such  great  consequences  to  the  whole  future  of 
Christianity. 

The  vessel  in  which,  with  certain  other  state  prisoners,  he  sailed 
w^as  "a  ship  of  Adramyttium,"  apparently  engaged  in  the  coast- 
ing-trade, and  at  that  time  (probably  the  end  of  summer  or  the 
beginning  of  autumn)  bound  on  her  homeward  voyage.  Whatever 
might  be  the  harbors  at  which  she  intended  to  touch,  her  course  lay 


THE  CITY  OF  SIDON. 


593 


along  tlie  coast  of  the  province  of  Asia.  Adramyttium  was  itself 
a  seaport  in  Mysia,  which  (as  we  have  seen)  was  a  subdivision  of 
of  that  province,  and  w^e  have  already  described  it  as  situated  in 
the  deep  gulf  w^hich  recedes  beyond  the  base  of  Mount  Ida  over 
against  the  island  of  Lesbos,  and  as  connected  by  good  roads  with 
Pergamus  and  Troas  on  the  coast  and  the  various  marts  in  the 
interior  of  the  peninsula.  Since  Paul  never  reached  the  place, 
no  description  of  it  is  required.  It  is  only  needful  to  observe 
that  w^hen  the  vessel  reached  the  coast  of  "Asia'^  the  travellers 
would  be  brought  some  considerable  distance  on  their  way  to 
Rome,  and  there  would  be  a  good  prospect  of  finding  some  other 
westw^ard-bound  vessel  in  which  they  might  complete  their  voyage 
— more  especially  since  the  Alexandrian  corn -ships  (as  we  shall 
see)  often  touched  at  the  harbors  in  that  neighborhood. 

Paul's  two  companions,  besides  the  soldiers,  with  Julius  the  'r 
commanding  officer,  the  sailors,  the  other  prisoners,  and  such 
occasional  passengers  as  may  have  taken  advantage  of  this  op- 
portunity of  leaving  Csesarea,  w^ere  two  Christians  already  familiar 
to  us — Luke  the  evangelist,  whose  name,  like  that  of  Timotheus, 
is  almost  inseparable  from  the  apostle,  and  whom  we  may  con- 
clude to  have  been  with  him  since  his  arrival  in  Jerusalem;  and 
"Aristarchus  the  Macedonian,  of  Thessalonica,''  whose  native 
country  and  native  city  have  been  separately  mentioned  before 
(Acts  xix.  29;  xx.  4),  and  who  seems,  from  the  manner  in  which 
he  is  spoken  of  in  the  Epistles  written  from  Rome  (Phile.  24; 
Col.  iv.  10),  to  have  been,  like  Paul  himself,  a  prisoner  in  the 
cause  of  the  gospel. 

On  the  day  after  sailing  from  Csesarea  the  vessel  put  into  Sidon 
(v.  2).  This  may  be  readily  accounted  for  by  supposing  that  she 
touched  there  for  the  purposes  of  trade  or  to  land  same  passen- 
gers. Or  another  hypothesis  is  equally  allowable.  Westerly  and 
north-westerly  wand  prevails  in  the  Levant  at  the  end  of  summer 
and  the  beginning  of  autumn,  and  w^e  find  that  it  did  act i  ally 
blow  from  these  quarters  soon  afterward  in  the  course  of  PauFs 
voyage.  Such  a  wind  would  be  sufficiently  fair  for  a  passage  to 
Sidon ;  and  the  seamen  might  proceed  to  that  port  in  the  hope  of 
the  weather  becoming  more  favorable,  and  be  detained  there  by 
the  wind  continuing  in  the  same  quarter.  The  passage  from  Cce- 
sarea  to  Sidon  is  sixty-seven  miles — a  distance  easily  accomplished, 
under  favorable  circumstances,  in  less  than  twenty-four  hours. 
38 


594 


LITE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


In  the  course  of  the  night  they  would  pass  by  Ptolemais  and  Tyre, 
where  Paul  had  visited  the  Christians  two  years  before.  Sidon  is 
the  last  city  on  the  Phoenician  shore  in  which  the  apostle's  pres- 
ence can  be  traced.  It  is  a  city  associated  from  the  earliest  times 
with  patriarchal  and  Jewish  history.  The  limit  of  "the  border 
of  the  Canaanites"  in  the  description  of  the  peopling  of  the  earth 
after  the  Flood  (Gen.  x.  19), — "the  haven  of  the  sea,  the  haven 
of  ships,"  in  the  dim  vision  of  the  dying  patriarch  (ib.  xlix.  13), — 
the  "great  Sidon"  of  the  wars  of  Joshua  (Josh.  xi.  8), — the  city 
that  never  was  conquered  by  the  Israelites  (Judg.  i.  31), — the 
home  of  the  merchants  that  "passed  over  the  sea"  (Isa.  xiii.), — 
its  history  was  linked  with  all  the  annals  of  the  Hebrew  race. 
Nor  is  it  less  familiarly  known  in  the  records  of  heathen  antiquity. 
Its  name  is  celebrated  both  in  the  Iliad  and  the  Odyssey^  and 
Plerodotus  says  that  its  sailors  were  the  most  expert  of  all  the 
Phoenicians.  Its  strong  and  massive  fortifications  were  pulled 
down  when  this  coast  fell  under  the  sway  of  the  Persians,  but  its 
harbor  remained  uninjured  till  a  far  later  period.  The  prince  of 
the  Druses,  with  whose  strange  and  brilliant  career  its  more  recent 
history  is  most  closely  connected,  threw  masses  of  stone  and  earth 
into  the  port  in  order  to  protect  himself  from  the  Turks;  and 
bouses  are  now  standing  on  the  spot  where  the  ships  of  King 
Louis  anchored  in  the  last  Crusade,  and  which  was  crowded  with 
merchandise  in  that  age  when  the  geographer  of  the  Roman  em- 
pire spoke  of  Sidon  as  the  best  harbor  of  Phoenicia. 

Nor  is  the  history  of  Sidon  without  a  close  connection  with 
those  years  in  which  Christianity  was  founded.  Not  only  did  its 
inhabitants,  with  those  of  Tyre,  follow  the  footsteps  of  Jesus  to 
hear  his  wwds  and  to  be  healed  of  their  diseases  (Luke  vi.  17), 
but  the  Son  of  David  himself  visited  those  coasts,  and  rewarded 
the  importunate  faith  of  a  Gentile  suppliant  (Matt.  xv. ;  Mark  vii.) ; 
and  soon  the  prophecy  which  lay,  as  it  were,  involved  in  this  mir- 
acle was  fulfilled  by  the  preaching  of  evangelists  and  apostles. 
Those  who  had  been  converted  during  the  dispersion  which  fol- 
lowed the  martyrdom  of  Stephen  were  presently  visited  by  Bar- 
nabas and  Saul  (Acts  x.).  Again,  Paul  with  Barnabas  passed 
through  these  cities  on  his  return  from  the  first  victorious  jour- 
ney among  the  Gentiles  (ib.  xi.  13).  Nor  were  these  the  only  jour- 
neys which  the  apostle  had  taken  through  Phoenicia,  so  that  he 
well  knew,  on  his  arrival  from  Csesarea,  that  Christian  brethren 


THE  COURSE  FROM  SIDON. 


595 


were  to  be  found  in  Sidou.  He  doubtless  told  Julius  that  he  had 
"friends^'  there  whom  he  wished  to  visit,  and  either  from  special 
commands  which  had  been  given  by  Festus  in  favor  of  Paul,  or 
through  an  influence  which  the  apostle  had  already  gained  over 
the  centurion's  mind,  the  desired  permission  was  granted.  If  we 
bear  in  our  remembrance  that  Paul's  health  was  naturally  delicate, 
and  that  he  must  have  suffered  much  during  his  long  detention  at 
Csesarea,  a  new  interest  is  given  to  the  touching  incident  with 
w^hich  the  narrative  of  this  voyage  opens,  that  the  Roman  officer 
treated  this  one  prisoner  "courteously,  and  gave  him  liberty  to  go 
unto  his  friends  to  refresh  himself."  We  have  already  considered 
the  military  position  of  this  centurion,  and  seen  that  there  are 
good  grounds  for  identifying  him  with  an  officer  mentioned  by  a 
heathen  historian.  It  gives  an  additional  pleasure  to  such  in- 
vestigations when  w^e  can  record  our  grateful  recollection  of  kind- 
ness shown  by  him  to  that  apostle  from  whom  we  have  received 
our  chief  knowledge  of  the  gospel. 

On  going  to  sea  from  Sidon  the  wind  was  unfavorable.  Hence, 
whatever  the  weather  had  been  before,  it  certainly  blew  from  the 
westward  now.  The  direct  course  from  Sidon  to  the  "  coasts  of 
Asia  "  would  have  been  to  the  southward  of  Cyprus,  across  the  sea 
over  which  the  apostle  had  sailed  so  prosperously  two  years  before. 
Thus  when  Luke  says  that  "they  sailed  tender  the  lee  of  Cyprus, 
because  the  winds  were  contrary, he  means  that  they  sailed  to  the 
north-east  and  north  of  the  island.  If  there  were  any  doubt  con- 
cerning his  meaning,  it  would  be  made  clear  by  what  is  said  after- 
ward, that  they  '^sailed  through  the  sea  which  is  over  against  Cilicia 
and  PamphyliaJ^  The  reasons  why  this  course  was  taken  will  be 
easily  understood  by  those  who  have  navigated  those  seas  in  modern 
times.  By  standing  to  the  north  the  vessel  would  fall  in  with  the 
current  which  sets  in  a  north-westerly  direction  past  the  eastern 
extremity  of  Cyprus,  and  then  westerly  along  the  southern  coast 
of  Asia  Minor,  till  it  is  lost  at  the  opening  of  the  Archipelago. 
And  besides  this,  as  the  land  was  neared,  the  wind  would  draw 
off  the  shore  and  the  water  would  be  smoother;  and  both  these 
advantages  would  aid  the  progress  of  the  vessel.  Hence,  she 
would  easily  work  to  windward,  under  the  mountains  of  Cilicia 
and  through  the  Bay  of  Pamphylia,  to  Lycia,  which  was  the  first 
district  in  the  province  of  Asia.  Thus  we  follow  the  apostle  once 
more  across  the  sea  over  which  he  had  first  sailed  with  Barnabas 


596         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


from  Antioch  to  Salamis,  and  within  sight  of  the  summits  of  Tau- 
rus, which  rise  above  his  native  city,  and  close  by  Perga  and  At- 
taleia,  till  he  came  to  a  Lycian  harbor  not  far  from  Patara,  the 
last  point  at  which  he  had  touched  on  his  return  from  the  third 
missionary  journey. 

The  Lycian  harbor  in  which  the  Adramyttian  ship  came  to 
anchor  on  this  occasion,  after  her  voyage  from  Sidon,  was  Myra, 
a  city  which  has  been  fully  illustrated  by  some  of  those  travellers 
whose  researches  have  within  these  few  years  for  the  first  time  pro- 
vided materials  for  a  detailed  geographical  commentary  on  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles.  Its  situation  was  at  the  opening  of  a  long  and 
wonderful  gorge,  which  conducts  the  traveller  from  the  interior  of 
the  mountain-region  of  Lycia  to  the  sea.  A  wide  space  of  plain 
intervened  bet^veen  the  city  and  the  port.  Strabo  says  that  the 
distance  was  twenty  stadia,  or  more  than  two  miles.  If  we  draw  a 
natural  inference  from  the  magnitude  of  the  theatre  which  remains 
at  the  base  of  the  cliffs,  and  the  traces  of  ruins  to  some  distance 
across  the  plain,  we  should  conclude  that  Myra  once  held  a  con- 
siderable population ;  while  the  Lycian  tombs,  still  conspicuous  in 
the  rocks,  seem  to  connect  it  with  a  remote  period  of  Asiatic  his- 
tory. We  trace  it,  on  the  other  hand,  in  a  later  though  hardly 
less  obscure  period  of  history,  for  in  the  Middle  Ages  it  was  called 
the  port  of  the  Adriatic,  and  was  visited  by  Anglo-Saxon  travellers. 
This  was  the  period  when  Nicholas,  the  saint  of  the  modern  Greek 
sailors,  born  at  Patara  and  buried  at  Myra,  had  usurped  the  honor 
which  those  two  cities  might  more  naturally  have  given  to  the 
apostle  who  anchored  in  their  harbors.  In  the  seclusion  of  the 
deep  gorge  of  Dembra  is  a  magnificent  Byzantine  church,  probably 
the  cathedral  of  the  diocese  when  Myra  was  the  ecclesiastical  and 
political  metropolis  of  Lycia.  Another  building,  hardly  less  con- 
spicuous, is  a  granary  erected  by  Trajan  near  the  mouth  of  the  little 
river  Andraki.  This  is  the  ancient  Andriace,  which  Pliny  men- 
tions as  the  port  of  Myra,  and  which  is  described  to  us  by  Appian, 
in  his  narrative  of  the  civil  wars  of  Kome,  as  closed  and  protected 
by  a  chain. 

Andriace,  the  port  of  Myra,  was  one  of  the  many  excellent  har- 
bors which  abound  in  the  south-western  part  of  Asia  Minor.  From 
this  circumstance,  and  from  the  fact  that  the  coast  is  high  and  vis- 
ible to  a  great  distance — in  addition  to  the  local  advantages  which  we 
have  mentioned  above,  the  westerly  current  and  the  oflf-shore  wind 


FROM  MYRA  TO  CNIDUS. 


597 


— it  was  common  for  ships  bound  from  Egypt  to  the  westward  to 
be  found  in  this  neighborhood  when  the  winds  were  contrary.  It 
was  therefore  a  natural  occurrence,  and  one  which  could  have 
caused  no  surprise,  when  the  centurion  met  in  the  harbor  at  Myra 
with  an  Alexandrian  corn-ship  on  her  voyage  to  Italy  (v.  6).  Even 
if  business  had  not  brought  her  to  this  coast,  she  was  not  really  out 
of  her  track  in  a  harbor  in  the  same  meridian  as  that  of  her  own 
port.  It  is  probable  that  the  same  westerly  winds  which  had  hin- 
dered Paul's  progress  from  Ccesarea  to  Myra  had  caused  the  Alex- 
andrian ship  to  stand  to  the  north. 

Thus  the  expectation  was  fulfilled  which  had  induced  the  centu- 
rion to  place  his  prisoners  on  board  the  vessel  of  Adramyttium. 
That  vessel  proceeded  on  her  homeward  route  up  the  coast  of  the 
^gean  if  the  weather  permitted ;  and  we  now  follow  the  apostle 
through  a  more  eventful  part  of  his  voyage  in  a  ship  which  was 
probably  much  larger  than  those  that  were  simply  engaged  in  the 
coasting-trade.  From  the  total  number  of  souls  on  board  (v.  37), 
and  the  known  fact  that  the  Egyptian  merchantmen  were  among 
the  largest  in  the  Mediterranean,  we  conclude  that  she  was  a  ves- 
sel of  considerable  size.  Everything  that  relates  to  her  construc- 
tion is  interesting  to  us  from  the  minute  account  which  is  given 
of  her  misfortunes  from  the  moment  of  her  leaving  Myra.  The 
weather  was  unfavorable  from  the  first.  They  were  many  days^* 
before  reaching  Cnidus  (v.  7),  and  since  the  distance  from  Myra  to 
this  place  is  only  a  hundred  and  thirty  miles,  it  is  certain  that  they 
must  have  sailed  slowly  (ib.).  The  delay  was  of  course  occa- 
sioned by  one  of  two  causes — by  calms  or  by  contrary  winds. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  latter  was  the  real  cause,  not  only 
because  the  sacred  narrative  states  that  they  reached  Cnidus  ^^with 
difficulty,^^  but  because  we  are  informed  that  when  Cnidus  was 
reached  they  could  not  make  good  their  course  any  farther,  the 
wind  not  suffering  them  (ibid.).  At  this  point  they  lost  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  favoring  current,  a  weather  shore,  and  smooth  water, 
and  were  met  by  all  the  force  of  the  sea  from  the  westward ;  and 
it  was  judged  the  most  prudent  course,  instead  of  contending  with 
a  head  sea  and  contrary  winds,  to  run  down  to  the  southward,  and 
after  rounding  Cape  Salmone,  the  easternmost  point  of  Crete,  to 
pursue  the  voyage  under  the  lee  of  that  island. 

Knowing  as  we  do  the  consequences  which  followed  this  step, 
we  are  inclined  to  blame  it  as  imprudent,  unless  indeed  it  was  ab- 


598  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

solutely  necessary.  For  while  the  south  coast  of  Crete  was  defi- 
cient in  good  harbors,  that  of  Cnidus  was  excellent — well  shel- 
tered from  the  north-westerly  winds,  fully  supplied  with  all 
kinds  of  stores,  and  in  every  way  commodious,  if  needful,  for 
wintering. 

And  here,  according  to  our  custom,  we  pause  again  in  the  nar- 
rative that  we  may  devote  a  few  lines  to  the  history  and  descrip- 
tion of  the  place.  In  early  times  it  was  the  metropolis  of  the 
Asiatic  Dorians,  who  worshipped  Apollo,  their  national  deity,  on 
the  rugged  headland  called  the  Triopian  promontory  (the  modern 
Cape  Crio),  which  juts  out  beyond  the  city  to  the  west.  From 
these  heights  the  people  of  Cnidus  saw  that  engagement  between 
the  fleets  of  Pisander  and  Conon  w^hich  resulted  in  the  maritime 
supremacy  of  Athens.  To  the  north-west  is  seen  the  island  of 
Cos ;  to  the  south-east,  across  a  wnder  reach  of  sea,  is  the  larger 
island  of  Rhodes,  with  which,  in  their  weaker  and  more  voluptu- 
ous days,  Cnidus  was  united  in  alliance  with  Eome  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  struggle  between  Italy  and  the  East.  The  position  of 
the  city  of  Cnidus  is  to  the  east  of  the  Triopian  headland,  w^here  a 
narrow  isthmus  unites  the  promontory  with  the  continent  and 
separates  the  two  harbors  which  Strabo  has  described.  "  Few 
places  bear  more  incontestable  proofs  of  former  magnificence,  and 
fewer  still  of  the  ruffian  industry  of  their  destroyers.  The  whole 
area  of  the  city  is  one  promiscuous  mass  of  ruins,  among  which 
may  be  traced  streets  and  gateways,  porticoes  and  theatres."  But 
the  remains  which  are  the  most  worthy  to  arrest  our  attention  are 
those  of  the  harbors,  not  only  because  Cnidus  was  a  city  peculiarly 
associated  with  maritime  enterprise,  but  because  these  remains 
have  been  less  obliterated  by  violence  or  decay.  The  smallest 
harbor  has  a  narrow  entrance  between  high  piers,  and  was  evi- 
dently the  closed  basin  for  triremes  which  Strabo  mentions."  But 
it  was  the  southern  and  larger  port  which  lay  in  Paul's  course 
from  Myra,  and  in  which  the  Alexandrian  ship  must  necessarily 
have  come  to  anchor  if  she  had  touched  at  Cnidus.  This  port  is 
formed  by  two  transverse  moles ;  these  noble  works  were  carried 
into  the  sea  to  a  depth  of  nearly  a  hundred  feet ;  one  of  them  is 
almost  perfect;  the  other,  which  is  more  exposed  to  the  south-west 
swell,  can  only  be  seen  under  water."  And  we  may  conclude  our 
description  by  another  quotation,  which  speaks  of  "  the  remains  of 
an  ancient  quay  on  the  south-west,  supported  by  cyclopean  walls, 


BY  CAPE  SALMONE  TO  FAIR  HAVENS. 


599 


and  in  some  places  cut  out  of  the  steep  limestone  rocks  which  rise 
abruptly  from  the  water's  edge." 

This  excellent  harbor,  then,  from  choice  or  from  necessity,  was 
left  behind  by  the  seamen  of  the  Alexandrian  vessel.  Instead  of 
putting  back  there  for  shelter,  they  yielded  to  the  expectation  of 
being  able  to  pursue  their  voyage  under  the  lee  of  Crete,  and  ran 
down  to  Cape  Salmone;  after  rounding  which  the  same  "difficulty" 
would  indeed  recur  (v.  8),  but  still  with  the  advantage  of  a  weather 
shore.  The  statements  at  this  particular  point  of  Luke's  narrative 
enable  us  to  ascertain  with  singular  minuteness  the  direction  of 
the  wind ;  and  it  is  deeply  interesting  to  observe  how  this  direction, 
once  ascertained,  harmonizes  all  the  inferences  which  we  should 
naturally  draw  from  other  parts  of  the  context.  But  the  argument 
has  been  so  well  stated  by  the  first  writer  who  has  called  atten- 
tion to  this  question  (Hamilton)  that  we  will  present  it  in  his  words 
rather  than  our  own :  "  The  course  of  a  ship  on  her  voyage  from 
Myra  to  Italy,  after  she  has  reached  Cnidus,  is  by  the  north  side 
of  Crete,  through  the  Archipelago,  west  by  south.  Hence  a  ship 
which  can  make  good  a  course  of  less  than  seven  points  from  the 
wind,  would  not  have  been  prevented  from  proceeding  on  her 
course  unless  the  wind  had  been  to  the  west  of  north-north-west. 
But  we  are  told  that  she  *  ran  under  Crete,  over  against  Salmone,* 
which  implies  that  she  was  able  to  fetch  that  cape,  which  bears 
about  south-west  by  south  from  Cnidus ;  but  unless  the  wind  had 
been  to  the  north  of  west-north-west,  she  could  not  have  done  so. 
The  middle  point  between  north-north-west  and  west-north-west 
is  north-west,  which  cannot  be  more  than  two  points,  and  is  prob- 
ably not  more  than  one,  from  the  true  direction.  The  wdnd, 
therefore,  would  in  common  language  have  been  termed  north- 
w^est."  And  then  the  author  proceeds  to  quote  a  statement  from 
the  English  sailing  directions  regarding  the  prevalence  of  north- 
westerly winds  in  these  seas  during  the  summer  months,  and  to 
point  out  that  the  statement  is  in  complete  harmony  with  what 
Pliny  says  of  the  Etesian  monsoons. 

Under  these  circumstances  of  weather  a  reconsideration  of  what 
has  been  said  above,  with  a  chart  of  Crete  before  us,  will  show 
that  the  voyage  could  have  been  continued  some  distance  from 
Cape  Salmone  under  the  lee  of  the  island,  as  it  had  been  from 
Myra  to  Cnidus,  but  that  at  a  certain  point  (now  called  Cape 
Matala)  where  the  coast  trends  suddenly  to  the  north,  and  where 


600         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

the  full  force  of  the  wind  and  sea  from  the  westward  must  have 
been  met,  this  possibility  must  have  ceased  once  more,  as  it  had 
ceased  at  the  south-western  corner  of  the  peninsula.  At  a  short 
distance  to  the  east  of  Cape  Matala  is  a  roadstead  which  was  then 
called  ^'Fair  Havens,"  and  still  retains  the  same  name,  and  which 
the  voyagers  successfully  reached  and  came  to  anchor.  There 
seems  to  have  been  no  town  at  Fair  Havens,  but  there  was  a  town 
near  it  called  Lasoea — a  circumstance  which  Luke  mentions  (if  w^e 
may  presume  to  say  so),  not  with  any  view  of  fixing  the  locality  of 
the  roadstead,  but  simply  because  the  fact  was  impressed  on  his 
memory.  If  the  vessel  was  detained  long  at  this  anchorage,  the 
sailors  must  have  had  frequent  intercourse  with  Lasaea,  and  the 
soldiers  too  might  obtain  leave  to  visit  it;  and  possibly  also  the 
prisoners,  each  with  a  soldier  chained  to  his  arm.  We  are  not  in- 
formed of  the  length  of  the  delay  at  Fair  Havens,  but  before  they 
left  the  place  a  considerable  time  "  had  elapsed  since  they  had 
sailed  from  Csesarea  (v.  9),  and  they  had  arrived  at  that  season  of 
the  year  when  it  was  considered  imprudent  to  try  the  open  sea. 
This  is  expressed  by  Luke  by  saying  that  "  the  fast  was  already 
past " — a  proverbial  phrase  among  the  Jews,  employed  as  we  should 
employ  the  phrase  about  Michaelmas,"  and  indicating  precisely 
that  period  of  the  year.  The  Fast  of  Expiation  was  on  the  tenth 
of  Tisri,  and  corresponded  to  the  close  of  September  or  the  begin- 
ning of  October,  and  is  exactly  the  time  when  seafaring  is  pro- 
nounced to  be  dangerous  by  Greek  and  Roman  writers.  It  became 
then  a  very  serious  matter  of  consultation  whether  they  should 
remain  at  Fair  Havens  for  the  winter  or  seek  some  better  harbor. 
Paul's  advice  was  very  strongly  given  that  they  should  remain 
where  they  were.  He  warned  them  that  if  they  ventured  to  pur- 
sue their  voyage  they  would  meet  with  violent  weather,  with  great 
injury  to  the  cargo  and  the  ship,  and  much  risk  to  the  lives  of 
those  on  board.  It  is  sufficient  if  we  trace  in  this  warning  rather 
the  natural  prudence  and  judgment  of  Paul  than  the  result  of  any 
supernatural  revelation,  though  it  is  possible  that  a  prophetic 
power  was  acting  in  combination  with  the  insight  derived  from 
long  experience  of  "perils  in  the  sea"  (2  Cor.  xi.  26).  He  ad- 
dressed such  arguments  to  his  fellow-voyagers  as  would  be  likely 
to  influence  all:  the  master  would  naturally  avoid  what  might 
endanger  the  ship;  the  owner  (who  was  also  on  board]  would  b^ 
anxious  for  the  cargo ;  to  the  centurion  and  to  all  the  risk  of 


PHENICE. 


601 


perilling  their  lives  was  a  prospect  that  could  not  lightly  be 
regarded.  That  Paul  was  allowed  to  give  advice  at  all  implies 
that  he  was  already  held  in  a  consideration  very  unusual  for  a 
prisoner  in  the  custody  of  soldiers ;  and  the  time  came  when  his 
words  held  a  commanding  sway  over  the  whole  crew ;  yet  we 
cannot  be  surprised  that  on  this  occasion  the  centurion  was  more 
influenced  by  the  words  of  the  owner  and  master  than  those  of  the 
apostle.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that  their  present  anchorage 
was  incommodious  to  winter  in"  (v.  12),  and  the  decision  of 
"the  majority''  was  to  leave  it  so  soon  as  the  weather  should  per- 
mit. 

On  the  south  coast  of  the  island,  somewhat  farther  to  the  west, 
was  a  harbor  called  Phenice,  with  which  it  seems  that  some  of  the 
sailors  were  familiar.  They  spoke  of  it  in  their  conversation 
during  the  delay  at  Fair  Havens,  and  they  described  it  as  "look- 
ing toward  the  south-west  wind  and  north-west  wind.''  If  they 
meant  to  recommend  a  harbor  into  which  these  winds  blew  dead 
onshore,  it  would  appear  to  have  been  unsailorlike  advice;  and 
we  are  tempted  to  examine  more  closely  whether  the  expression 
really  means  what  at  first  sight  it  appears  to  mean,  and  then  to 
inquire  further  whether  we  can  identify  this  description  with  any 
existing  harbor.  This  might  indeed  be  considered  a  question  of 
mere  curiosity,  since  the  vessel  never  reached  Phenice,  and  since 
the  description  of  the  place  is  evidently  not  that  of  Luke,  but  of 
the  sailors  whose  conversation  he  heard.  But  everything  has  a 
deep  interest  for  us  which  tends  to  elucidate  this  voyage.  And, 
first,  we  think  there  cannot  be  a  doubt,  both  from  the  notices  in 
ancient  writers  and  the  continuance  of  ancient  names  upon  the 
spot,  that  Phenice  is  to  be  identified  with  the  modern  Lutro. 
This  is  a  harbor  which  is  sheltered  from  the  winds  above  men- 
tioned; and  without  entering  fully  into  the  discussions  which 
have  arisen  from  this  subject,  we  give  it  as  our  opinion  that  the 
difficulty  is  to  be  explained  simply  by  remembering  that  sailors 
speak  of  everything  from  their  own  point  of  view,  and  that  such 
a  harbor  does  "look"/rom  the  water  towards  the  land  which  encloses 
in  the  direction  of  "  south-west  and  north-west." 

With  a  sudden  change  of  weather,  the  north-westerly  wind 
ceasing  and  a  light  air  springing  up  from  the  south,  the  sanguine 
sailors  "thought  that  their  purpose  was  already  accomplished" 
(v.  13).    They  weighed  anchor,  and  the  vessel  bore  round  Cape 


602  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Matala.  The  distance  to  this  point  from  Fair  Havens  is  four  or 
five  miles;  the  bearing  is  west  by  south.  With  a  gentle  southerly- 
wind  she  would  be  able  to  weather  the  cape,  and  then  the  wind 
was  fair  to  Phenice,  which  was  thirty-five  miles  distant  from  the 
cape,  and  bore  from  thence  about  west-north- west.  The  sailors 
already  saw  the  high  land  above  Lutro,  and  were  proceeding  in 
high  spirits — perhaps  with  fair-weather  sails  set,  certainly  with 
the  boat  towing  astern — forgetful  of  past  difficulties  and  blind  to 
impending  dangers. 

The  change  in  the  fortunes  of  these  mariners  came  without  a 
moment's  warning.  Soon  after  weathering  Cape  Matala,  and 
while  they  were  pursuing  their  course  in  full  confidence  close  by 
the  coast  of  Crete  (v.  13),  a  violent  wind  came  down  from  the 
mountains  and  struck  the  ship  (seizing  her,  according  to  the  Greek 
expression,  and  whirling  her  round),  so  that  it  was  impossible  for 
the  helmsman  to  make  her  keep  her  course.  The  character  of 
the  wind  is  described  in  terms  expressive  of  the  utmost  violence. 
It  came  with  all  the  appearance  of  a  hurricane;  and  the  name 
"Euroclydon,"  which  was  given  to  it  by  the  sailors,  indicates  the 
commotion  in  the  sea  which  presently  resulted.  The  consequence 
was  that,  in  the  first  instance,  they  were  compelled  to  scud  before 
the  gale. 

If  we  wish  to  understand  the  events  which  followed,  it  is  of  the 
utmost  consequence  that  we  should  ascertain,  in  the  first  place, 
the  direction  of  this  gale.  Though  there  is  a  great  weight  of 
opinion  in  favor  of  the  reading  Euroaquilo,  in  place  of  Euroc- 
lydon — a  view  which  would  determine,  on  critical  grounds,  that 
the  wind  was  east-north-east — we  need  not  consider  ourselves 
compelled  to  yield  absolutely  to  this  authority,  and  the  mere  con- 
text of  the  narrative  enables  us  to  determine  the  question  with 
great  exactitude.  The  wind  came  down  from  the  island  and  drove 
the  vessel  off  the  island;  whence  it  is  evident  that  it  could  not 
have  been  southerly.  If  we  consider,  further,  that  the  wund  struck 
the  vessel  when  she  was  not  far  from  Cape  Matala  (v.  14),  that  it 
drove  her  towards  Clauda  (v.  16),  which  is  an  island  about  twenty 
miles  to  the  south-west  of  that  point,  and  that  the  sailors  "  feared 
lest  it  should  drive  them  into  the  Syrtis  on  the  African  coast  (v.  17) 
— all  which  facts  are  mentioned  in  rapid  succession — an  inspection 
of  a  chart  will  sufiice  to  show  us  that  the  point  from  which  the 
storm  came  must  have  been  north-east,  or  rather  to  the  east  of 


SEAMANSHIP  DURIN'G  THE  GALE. 


603 


north-east,  and  thus  we  may  safely  speak  of  it  as  coming  from  the 
east-north-east. 

We  proceed  now  to  inquire  what  was  done  with  the  vessel  under 
these  perilous  circumstances.  She  was  compelled  at  first  (as  we 
have  seen)  to  scud  before  the  gale.  But  three  things  are  men- 
tioned in  close  connection  with  her  coming  near  to  Clauda  and 
running  under  the  lee  of  it.  Here  they  would  have  the  advantage 
of  a  temporary  lull  and  of  comparatively  smooth  water  for  a  few 
miles,  and  the  most  urgent  necessity  was  attended  to  first.  The  boat 
ivas  hoisted  071  board,  but  after  towing  so  long  it  must  have  been 
nearly  filled  with  water,  arid  under  any  circumstances  the  hoisting 
of  a  boat  on  board  in  a  gale  of  wind  is  a  work  accomplished  "  ivith 
difficulty^'  So  it  was  in  this  instance,  as  Luke  informs  us.  To 
effect  it  at  all,  it  would  be  necessary  for  the  vessel  to  be  rounded- 
to,  with  her  head  brought  towards  the  wind — a  circumstance  which 
for  other  reasons  (as  we  shall  see  presently)  it  is  important  to  bear 
in  mind.  The  next  precaution  that  was  adopted  betrays  an  appre- 
hension lest  the  vessel  should  spring  aleak,  and  so  be  in  danger 
of  foundering  at  sea.  They  used  the  tackling  which  we  have  de- 
scribed above,  and  which  provided  "helps"  in  such  .an  emergency. 
They  "  imdergirded'^  the  ship  with  ropes  passed  round  her  frame  and 
tightly  secured  on  deck.  And  after  this,  or  rather  simultaneously 
(for,  as  there  were  many  hands  on  board,  these  operations  might 
all  be  proceeding  together),  they  "  lowered  the  gear,''  This  is  the 
most  literal  translation  of  the  Greek  expression.  In  itself  it  is 
indeterminate,  but  it  doubtless  implies  careful  preparation  for 
weathering  out  the  storm.  What  precise  change  was  made  we  are 
not  able  to  determine  in  our  ignorance  of  the  exact  state  of  the 
ship's  gear  at  the  moment.  It  might  mean  that  the  mainsail  was 
reefed  and  set,  or  that  the  great  yard  was  lowered  upon  deck  and 
a  small  storm-sail  hoisted.  It  is  certain  that  what  English  seamen 
call  the  top-hamper  would  be  sent  down  on  deck.  As  to  those 
fair-weather  sails  themselves  which  may  have  been  too  hastily  used 
on  leaving  Fair  Havens,  if  not  taken  in  at  the  beginning  of  the 
gale  they  must  have  been  already  blown  to  pieces. 

But  the  mention  of  one  particular  apprehension  as  the  motive 
of  this  last  precaution  informs  us  of  something  further.  It  was 
because  they  feared  lest  they  should  be  driven  into  the  Syrtis"  that 
they  "  lowered  the  gear."  Now,  to  avoid  this  danger  the  head  of 
the  vessel  must  necessarily  have  been  turned  away  from  the  Afri- 


604 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


can  coast,  in  the  direction  (more  or  less)  from  which  the  wind 
came.  To  have  scudded  before  the  gale  under  bare  poles  or  under 
storm-sails  would  infallibly  have  stranded  them  in  the  Syrtis,  not 
to  mention  the  danger  of  pooping,  or  being  swamped  by  the  sea 
breaking  over  her  stern.  To  have  anchored  was  evidently  im- 
possible. Only  one  other  course  remained,  and  this  what  is  tech- 
nically called  by  sailors  lying-to.  To  effect  this  arrangement  the 
head  of  the  vessel  is  brought  as  near  the  wind  as  possible ;  a  small 
amount  of  canvas  is  set,  and  so  adjusted  as  to  prevent  the  vessel 
from  falling  off  into  the  trough  of  the  sea.  This  plan  (as  is  well 
known  to  all  who  have  made  long  voyages)  is  constantly  resorted 
to  when  the  object  is  not  so  much  to  make  progress  as  to  weather 
out  a  gale. 

We  are  here  brought  to  the  critical  point  of  the  whole  nautical 
difficulty  in  the  narrative  of  Paul's  voyage  and  shipwreck,  and  it 
is  desirable  to  notice  very  carefully  both  the  ship's  position  in 
reference  to  the  wind  and  its  consequent  motion  through  the  water. 
Assuming  that  the  vessel  was  laid-to^  the  questions  to  be  answered 
in  reference  to  its  position  are  these :  How  near  the  wind  did  she 
lie?  and  which  side  did  she  present  to  the  wind?  The  first  ques- 
tion is  answered  in  some  degree  by  a  reference  to  what  was  said 
in  the  early  part  of  this  chapter.  If  an  ancient  merchantman 
could  go  ahead  in  moderate  weather  when  within  seven  points  of 
the  wind,  we  may  assume  that  she  would  make  about  the  same 
angle  with  it  when  lying-to  in  a  gale.  The  second  question  would 
be  practically  determined  by  the  circumstances  of  the  case  and  the 
judgment  of  the  sailors.  It  will  be  seen  very  clearly  by  what  fol- 
lows that  if  the  ship  had  been  laid-to  with  her  left  or  port  side  to 
the  wind,  she  must  have  been  driven  far  out  of  her  course,  and  also 
in  the  direction  of  another  part  of  the  African  coast.  In  order  to 
make  sure  of  sea-room,  and  at  the  same  time  to  drift  to  the  west- 
ward, she  must  have  been  laid-to  with  her  right  side  to  the  wind, 
or  on  the  starboard  tach — the  position  which  she  was  probably  made 
to  assume  at  the  moment  of  taking  the  boat  on  board. 

We  have  hitherto  considered  only  the  ship's  position  in  reference 
to  the  wind.  We  must  now  consider  its  motion.  When  a  vessel 
is  laid-to  she  does  not  remain  stationary,  but  drifts ;  and  our  in- 
quiries of  course  have  reference  to  the  rate  and  direction  of  the 
drift.  The  rate  of  drift  may  vary,  within  certain  limits,  according 
to  the  build  of  the  vessel  and  the  intensity  of  the  gale,  but  all  sea- 


LIGHTENING  THE  SHIP. 


60d 


men  would  agree  that  under  the  circumstances  hefore  us  a  mile 
and  a  half  in  the  hour,  or  thirty-six  miles  in  twenty-four  hours, 
may  be  taken  as  a  fair  average.  The  direction  in  which  she  drifts 
is  not  that  in  which  she  appears  to  sail,  or  towards  which  her  bows 
arc  tamed,  but  she  falls  off  to  leeward  ;  and  to  the  angle  formed 
by  the  line  of  the  ship's  keel  and  the  line  in  which  the  wind  blows 
we  must  add  another  to  include  what  the  sailors  call  lee-way^  and 
this  may  be  estimated  on  an  average  at  six  points  (67°).  Thus  we 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  direction  of  drift  would  make  an 
angle  of  thirteen  points  (147°)  with  the  direction  of  the  wind.  If 
the  wind  was  east-north-east,  the  course  of  the  vessel  would  be 
west  by  north. 

We  have  been  minute  in  describing  the  circumstances  of  the 
ship  at  this  moment,  for  it  is  the  point  upon  which  all  our  subse- 
quent conclusions  must  turn.  Assuming  now  that  the  vessel  was, 
as  we  have  said,  laid-to  on  the  starboard  tack,  with  the  boat  on 
board  and  the  hull  undergirded,  drifting  from  Clauda  in  a  direction 
west  by  north  at  the  rate  of  thirty-six  miles  in  twenty-four  houi«, 
we  pursue  the  narrative  of  the  voyage  without  anticipating  the 
results  to  which  we  shall  be  brought.  The  more  marked  incidents 
of  the  second  and  third  days  of  the  gale  are  related  to  us  (vs.  18, 
19).  The  violence  of  the  storm  continued  without  any  intermis- 
sion. On  "  the  day  after"  they  left  Clauda  they  began  to  lighten 
the  ship"  by  throwing  overboard  whatever  could  be  most  easily 
spared.  From  this  we  should  infer  that  the  precaution  of  under- 
girding  had  been  only  partially  successful,  and  that  the  vessel  had 
already  sprung  aleak.  This  is  made  still  more  probable  by  what 
occurred  on  the  "third  day."  Both  sailors  and  passengers  united 
in  throwing  out  all  the  "spare  gear"  into  the  sea.  Then  followed 
"several  days"  of  continued  hardship  and  anxiety.  No  one  who 
has  never  been  in  a  leaking  ship  in  a  long-continued  gale  can  know 
what  is  suffered  under  such  circumstances.  The  strain  both  of 
mind  and  body,  the  incessant  demand  for  the  labor  of  all  the  crew, 
the  terror  of  the  passengers,  the  hopeless  working  at  the  pumps, 
the  laboring  of  the  ship's  frame  and  cordage,  the  driving  of  the 
storm,  the  benumbing  effect  of  the  cold  and  wet,  make  up  a  scene 
of  no  ordinary  confusion,  anxiety,  and  fatigue.  But  in  the  present 
case  these  evils  were  much  aggravated  by  the  continued  overcloud- 
ing of  the  sky  (a  circumstance  not  unusual  during  a  Levanter), 
which  prevented  the  navigators  from  taking  the  necessary  observa- 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

tions  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  In  a  modern  ship,  however  dark  the 
weather  might  be,  there  would  always  be  a  light  in  the  binnacle, 
and  the  ship's  course  would  always  be  known ;  but  in  an  ancient 
vessel  "when  neither  sun  nor  stars  were  seen  for  many  days"  the 
case  would  be  far  more  hopeless.  It  was  impossible  to  know  how 
near  they  might  be  to  the  most  dangerous  coast.  And  yet  the 
worst  danger  was  that  which  arose  from  the  leaky  state  of  the 
vessel.  This  was  so  bad  that  at  length  they  gave  up  all  hope  of 
being  saved,  thinking  that  nothing  could  prevent  her  foundering. 
To  this  despair  was  added  a  further  suffering  from  want  of  food  in 
consequence  of  the  injury  done  to  the  provisions  and  the  impos- 
sibility of  preparing  any  regular  meal.  Hence  we  see  the  force  of 
the  phrase  which  alludes  to  what  a  casual  reader  might  suppose 
an  unimportant  part  of  the  suffering—the  fact  that  there  was  "much 
abstinence.''  It  was  in  this  time  of  utter  weariness  and  despair 
that  to  the  apostle  there  rose  up  "  light  in  the  darkness and  that 
light  was  made  the  means  of  encouraging  and  saving  the  rest. 
While  the  heathen  sailors  were  vainly  struggling  to  subdue  the 
leak,  Paul  was  praying,  and  God  granted  to  him  the  lives  of  all 
who  sailed  with  him.  A  vision  was  vouchsafed  to  him  in  the  night, 
as  formerly  when  he  was  on  the  eve  of  conveying  the  gospel  from 
Asia  to  Europe,  and  more  recently  in  the  midst  of  those  harassing 
events  which  resulted  in  his  voyage  from  Jerusalem  to  Eome. 
When  the  cheerless  day  came  he  gathered  the  sailors  around  him 
on  the  deck  of  the  laboring  vessel,  and,  raising  his  voice  above  the 
storm,  said: 

"Sirs,  ye  should  have  hearkened  to  my  counsel,  and  not  have  set 
sail  from  Crete :  thus  would  you  have  been  spared  this  harm  and  loss. 

"And  now  I  exhort  you  to  be  of  good  cheer  ;  for  there  shall  be  no  loss 
of  any  man's  life  among  you,  but  only  of  the  ship.  For  there  stood  by 
me  this  night  an  angel  of  God,  whose  I  am,  and  whom  I  serve,  saying, 
*  Fear  not,  Paul ;  thou  must  stand  before  Ccesar  ;  and,  lo  !  God  hath  given 
thee  all  who  sail  with  theeJ  Wherefore,  sirs,  be  of  good  cheer ;  for  I  be- 
lieve God,  that  what  hath  been  declared  unto  me  shall  come  to  pass. 
Nevertheless,  we  must  be  cast  upon  a  certain  island." 

We  are  not  told  how  this  address  was  received.  But  sailors, 
however  reckless  they  may  be  in  the  absence  of  danger,  are  pecu- 
liarly open  to  religious  impressions,  and  we  cannot  doubt  that  they 
gathered  anxiously  round  the  apostle  and  heard  his  words  as  an 


ANCH0RIX31  IN  THE  NIGHT. 


607 


admonition  and  encouragement  from  the  other  world — that  they 
were  nerved  for  the  toil  and  difficulty  which  was  immediately  before 
them,  and  prepared  thenceforward  to  listen  to  the  Jewish  prisoner 
as  to  a  teacher  sent  with  a  divine  commission. 

The  gale  still  continued  without  abatement.  Day  and  night 
succeeded,  and  the  danger  seemed  only  to  increase  till  fourteen 
days  had  elapsed,  during  which  they  had  been  ^'  drifting  through 
the  sea  of  Adria'^  (v.  27).  A  gale  of  such  duration,  though  not 
very  frequent,  is  by  no  means  unprecedented  in  that  part  of  the 
Mediterranean,  especially  towards  winter.  At  the  close  of  the 
fourteenth  day,  about  the  middle  of  the  night,  the  sailors  suspect- 
ed that  they  were  nearing  land.  There  is  little  doubt  as  to  what 
were  the  indications  of  land.  The  roar  of  breakers  is  a  peculiar 
sound,  which  can  be  detected  by  a  practised  ear,  though  not  dis- 
tinguishable from  the  other  sounds  of  a  storm  by  those  who  have 
not  "their  senses  exercised''  by  experience  of  the  sea.  When  it 
was  reported  that  this  sound  was  heard  by  some  of  the  crew,  orders 
were  immediately  given  to  heave  the  lead,  and  they  found  that  the 
depth  of  the  water  was  "  twenty  fathoms."  After  a  short  interval 
they  sounded  again,  and  found  "fifteen  fathoms."  Though  the 
vicinity  of  land  could  not  but  inspire  some  hope,  as  holding  out 
the  prospect  of  running  the  ship  ashore,  and  so  being  saved,  yet 
the  alarm  of  the  sailors  was  great  when  they  perceived  how  rapidly 
they  were  shoaling  the  water.  It  seems  also  that  they  now  heard 
breakers  ahead.  However  this  might  be,  there  was  the  utmost 
danger  lest  the  vessel  should  strike  and  go  to  pieces.  No  time  was 
to  be  lost.  Orders  were  immediately  given  to  clear  the  anchors. 
But,  if  they  had  anchored  by  the  bow,  there  was  good  ground  for 
apprehending  that  the  vessel  would  have  swung  around  and  gone 
upon  the  rocks.  They  therefore  let  go  "  four  anchors  by  the  sternJ' 
For  a  time  the  vessel's  way  was  arrested,  but  there  was  too  much 
reason  to  fear  that  she  miglit  part  from  her  anchors  and  go  ashore, 
if  indeed  she  did  not  founder  in  the  night;  and  "they  waited 
anxiously  for  the  day." 

The  reasons  are  obvious  why  she  anchored  by  the  stern,  rather 
than  in  the  usual  way.  Besides  what  has  been  said  above,  her 
way  would  be  more  easily  arrested,  and  she  would  be  in  a  better 
position  for  being  run  ashore  next  day.  But  since  this  mode  of 
anchoring  has  raised  some  questions,  it  may  be  desirable  in  pass- 
ing to  make  a  remark  on  the  subject.  That  a  vessel  can  anchor  by 


\ 

608  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

the  stern  is  sufficiently  proved  (if  proof  were  needed)  by  the  his- 
tory of  some  of  our  own  naval  engagements.  So  it  was  at  the 
battle  of  the  Nile.  And  when  ships  are  about  to  attack  batteries 
it  is  customary  for  them  to  go  into  action  prepared  to  anchor  in 
this  way.  This  was  the  case  at  Algiers.  There  is  still  greater 
interest  in  quoting  the  instance  of  Copenhagen,  not  only  from  the 
accounts  we  have  of  the  precision  with  which  each  ship  let  go  her 
anchors  astern  as  she  arrived  nearly  opposite  her  appointed  station, 
but  because  it  is  said  that  Nelson  stated  after  the  battle  that  he 
had  that  morning  been  reading  the  twenty-seventh  chapter  of  the 
Acts  of  the  Apostles.  But  though  it  will  be  granted  that  this 
manoeuvre  is  possible  with  due  preparation,  it  may  be  doubted 
whether  it  could  be  accomplished  in  a  gale  of  wind  on  a  lee  shore 
without  any  previous  notice.  The  question,  in  fact,  is,  whether 
ancient  ships  in  the  Mediterranean  were  always  prepared  to  an- 
chor in  this  way.  Some  answer  to  this  doubt  is  supplied  by  the 
present  practice  of  the  Levantine  caiques,  which  preserve  in  great 
measure  the  traditionary  build  and  rig  of  ancient  merchantmen. 
These  modern  Greek  vessels  may  still  be  seen  anchoring  by  the 
stern  in  the  Golden  Horn  at  Constantinople  or  on  the  coast  of 
Patmos.  But  the  best  illustration  is  afforded  by  one  of  the  paint- 
ings of  Herculaneum,  which  represents  "  a  ship  so  strictly  contem- 
poraneous with  that  of  Paul  that  there  is  nothing  impossible  in 
the  supposition  that  the  artist  had  taken  his  subject  from  that 
very  ship  on  loosing  from  the  pier  at  Puteoli.''  By  this  rude 
drawing  we  can  see  very  clearly  how  the  rudders  would  be  in 
danger  of  interfering  with  this  mode  of  anchoring — a  subject  to 
which  our  attention  will  presently  be  required.  Our  supposed 
objector,  if  he  had  a  keen  sense  of  practical  difficulties,  might  still 
insist  that  to  have  anchored  in  this  way  (or  indeed  in  the  ordinary 
way)  would  have  been  of  little  avail  in  PauFs  ship,  since  it  could 
not  be  supposed  that  the  anchors  would  have  held  in  such  a  gale  of 
wind.  To  this  we  can  only  reply  that  this  course  was  adopted  to 
meet  a  dangerous  emergency.  The  sailors  could  not  have  been 
certain  of  the  result.  They  might  indeed  have  had  confidence  in 
their  cables,  but  they  could  not  be  sure  of  their  holding-ground. 

This  is  one  of  the  circumstances  which  must  be  taken  into  ac- 
count when  we  sum  up  the  evidence  in  proof  that  the  place  of 
shipwreck  was  Malta.  At  present  we  make  no  such  assumption. 
We  will  not  anticipate  the  conclusion  till  we  have  proceeded  some- 


THE  BOAT  LOWERED,  BUT  CUT  ADRIFT. 


609 


what  farther  with  the  narrative.  We  may,  however,  ask  the  reader 
to  pause  for  a  moment  and  reconsider  what  was  said  of  the  circum- 
stances of  the  vessel  when  we  described  what  was  done  under  the 
lee  of  Clauda.  We  then  saw  that  the  direction  in  which  she  was 
drifting  was  west  by  north.  Now  an  inspection  of  the  chart  will 
show  us  that  this  is  exactly  the  bearing  of  the  northern  part  of 
Malta  from  the  south  of  Clauda.  We  saw,  moreover,  that  she  was 
drifting  at  the  rate  of  about  a  mile  and  a  half  in  every  hour,  or 
thirty-six  miles  in  the  twenty-four  hours.  Since  that  time  thirteen 
days  had  elapsed,  for  the  first  of  the  fourteen  days "  would  be 
taken  up  on  the  way  from  Fair  Havens  to  Clauda.  The  ship, 
therefore,  had  passed  over  a  distance  of  about  four  hundred  and 
sixty-eight  miles.  The  distance  between  Clauda  and  Malta  is 
rather  less  than  four  hundred  and  eighty  miles.  The  coincidence 
is  so  remarkable  that  it  seems  hardly  possible  to  believe  that  the 
land  to  which  the  sailors  on  the  fourteenth  night  ^'  deemed  that 
they  drew  nigh  " — the  "  certain  island  on  which  it  was  prophe- 
sied that  they  should  be  cast — could  be  any  other  place  than  Malta. 
The  probability  is  overwhelming.  But  we  must  not  yet  assume 
the  fact  as  certain,  for  we  shall  find  as  we  proceed  that  the  con- 
ditions are  very  numerous  which  the  true  place  of  shipwreck  will 
be  required  to  satisfy. 

We  return,  then,  to  the  ship,  which  we  left  laboring  at  her  four 
anchors.  The  coast  was  invisible,  but  the  breakers  were  heard  in 
every  pause  of  the  storm.  The  rain  was  falling  in  torrents,  and 
all  hands  were  weakened  by  want  of  food.  But  the  greatest  danger 
was  lest  the  vessel  should  founder  before  daybreak.  The  leak  was 
rapidly  gaining,  and  it  was  expected  that  each  moment  might  be 
the  last.  Under  these  circumstances  we  find  the  sailors  making  a 
selfish  attempt  to  save  themselves  and  leave  the  ship  and  the  pas- 
sengers to  their  fate.  Under  the  pretence  of  carrying  out  some 
anchors  from  the  bow  they  lowered  the  boat  over  the  ship's  side 
(v.  30).  The  excuse  was  very  plausible,  for  there  is  no  doubt  that 
the  vessel  would  have  been  more  steady  if  this  had  been  done,  and, 
in  order  to  effect  it,  it  would  be  necessary  to  take  out  anchors  in 
the  boat.  But  their  real  intention  was  to  save  their  own  lives  and 
leave  the  passengers.  Paul  penetrated  their  design,  and  either 
from  some  divine  intimation  of  the  instruments  which  were  to  be 
providentially  employed  for  the  safety  of  all  on  board,  or  from  an 
intuitive  judgment  which  showed  him  that  those  who  would  be 
39 


610          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


tlms  left  behind,  the  passengers  and  soldiers,  would  not  be  able  to 
work  the  ship  in  any  emergency  that  might  arise,  he  saw  that  if 
the  sailors  accomplished  their  purpose  all  hope  of  being  saved 
would  be  gone.  With  his  usual  tact  he  addressed  not  a  word  to 
the  sailors,  but  spoke  to  the  soldiers  and  his  friend  the  centurion ; 
and  they  with  military  promptitude  held  no  discussion  on  the  sub- 
ject, but  decided  the  question  by  immediate  action.  With  that 
short  sword  with  which  the  Roman  legions  cleft  their  way  through 
every  obstacle  to  universal  victory  they  "  cut  the  ropes,'^  and  the 
boat  fell  off,  and  if  not  instantly  swamped  drifted  off  to  leeward 
into  the  darkness  and  was  dashed  to  pieces  on  the  rocks. 

Thus  the  prudent  counsel  of  the  apostle,  seconded  by  the  prompt 
action  of  the  soldiers,  had  been  the  means  of  saving  all  on  board. 
Each  successive  incident  tended  to  raise  him  more  and  more  into 
a  position  of  overpowering  influence.  Not  the  captain  or  the  ship's 
crew,  but  the  passenger  and  the  prisoner,  is  looked  to  now  as  the 
source  of  wisdom  and  safety.  We  find  him  using  this  influence 
for  the  renewal  of  their  bodily  strength,  while  at  the  same  time  he 
turned  their  thoughts  to  the  providential  care  of  God.  By  this 
time  the  dawn  of  day  was  approaching.  A  faint  light  showed  more 
of  the  terrors  of  the  storm,  and  the  objects  on  board  the  ship  began 
to  be  more  distinctly  visible.  Still,  towards  the  land  all  was  dark- 
ness, and  their  eyes  followed  the  spray  in  vain  as  it  drifted  oft' to 
leeward.  A  slight  effort  of  imagination  suffices  to  bring  before  us 
an  impressive  spectacle  as  we  think  of  the  dim  light  just  showing 
the  haggard  faces  of  the  two  hundred  and  seventy-six  persons 
clustered  on  the  deck  and  holding  on  by  the  bulwarks  of  the  sink- 
ing vessel.  In  this  hour  of  anxiety  the  apostle  stands  forward  to 
give  them  courage.  He  reminds  them  that  they  had  "  eaten 
nothing''  for  fourteen  days,  and  exhorts  them  now  to  partake  of 
a  hearty  meal,  pointing  out  to  them  that  this  was  indeed  essential 
to  their  safety,  and  encouraging  them  by  the  assurance  that  ''  not 
a  hair  of  their  head  "  should  perish.  So  speaking,  he  set  the  ex- 
ample of  the  cheerful  use  of  God's  gifts  and  grateful  acknowledg- 
ment of  the  Giver  by  taking  bread,  ''giving  thanks  to  God  before 
all,"  and  beginning  to  eat.  Thus  encouraged  by  his  calm  and  re- 
ligious example,  they  felt  their  spirits  revive,  and  "they  also  par- 
took of  food"  and  made  themselves  ready  for  the  labor  which 
awaited  them. 

Instead  of  abandoning  themselves  to  despair,  they  proceeded 


THE  SHIP  STRANDED. 


611 


actively  to  adopt  tlie  last  means  for  relieving  the  still  sinking  ves- 
sel. The  cargo  of  wheat  was  now"  of  no  use.  It  was  probably 
spoilt  by  the  salt  water.  And,  however  this  might  be,  it  was  not 
worth  a  thought,  since  it  was  well  known  that  the  vessel  would  be 
lost.  Their  hope  now  was  to  run  her  on  shore,  and  so  escape  to 
land.  Besides  this,  it  is  probable  that,  the  ship  having  been  so 
long  in  one  position,  the  wheat  had  shifted  over  to  the  port  side, 
and  prevented  the  vessel  from  keeping  that  upright  position  which 
w^ould  be  most  advantageous  when  they  came  to  steer  her  towanls 
the  shore.  The  hatchways  were  therefore  opened,  and  they  pro- 
ceeded to  throw  the  grain  into  the  sea.  This  work  would  occupy 
some  time,  and  when  it  was  accomplished  the  day  had  dawned  and 
the  land  was  visible. 

The  sailors  looked  hard  at  the  shore,  but  they  could  not  recog- 
nize it.  Though  ignorant,  however,  of  the  name  of  the  coast  off 
which  they  were  anchored,  they  saw  one  feature  in  it  which  gave 
them  a  hope  that  they  might  accomplish  their  purpose  of  running 
the  ship  aground.  They  perceived  a  small  bay  or  indentation 
with  a  sandy  or  pebbly  beach,  and  their  object  was,  "  if  possible,'^ 
so  to  steer  the  vessel  that  she  might  take  the  ground  at  that  point. 
To  effect  this  every  necessary  step  was  carefully  taken.  While 
cutting  the  anchors  adrift  they  unloosed  the  lashings  with  which 
the  rudders  had  been  secured  and  hoisted  the  foresail.  These 
three  things  would  be  done  simultaneously,  as  indeed  is  implied 
by  Luke,  and  there  were  a  sufficient  number  of  hands  on  board  for 
the  purpose.  The  free  use  of  the  rudders  would  be  absolutely 
necessary;  nor  would  this  be  sufficient  without  the  employment 
of  some  sail.  It  does  not  appear  quite  certain  whether  they  exactly 
hit  the  point  at  which  they  aimed.  We  are  told  that  they  fell  into 
*^a  place  between  two  seas (a  feature  of  the  coast  which  will  re- 
quire our  consideration  presently),  and  then  stranded  the  ship. 
The  bow  stuck  fast  in  the  shore  and  remained  unmoved,  but  the 
stern  began  immediately  to  go  to  pieces  under  the  action  of  the 
sea. 

And  now  another  characteristic  incident  is  related.  The  soldiers, 
w^ho  were  answerable  with  their  lives  for  the  detention  of  their 
prisoners,  were  afraid  lest  some  of  them  should  swim  out  and 
escape,  and  therefore,  in  the  spirit  of  true  Eoman  cruelty,  they 
proposed  to  kill  them  at  once.  Now  again  the  influence  of  Paul 
over  the  centurion's  mind  was  made  the  means  of  saving  both  his 


612  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL, 

own  life  and  those  of  his  fellow-prisoners.  For  the  rest  that  officer 
might  care  but  little,  but  he  wished  to  secure  Paul's  safety.  He 
therefore  prevented  the  soldiers  from  accomplishing  their  heart- 
less intention,  and  directed  those  who  could  swim  to  ''cast  them- 
Belves  into  the  sea  "  first,  while  the  rest  made  use  of  spars  and 
broken  pieces  of  the  wreck.  Thus  it  came  to  pass  that  all  escaped 
eafely  through  the  breakers  to  the  shore. 

When  the  land  was  safely  reached  it  was  ascertained  that  the 
island  on  which  they  were  wrecked  was  Melita.  The  mere  word 
does  not  absolutely  establish  the  identity  of  the  place,  for  two 
islands  were  anciently  called  alike  by  this  name.  This,  therefore, 
is  the  proper  place  for  summing  up  the  evidence  which  has  been 
gradually  accumulating  in  proof  that  it  was  the  modern  Malta. 
We  have  already  seen  the  almost  irresistible  inference  which  fol- 
lows from  the  consideration  of  the  direction  and  rate  of  drift  since 
the  vessel  was  laid-to  under  the  lee  of  Clauda.  But  we  shall  find 
that  every  succeeding  indication  not  only  tends  to  bring  us  to  the 
shore  of  this  island,  but  to  the  very  bay  (the  Gala  di  San  Paolo) 
which  has  always  been  the  traditionary  scene  of  the  w^reck. 

In  the  first  place,  we  are  told  that  they  became  aware  of  land 
by  the  presence  of  breakers,  and  yet  without  striking.  Now,  an  in- 
spection of  the  chart  will  show  us  that  a  ship  drifting  west  by 
north  might  approach  Koura  Point,  the  eastern  boundary  of  St. 
Paul's  Bay,  without  having  fallen  in  previously  with  any  other 
part  of  the  coast,  for  towards  the  neighborhood  of  Valetta  the 
shore  trends  rapidly  to  the  southward.  Again,  the  character  of 
this  point,  as  described  in  the  English  Sailing  Directions,  is  such 
that  there  must  infallibly  have  been  violent  breakers  upon  it  that 
night.  Yet  a  vessel  drifting  west  by  north  might  pass  it  within  a 
quarter  of  a  mile  without  striking  on  the  rocks.  But  what  are  the 
soundings  at  this  point?  They  are  now  twenty  fathoms.  If  we 
proreed  a  little  farther  we  find  fifteen  fathoms.  It  may  be  said  that 
this,  in  itself,  is  nothing  remarkable.  But  if  we  add  that  the  fifteen- 
fathom  depth  is  in  the  direction  of  the  vessel's  drift  (west  by  north) 
from  the  twenty-fathom  depth,  the  coincidence  is  startling.  But 
at  this  point  we  observe  that  now  there  would  be  breakers  ahead, 
and  yet  at  such  a  distance  ahead  that  there  would  be  time  for  the 
vessel  to  anchor  before  actually  striking  on  the  rocks.  All  these 
conditions  must  necessarily  be  fulfilled,  and  we  see  that  they  are 
fulfilled  without  any  attempt  at  ingenious  explanation.    But  we 


KIND  RECEPTION  BY  THE  ISLANDERS. 


613 


may  proceed  further.  The  character  of  the  coast  on  the  farther 
side  of  the  bay  is  such  that,  though  the  greater  part  of  it  is  fronted 
with  mural  precipices,  there  are  one  or  two  indentations,  which 
exhibit  the  appearance  of  "a  creeh  with  a  [sandy  or  pebbly]  shore.''^ 
And  again  w^e  observe  that  the  island  of  Salmonetta  is  so  placed 
that  the  sailors,  looking  from  the  deck  when  the  vessel  was  at 
anchor,  could  not  possibly  be  aware  that  it  was  not  a  continuous 
part  of  the  mainland,  whereas  while  they  were  running  her  aground 
they  could  not  help  observing  the  opening  of  the  channel,  which 
would  thus  appear  (like  the  Bosphorus)  a  place  between  two  seas/' 
and  would  be  more  likely  to  attract  their  attention  if  some  current 
resulting  from  this  juxtaposition  of  the  island  and  the  coast  inter- 
fered with  the  accuracy  of  their  steering.  And  finally,  to  revert 
to  the  fact  of  the  anchors  holding  through  the  night  (a  result 
which  could  not  confidently  be  predicted),  we  find  it  stated  in  the 
English  Sailing  Directions  that  the  ground  in  St.  Paul's  Bay  is  so 
good  that  "  while  the  cables  hold  there  is  no  danger ,  as  the  arichors 
mill  never  start  J' 

Malta  was  not  then  the  densely-crowded  island  which  it  has  be- 
come during  the  last  half  century.  Though  it  was  well  known  to 
the  Romans  as  a  dependency  of  the  province  of  Sicily,  and  though 
the  harbor  now  called  Valetta  must  have  been  familiar  to  the 
Greek  mariners  who  traded  between  the  East  and  the  West,  much 
of  the  island  was  doubtless  uncultivated  and  overrun  with  wood. 
Its  population  was  of  Phoenician  origin,  speaking  a  language 
which,  as  regards  social  intercourse,  had  the  same  relation  to 
Latin  and  Greek  which  modern  Maltese  has  to  English  and  Italian. 
The  inhabitants,  however,  though  in  this  sense,  '^barbarians," 
were  favorably  contrasted  with  many  Christian  wreckers  in  their 
reception  of  those  who  had  been  cast  on  their  coast.  They  showed 
them  no  ''ordinary  kindness,"  for  they  lighted  a  fire  and  welcomed 
them  all  to  the  warmth,  drenched  and  shivering  as  they  were  in 
the  rain  and  the  cold.  The  whole  scene  is  brought  very  vividly 
before  us  in  the  sacred  narrative.  One  incident  has  become  a 
picture  in  PauFs  life  with  which  every  Christian  child  is  familiar. 
The  apostle  had  gathered  with  his  own  hands  a  heap  of  sticks  and 
placed  them  on  the  fire,  when  a  viper  came  ''out  of  the  heat"  and 
fastened  on  his  hand.  The  poor  superstitious  people  when  they 
saw  this  said  to  one  another,  "This  man  must  be  a  murderer:  he 
has  escaped  from  the  sea,  but  still  vengeance  suffers  him  not  to 


614  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

live."  But  Paul  threw  off  the  animal  into  the  fire  and  suffered  no 
harm.  Then  they  watched  him,  expecting  that  his  body  would 
become  swollen  or  that  he  would  suddenly  fall  down  dead.  At 
length,  after  they  had  watched  for  a  long  time  in  vain  and  saw 
nothing  happen  to  him,  their  feelings  changed  as  violently  as 
those  of  the  Lystrians  had  done  in  an  opposite  direction,  and  they 
^iaid  that  he  was  a  god.  We  are  not  told  of  the  results  to  whicli 
this  occurrence  led,  but  we  cannot  doubt  that  while  Paul  repu- 
diated, as  formerly  at  Lystra,  all  the  homage  which  idolatry  would 
pay  to  him,  he  would  make  use  of  the  influence  acquired  by  this 
miracle  for  making  the  Saviour  known  to  his  uncivilized  bene- 
factors. 

Paul  was  enabled  to  work  many  miracles  during  his  stay  at 
Malta.  The  first  which  is  recorded  is  the  healing  of  the  father 
of  Publius,  the  governor  of  the  island,  who  had  some  possessions 
near  the  place  where  the  vessel  was  lost,  and  who  had  given  a 
hospitable  reception  to  the  shipwrecked  strangers  and  supplied 
their  wants  for  three  days.  The  disease  under  which  the  father 
of  Publius  was  suffering  was  dysentery  in  an  aggravated  form. 
Paul  went  in  to  him  and  prayed,  and  laid  his  hands  on  him,  and 
he  recovered.  This  being  noised  through  the  island,  other  sufferers 
came  to  the  apostle  and  were  healed.  Thus  was  he  empowered 
to  repay  the  kindness  of  these  islanders  by  temporal  services  in- 
tended to  lead  their  minds  to  blessings  of  a  still  higher  kind. 
And  they  were  not  wanting  in  gratitude  to  those  whose  unex- 
pected visit  had  brought  so  much  good  among  them.  They  loaded 
them  with  every  honor  in  their  power,  and  when  they  put  to  sea 
again  supplied  them  with  everything  that  was  needful  for  their 
wants  (ver.  10). 

Before  we  pursue  the  concluding  part  of  the  voyage,  which  was 
so  prosperous  that  hardly  any  incident  in  the  course  of  it  is  re- 
corded, it  may  be  useful  to  complete  the  argument  by  which  Malta 
is  proved  to  be  the  scene  of  Paul's  shipwreck  by  briefly  noticing 
some  objections  which  have  been  brought  against  his  view.  It  is 
true  that  the  positive  evidence  already  adduced  is  the  strongest 
refutation  of  mere  objections,  but  it  is  desirable  not  to  leave  un- 
noticed any  of  the  arguments  which  appear  to  have  weight  on 
the  other  side.  Some  of  them  have  been  carelessly  brought  to- 
gether by  a  great  writer  to  whom  on  many  subjects  we  might  be 
glad  to  yield  our  assent.    Thus,  it  is  argued  that  because  the  ves- 


OBJECTIONS  CONSIDERED. 


615 


sel  is  said  to  have  been  drifting  in  the  Adriatic,  the  place  of  ship- 
wreck must  have  been,  not  Malta  to  the  south  of  Sicily,  but  Meleda 
in  the  Gulf  of  Venice.  It  is  no  wonder  that  the  Benedictine  of 
Ragusa  should  have  been  jealous  of  the  honor  of  his  order,  which 
had  3i  convent  on  that  small  island.  But  it  is  more  surprising 
that  the  view  should  have  been  maintained  by  other  writers  since. 
For  not  only  do  the  classical  poets  use  the  name  "  Adria"  for  all 
that  natural  division  of  the  Mediterranean  which  lies  between 
Sicily  and  Greece,  but  the  same  phraseology  is  found  in  historians 
and  geographers.  Thus  Ptolemy  distinguishes  clearly  between 
the  Adriatic  Sea  and  the  Adriatic  Gulf.  Pausanias  says  that  the 
Straits  of  Messene  unite  the  Tyrrhene  Sea  with  the  Adriatic  Sea, 
and  Procopius  considers  Malta  as  lying  on  the  boundary  of  the 
latter. 

Nor  are  the  other  objections  more  successful.  It  is  argued  that 
Alexandrian  sailors  could  not  possibly  have  been  ignorant  of 
an  island  so  well  known  as  Malta  w^as  then.  But  surely  they 
might  have  been  very  familiar  with  the  harbor  of  Valetta  Avithout 
being  able  to  recognize  that  part  of  the  coast  on  which  they  came 
during  the  storm.  A  modern  sailor  who  had  made  many  passages 
between  New  York  and  Liverpool  might  yet  be  perplexed  if  he 
found  himself  in  hazy  weather  on  some  part  of  the  coast  of  Wales. 
Besides,  we  are  told  that  the  seamen  did  recognize  the  island  as  soon 
as  they  were  ashore.  It  is  contended  also  that  the  people  of  Malta 
would  not  have  been  called  barbarians.  But  if  the  sailors  were 
Greeks  (as  they  probably  w^ere),  they  would  have  employed  this  term 
as  a  matter  of  course  of  those  who  spoke  a  diiferent  language  from 
their  own.  Again,  it  is  argued  that  there  are  no  vipers,  that  there 
is  hardly  any  wood,  in  Malta.  But  who  does  not  recognize  here 
the  natural  changes  which  result  from  the  increase  of  inhabitants 
and  cultivation?  Within  a  very  few  years  there  was  wood  close 
to  St.  Paul's  Bay,  and  it  is  well  known  how  the  fauna  of  any  coun- 
try varies  with  the  vegetation.  An  argument  has  even  been  built 
on  the  supposed  fact  that  the  disease  of  Publius  is  unknown  in 
the  island.  To  this  it  is  sufficient  to  reply  by  a  simple  .denial. 
Nor  can  we  close  this  rapid  survey  of  objections  without  noticing 
the  insuperable  difficulties  which  lie  against  the  hypothesis  of  the 
Venetian  Meleda,  from  the  impossibility  of  reaching  it,  except  by 
a  miracle,  under  the  above-related  circumstances  of  weather — from 
the  disagreement  of  its  soundings  with  what  is  required  by  the 


616  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

narrative  of  the  shipwreck,  and  by  the  inconsistency  of  its  posi- 
tion with  what  is  related  of  the  subsequent  voyage. 

To  this  part  of  the  voyage  we  must  now  proceed.  After  three 
months  they  sailed  again  for  Italy  in  a  ship  called  the  Castor  and 
Pollux.  Syracuse  was  in  their  track,  and  the  ship  put  into  that 
famous  harbor  and  stayed  there  three  days.  Thus,  Paul  was  in  a 
great  historic  city  of  the  West  after  spending  much  time  in  those 
of  greatest  note  in  the  East.  We  are  able  to  associate  the  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles  and  the  thoughts  of  Christianity  with  the  scenes 
of  that  disastrous  expedition  which  closed  the  progress  of  the 
Athenians  towards  our  part  of  Europe,  and  with  those  Punic  wars 
which  ended  in  bringing  Africa  under  the  yoke  of  Eome.  We  are 
not  told  whether  Paul  was  permitted  to  go  on  shore  at  Syracuse, 
but  from  the  courtesy  shown  him  by  Julius  it  is  probable  that  this 
permission  was  not  refused.  If  he  landed,  he  would  doubtless  find 
Jews  and  Jewish  proselytes  in  abundance  in  so  great  a  mercantile 
emporium,  and  would  announce  to  them  the  glad  tidings  which  he 
was  commissioned  to  proclaim  "  to  the  Jew  first,  and  also  to  the 
Gentile.^'  Hence  we  may  without  difficulty  give  credit  to  the 
local  tradition  which  regards  Paul  as  the  first  founder  of  the 
Sicilian  Church. 

Sailing  out  of  that  beautiful  landlocked  basin,  and  past  Ortygia, 
once  an  island,  but  then  united  in  one  continuous  town  with  the 
buildings  under  the  ridge  of  Epipolse,  the  ship  which  carried  Paul 
to  Eome  shaped  her  course  northward  towards  the  Straits  of  Mes- 
sina. The  weather  was  not  favorable  at  first :  they  were  compelled 
to  take  an  indirect  course,  and  they  put  into  Rhegium,  a  city  whose 
patron  divinities  were,  by  a  curious  coincidence,  the  same  hero- 
protectors  of  seafaring  men,  "  the  Great  Twin  Brethren  to  whom 
the  ship  itself  was  dedicated. 

Here  they  remained  one  day  (v.  13),  evidently  waiting  for  a  fair 
wind  to  take  them  through  the  Faro,  for  the  springing  up  of  a 
wind  from  the  south  is  expressly  mentioned  in  the  following  \vords. 
This  wind  would  be  favorable  not  only  for  carrying  the  ship  through 
the  straits,  but  for  all  the  remainder  of  the  voyage.  If  the  vessel 
was  single-masted,  this  wind  was  the  best  that  could  blow,  for  to 
such  a  vessel  the  most  advantageous  point  of  sailing  is  to  run  right 
before  the  wind,  and  Puteoli  lies  nearly  due  north  from  Rhegium. 
The  distance  is  about  one  hundred  and  eighty-two  miles.  If,  then, 
we  assume,  in  accordance  with  what  has  been  stated  above,  that 


THE  BAY  OF  NAPLES. 


617 


she  sailed  at  the  rate  of  seven  knots  an  hour,  the  passage  would  be 
accomplished  in  about  twenty-six  hours;  which  agrees  perfectly 
with  the  account  of  Luke,  who  says  that  after  leaving  Ehegium 
they  came  "  the  next  day  "  to  Puteoli. 

Before  the  close  of  the  first  day  they  would  see  on  the  left  the 
volcanic  cone  and  smoke  of  Stromboli,  the  nearest  of  the  Lipari 
Islands.  In  the  course  of  the  night  they  would  have  neared  that 
projecting  part  of  the  mainland  which  forms  the  southern  limit 
of  the  Bay  of  Salerno.  Sailing  across  the  wide  opening  of  this 
gulf,  they  would  in  a  few  hours  enter  that  other  bay,  the  Bay  of 
Naples,  in  the  northern  part  of  which  Puteoli  was  situated.  No 
long  description  need  be  given  of  that  bay,  which  has  been  made 
familiar  by  every  kind  of  illustration  even  to  those  who  have  never 
seen  it.  Its  south-eastern  limit  is  the  promontory  of  Minerva,  with 
the  island  of  Caprese  opposite,  which  is  so  associated  with  the 
memory  of  Tiberius  that  its  cliffs  still  seem  to  rise  from  the  blue 
waters  as  a  monument  of  hideous  vice  in  the  midst  of  the  fairest 
scenes  of  Nature.  The  opposite  boundary  was  the  promontory  of 
Misenum,  where  one  of  the  imperial  fleets  lay  at  anchor  under  ihe 
shelter  of  the  islands  of  Ischia  and  Procida.  In  the  intermediate 
space  the  Campanian  coast  curves  round  in  the  loveliest  forms, 
with  Vesuvius  as  the  prominent  feature  of  the  view.  But  here 
one  difference  must  be  marked  between  Paul's  day  and  our  own. 
The  angry  neighbor  of  Naples  was  not  then  an  unsleeping  vol- 
cano, but  a  green  and  sunny  background  to  the  bay,  with  its  west- 
ward slope  covered  with  vines.  No  one  could  have  suspected  that 
the  time  was  so  near  when  the  admiral  of  the  fleet  at  Misenum 
would  be  lost  in  its  fiery  eruption,  and  little  did  the  apostle  dream, 
when  he  looked  from  the  vessel's  deck  across  the  bay  to  the  right, 
that  a  ruin  like  that  of  Sodom  and  Gomorrah  hung  over  the  fair 
cities  at  the  base  of  the  mountain,  and  that  the  Jewish  princess 
who  had  so  lately  conversed  with  him  in  his  prison  at  Csesarea 
would  find  her  tomb  in  that  ruin,  with  the  child  she  had  borne  tc 
Felix. 

By  this  time  the  vessel  was  well  within  the  island  of  Capreae 
and  the  promontory  of  Minerva,  and  the  idlers  of  Puteoli  were 
already  crowding  to  the  pier  to  watch  the  arrival  of  the  Alexan- 
drian corn-ship.  So  we  safely  may  infer  from  a  vivid  and  descrip- 
tive letter  preserved  among  the  correspondence  of  the  philosopher 
Seneca.    He  says  that  all  ships,  on  rounding  into  the  bay  within 


618 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


the  above-mentioned  island  and  promontory,  were  obliged  to  strike 
their  topsails,  with  the  exception  of  the  Alexandrian  corn-vessels, 
which  were  thus  easily  recognized  as  soon  as  they  hove  in  sight ; 
and  then  he  proceeds  to  moralize  on  the  gathering  and  crowding 
of  the  people  of  Puteoli  to  watch  these  vessels  coming  in.  Thus 
w^e  are  furnished  with  new  circumstances  to  aid  our  efforts  to  real- 
ize the  arrival  of  the  Castor  and  Pollux  on  the  coast  of  Italy  with 
Paul  on  board.  And  if  we  wish  still  further  to  associate  this  event 
with  the  history  and  the  feelings  of  the  times,  we  may  turn  to  an 
anecdote  of  the  emperor  Augustus  which  is  preserved  to  us  by 
Suetonius.  The  emperor  had  been  seized  with  a  feverish  attack — 
it  was  the  beginning  of  his  last  illness — and  was  cruising  about  the 
bay  for  the  benefit  of  his  health,  when  an  Alexandrian  corn-ship 
was  coming  to  her  moorings  and  passed  close  by.  The  sailors  rec- 
ognized the  old  man  whoin  the  civilized  world  obeyed  as  master 
and  was  learning  to  worship  as  a  god,  and  they  brought  forth  gar- 
lands and  incense  that  they  might  pay  him  divine  honors,  saying 
that  it  was  by  his  providence  that  their  voyages  were  made  safe 
and  that  their  trade  was  prosperous.  Augustus  was  so  gratified  by 
this  worship  that  he  immediately  distributed  an  immense  sum  of 
gold  among  his  suite,  exacting  from  them  the  promise  that  they 
would  expend  it  all  in  the  purchase  of  Alexandrian  goods.  Such 
was  the  interest  connected  in  the  first  century  with  the  trade  be- 
tween Alexandria  and  Puteoli.  Such  was  the  idolatrous  homage 
paid  to  the  Koman  emperor.  The  only  difference  when  the  apostle 
of  Christ  came  was  that  the  vice  and  corruption  of  the  empire  had 
increased  with  the  growth  of  its  trade,  and  that  the  emperor  now 
was  not  Augustus,  but  Nero. 

In  this  wide  and  sunny  expanse  of  blue  waters  no  part  was 
calmer  or  more  beautiful  than  the  recess  in  the  northern  part  of 
the  bay,  between  Baise  and  Puteoli.  It  was  naturally  sheltered  by 
the  surrounding  coasts,  and  seemed  of  itself  to  invite  both  the 
jrratification  of  luxurious  ease  and  the  formation  of  a  mercantile 
harbor.  Baise  was  devoted  to  the  former  purpose :  it  was  to  the 
invalids  and  fashionable  idlers  of  Rome  like  a  combination  of 
Brighton  and  Cheltenham.  Puteoli,  on  the  opposite  side  of  this 
inner  bay,  was  the  Liverpool  of  Italy.  Between  them  was  that 
enclosed  reach  of  water  called  the  Lucrine  Lake,  which  contained 
the  oyster-beds  for  the  luxurious  tables  of  Pome,  and  on  the  sur- 


PUTEOLT. 


619 


face  of  which  the  small  yachts  of  fashionable  visitors  displayed 
their  colored  sails.  Still  farther  inland  was  that  other  calm  basin, 
the  Lacus  Avernus,  which  an  artificial  passage  connected  with  the 
former  and  thus  converted  into  a  harbor.  Not  far  beyond  was 
Cumse,  once  a  flourishing  Greek  city,  but  when  the  apostle  visited 
this  coast  a  decayed  country  town,  famous  only  for  the  recollections 
of  the  Sibyl. 

We  must  return  to  Puteoli.  We  have  seen  above  how  it  di- 
vided with  Ostia  the  chief  commerce  by  sea  between  Eome  and  the 
provinces.  Its  early  name,  when  the  Campanian  shore  was  Greek 
rather  than  Italian,  was  Dicsearchia.  Under  its  new  appellation 
(which  seems  to  have  had  reference  to  the  mineral  springs  of  the 
neighborhood)  it  first  began  to  have  an  important  connection  with 
Eome  in  the  second  Punic  war.  It  was  the  place  of  embarkation 
for  armies  proceeding  to  Spain,  and  the  landing-place  of  ambassa- 
dors from  Carthage.  Ever  afterward  it  was  an  Italian  town  of  the 
first  rank.  In  the  time  of  Vespasian  it  became  the  Flavian  colony, 
like  the  city  in  Palestine  from  which  Paul  had  sailed;  but  even 
from  an  earlier  period  it  had  colonial  privileges,  and  these  bad  just 
been  renewed  under  Nero.  It  was  intimately  associated  both  with 
this  emperor  and  with  two  others  who  preceded  him  in  power  and 
in  crime.  Close  by  Baias,  across  the  bay,  was  Bauli,  where  the 
plot  was  laid  for  the  murder  of  Agrippina.  Across  these  waters 
Caligula  built  his  fantastic  bridge,  and  the  remains  of  it  were 
probably  visible  when  Paul  landed.  Tiberius  had  a  more  honor- 
able monument  in  a  statue  (of  which  a  fragment  is  still  seen  by 
English  travellers  at  Pozzuoli)  erected  during  Paul's  life  to  com- 
memorate the  restitution  of  the  Asiatic  cities  overthrown  by  an 
earthquake.  But  the  ruins  which  are  the  most  interesting  to  us 
are  the  seventeen  piers  of  the  ancient  mole  on  which  the  lighthouse 
stood,  and  within  which  the  merchantmen  were  moored.  Such  is 
the  proverbial  tenacity  of  the  concrete  which  was  used  in  this 
structure  that  it  is  the  most  perfect  ruin  existing  of  any  ancient 
Roman  harbor.  In  the  early  part  of  this  chapter  we  spoke  of  the 
close  mercantile  relationship  which  subsisted  between  Egypt  and 
this  city.  And  this  remains  on  our  minds  as  the  prominent  and 
significant  fact  of  its  history,  whether  we  look  upon  the  ruins  of 
the  mole  and  think  of  such  voyages  as  those  of  Titus  and  Vespasian, 
or  wander  among  the  broken  columns  of  the  temple  of  Serapis,  or 
read  the  account  which  Philo  gives  of  the  singular  interview  of 


620         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


the  emperor  Caligula  with  the  Jewish  ambassadors  from  Alexan- 
dria. 

Puteoli,  from  its  trade  with  Alexandria  and  the  East,  must 
necessarily  have  contained  a  colony  of  Jews,  and  they  must  have 
had  a  close  connection  with  the  Jews  of  Eome.  What  was  true 
of  the  Jews  would  probably  find  its  parallel  in  the  Christians. 
Paul  met  with  disciples  here,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  among  them 
they  were  in  prompt  communication  on  the  subject  with  their 
brethren  in  Eome.  The  Italian  Christians  had  long  been  looking 
for  a  visit  from  the  famous  apostle,  though  they  had  not  expected 
to  see  him  arrive  thus,  a  prisoner  in  chains,  hardly  saved  from 
shipwreck.  But  these  sufferings  would  only  draw  their  hearts 
more  closely  towards  him.  They  earnestly  besought  him  to  stay 
some  days  with  them,  and  Julius  was  able  to  allow  this  request  to 
be  complied  with.  Even  when  the  voyage  began  we  saw  that  he 
was  courteous  and  kind  towards  his  prisoner;  and  after  all  the 
varied  and  impressive  incidents  which  have  been  recounted  in  this 
chapter  we  should  indeed  be  surprised  if  we  found  him  unwilling 
to  contribute  to  the  comfort  of  one  by  whom  his  own  life  had  been 
preserved. 


CHAPTEE  XXIV. 


THE  APPIAK  WAY. — APPII  FOKUM  AND  THE  THKEE  TAVERNS. — 
ENTRANCE  INTO  ROME.  —  THE  PR-^TORIAN  PREFECT. —  DE- 
SCRIPTION OF  THE  CITY. — ITS  POPULATION. — THE  JEWS  IN 
ROME. — THE  ROMAN  CHURCH. — PAUL'S  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE 
JEWS. — HIS  RESIDENCE  IN  ROME. 

The  last  chapter  began  with  a  description  of  the  facilities  possessed 
by  the  ancients  for  travelling  by  sea :  this  must  begin  with  a  refer- 
ence to  their  best  opportunities  of  travelling  by  land.  We  have 
before  spoken  of  some  of  the  most  important  roads  through  the 
provinces  of  the  empire :  now  we  are  about  to  trace  the  apostle's 
footsteps  along  that  road  which  was  at  once  the  oldest  and  most 
frequented  in  Italy,  and  which  was  called,  in  comparison  with  all 
others,  the  "queen  of  roads."  We  are  no  longer  following  the  nar- 
row line  of  compact  pavement  across  Macedonian  plains  and 
mountains  or  through  the  varied  scenery  in  the  interior  of  Asia 
Minor,  but  we  are  on  the  most  crowded  approach  to  the  metropo- 
lis of  the  world,  in  the  midst  of  praetor  -,  and  proconsuls,  embassies, 
legions,  and  turms  of  horse,  "  to  their  provinces  hasting  or  on 
return,"  which  Milton,  in  his  description  of  the  city  enriched  with 
the  spoils  of  nations,  has  called  us  to  behold  "  in  various  habits 
on  the  Appian  Eoad." 

Leaving,  then,  all  consideration  of  Puteoli  as  it  was  related  to 
the  sea  and  to  the  various  places  on  the  coast,  we  proceed  to  con- 
sider its  communications  by  land  with  the  towns  of  Campania  and 
Latium.  The  great  line  of  communication  between  Rome  and  the 
southern  part  of  the  peninsula  was  the  "way"  constructed  by 
Appius  Claudius,  which  passed  through  Capua,  and  thence  to 
Brundusium  on  the  shore  of  the  Adriatic.  Puteoli  and  its  neigh- 
borhood lay  some  miles  to  the  westward  of  this  main  road,  but 
communicated  with  it  easily  by  well-travelled  cross-roads.  One 
of  them  followed  the  coast  from  Puteoli  northward  till  it  joined 
the  Appian  Way  at  Sinuessa,  on  the  borders  of  Latium  and  Cam- 

621 


622         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


pania.  It  appears,  however,  that  this  road  was  not  constructed 
till  the  reign  of  Domitian.  Our  attention,  therefore,  is  called  to 
the  other  cross-road,  which  led  directly  to  Capua.  One  branch  of 
it  left  the  coast  at  Cumse,  another  at  Puteoli.  It  was  called  the 
"  Campanian  Way,"  and  also  the  ^'  Consular  Way."  It  seems  to 
have  been  constructed  during  the  republic,  and  was  doubtless 
the  road  which  is  mentioned  in  an  animated  passage  of  Horace's 
Epistles  as  communicating  with  the  baths  and  villas  of  Baise. 

The  first  part,  then,  of  the  route  which  Julius  took  with  his 
prisoners  was  probably  from  Puteoli  to  Capua.  All  the  region 
near  the  coast,  however  transformed  in  the  course  of  ages  by  the 
volcanic  forces  which  are  still  at  work,  is  recognized  as  the  scene 
of  the  earliest  Italian  mythology,  and  must  ever  be  impressive 
from  the  poetic  images,  partly  of  this  world  and  partly  of  the  next, 
with  which  Virgil  has  filled  it.  From  CumaB  to  Capua  the  road 
traverses  a  more  prosaic  district:  the  "  Phlegroean  Fields"  are  left 
behind,  and  we  pass  from  the  scene  of  Italy's  dim  mythology  to 
the  theatre  of  the  most  exciting  passages  of  her  history.  The 
whole  line  of  the  road  can  be  traced  at  intervals,  not  only  in  the 
close  neighborhood  of  Puteoli  and  Capua,  but  through  the  inter- 
mediate villages,  by  fragments  of  pavements,  tombs,  and  ancient 
milestones. 

Capua,  after  a  time  of  disgrace  had  expiated  its  friendship  with 
Hannibal,  was  raised  by  Julius  Caesar  to  the  rank  of  a  colony:  in 
the  reign  of  Augustus  it  had  resumed  all  its  former  splendor,  and 
about  the  very  time  of  which  we  are  writing  it  received  accessions 
of  dignity  from  the  emperor  Nero.  It  was  the  most  important  city 
on  the  whole  line  of  the  Appian  Way  between  Eome  and  Brun- 
dusium.  That  part  of  the  line  with  which  we  are  concerned  is  the 
northerly  and  most  ancient  portion.  The  distance  is  about  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  miles,  and  it  may  be  naturally  divided 
into  two  equal  parts.  The  division  is  appropriate,  whether  in  re- 
gard to  the  physical  configuration  of  the  country  or  the  modern 
political  boundaries.  The  point  of  division  is  where  Terracina  is 
built  at  the  base  of  those  clifis  on  which  the  city  of  Anxur  was 
of  old  proudly  situated,  and  where  a  narrow  pass  between  the 
mountain  and  the  sea  united  the  Papal  States  to  the  kingdom  of 
Naples. 

The  distance  from  Capua  to  Terracina  is  about  seventy  Roman 
miles.    At  the  third  mile  the  road  crossed  the  river  Vulturnus  at 


THE  APPIAN  WAY. 


623 


Casilinum,  a  town  then  falling  into  decay.  Fifteen  miles  farther 
it  crossed  the  Savo  by  what  was  then  called  the  Campanian  Bridge. 
Thence,  after  three  miles,  it  came  to  Sinuessa  on  the  sea,  which  in 
PauPs  day  was  reckoned  the  first  town  in  Latium.  But  the  old 
rich  Campania  extended  farther  to  the  northward,  including  the 
vine-clad  hills  of  the  famous  Faleraian  district,  through  which  we 
pass  after  crossing  the  Savo.  The  last  of  these  hills  (where  the 
vines  may  be  seen  trained  on  elms,  as  of  old)  is  the  range  of  Mas- 
sicus,  which  stretches  from  the  coast  towards  the  Apennines,  and 
finally  shuts  out  from  the  traveller,  as  he  descends  on  the  farther 
side,  all  the  prospect  of  Vesuvius  and  the  coast  near  Puteoli.  At 
that  season  both  vines  and  elms  would  have  a  wintry  appearance. 
But  the  traces  of  spring  would  be  visible  in  the  willows  among 
which  the  Liris  flows  in  many  silent  windings — from  the  birth- 
place of  Marius  in  the  mountains  to  the  city  and  the  swamps  by 
the  sea  which  the  ferocity  of  his  mature  life  has  rendered  illus- 
trious. After  leaving  Minturnse  the  Appian  Way  passes  on  to 
another  place,  which  has  different  associations  with  the  later  years 
of  the  republic.  We  speak  of  Formise,  with  its  long  street  by  the 
shore  of  its  beautiful  bay,  and  with  its  villas  on  the  seaside  and 
above  it ;  among  which  was  one  of  Cicero's  favorite  retreats  from 
the  turmoil  of  the  political  world,  and  where  at  last  he  fell  by  the 
hand  of  assassins.  Many  a  lectica  or  palanquin,  such  as  that  in 
which  he  was  reclining  when  overtaken  by  his  murderers,  may 
have  been  met  by  Paul  in  his  progress,  with  other  carriages,  with 
which  the  road  would  become  more  and  more  crowded — the  cisium 
or  light  cabriolet  of  some  gay  reveller  on  his  way  to  Baise,  or  the 
four-wheeled  rheda  full  of  the  family  of  some  wealthy  senator  quit- 
ting the  town  for  the  country.  At  no  great  distance  from  Formia3 
the  road  left  the  sea  again,  and  passed,  where  the  substructions 
of  it  still  remain,  through  the  defiles  of  the  Csecuban  Hills,  with 
their  stony  but  productive  vineyards.  Thence  the  traveller  looked 
down  upon  the  plain  of  Fundi,  which  retreats  like  a  bay  into  the 
mountains,  with  the  low  lake  of  Amyclse  between  the  town  and 
the  sea.  Through  the  capricious  care  with  which  Time  has  pre- 
served in  one  place  what  is  lost  in  another  the  pavement  of  the 
ancient  way  is  still  the  street  of  this  the  most  northerly  town  of 
the  Neapolitan  kingdom  in  this  direction.  We  have  now  in  front 
of  us  the  mountain-line  which  was  recently  both  the  frontier  of  the 
Papal  States  and  the  natural  division  of  the  apostle's  journey  from 


624  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Capua  to  Kome.  Where  it  readies  the  coast  in  bold  limestone 
precipices,  there  Anxur  was  situated,  with  its  houses  and  temples 
high  above  the  sea. 

After  leaving  Anxur  the  traveller  observes  the  high  land  re- 
treating again  from  the  coast,  and  presently  finds  himself  in  a  wide 
and  remarkable  plain  enclosed  towards  the  interior  by  the  sweep 
of  the  blue  Volscian  mountains,  and  separated  by  a  belt  of  forest 
from  the  sea.  Here  are  the  Pontine  Marshes,  "the  only  marshes 
ever  dignified  by  classic  celebrity."  The  descriptive  lines  of  the 
Roman  satirist  have  wonderfully  concurred  with  the  continued  un- 
healthiness  of  the  half-drained  morass  in  preserving  a  living  com- 
mentary on  that  fifteenth  verse  in  the  last  chapter  of  the  Acts 
which  exhibits  to  us  one  of  the  most  touching  passages  in  the 
apostle's  life.  A  few  miles  beyond  Terracina,  where  a  fountain 
grateful  to  travellers  welled  up  near  the  sanctuary  of  Feronia,  was 
the  termination  of  a  canal  which  was  formed  by  Augustus  for  the 
purpose  of  draining  the  marshes,  and  which  continued  for  twenty 
miles  by  the  side  of  the  road.  Over  this  distance  travellers  had 
their  choice  whether  to  proceed  by  barges  dragged  by  mules  or  on 
the  pavement  of  the  Way  itself.  It  is  impossible  to  know  which 
plan  was  adopted  by  Julius  and  his  prisoners.  If  we  suppose  the 
former  to  have  been  chosen,  we  have  the  aid  of  Horace's  Epistle 
to  enable  us  to  imagine  the  incidents  and  the  company  in  the 
midst  of  which  the  apostle  came,  unknown  and  unfriended,  to  the 
corrupt  metropolis  of  the  world.  And  yet  he  was  not  so  unfriended 
as  he  may  possibly  have  thought  himself  that  day  in  his  progress 
from  Anxur  across  the  watery,  unhealthy  plain.  On  the  arrival 
of  the  party  at  Appii  Forum,  which  was  a  town  where  the  mules 
were  unfastened  at  the  other  end  of  the  canal,  and  is  described  by 
the  satirist  as  full  of  low  tavernkeepers  and  bargemen — at  that 
meeting-place,  where  travellers  from  all  parts  of  the  empire  had 
often  crossed  one  another's  path, — on  that  day,  in  the  motley  and 
vulgar  crowd,  some  of  the  few  Christians  who  were  then  in  the 
world  suddenly  recognized  one  another,  and  emotions  of  holy  joy 
and  thanksgiving  sanctified  the  place  of  coarse  vice  and  vulgar 
traffic.  The  disciples  at  Eome  had  heard  of  the  apostle's  arrival 
at  Puteoli,  and  hastened  to  meet  him  on  the  way ;  and  the  prisoner 
was  startled  to  recognize  some  of  those  among  whom  he  had  labored 
and  whom  he  had  loved  in  the  distant  cities  of  the  East.  Whether 
Aquila  and  Priscilla  were  there  it  is  needless  to  speculate.  Who- 


CHRISTIAN  WELCOMES. 


625 


ever  miglit  be  the  persons,  they  were  brethren  in  Christ,  and  their 
presence  would  be  an  instantaneous  source  of  comfort  and  strength. 
We  have  already  seen  on  other  occasions  of  his  life  how  the  apos- 
tle's heart  was  lightened  by  the  presence  of  his  friends. 

About  ten  miles  farther  he  received  a  second  welcome  from  a 
singular  group  of  Christian  brethren.  Two  independent  companies 
had  gone  to  meet  him,  or  the  zeal  and  strength  of  one  party  had 
outstripped  the  other.  At  a  place  called  the  Three  Taverns,  where 
a  cross-road  from  the  coast  at  Antium  came  in  from  the  left,  another 
party  of  Christians  was  waiting  to  welcome  and  to  honor  "  the  am- 
bassador in  bonds."  With  a  lighter  heart  and  a  more  cheerful 
countenance  he  travelled  the  remaining  seventeen  miles,  which 
brought  him  along  the  base  of  the  Alban  Hills,  in  the  midst  of 
places  well  known  and  famous  in  early  Eoman  legends,  to  the  town 
of  Aricia.  The  great  apostle  had  the  sympathies  of  human  nature  • 
he  was  dejected  and  encouraged  by  the  same  causes  which  act  on 
our  spirits;  he  too  saw  all  outward  objects  in  ^'hues  borrowed 
from  the  heart."  The  diminution  of  fatigue,  the  more  hopeful 
prospect  of  the  future,  the  renewed  elasticity  of  religious  trust,  the 
sense  of  a  brighter  light  on  all  the  scenery  round  him — on  the 
foliage  which  overshadowed  the  road,  on  the  wide  expanse  of  the 
plain  to  the  left,  on  the  high  summit  of  the  Alban  Mount, — all 
this,  and  more  than  this,  is  involved  in  Luke's  sentence:  When 
Paul  soM  the  brethren  he  thanked  God,  and  took  courageJ^ 

The  mention  of  the  Alban  Mount  reminds  us  that  we  are  ap- 
proaching the  end  of  our  journey.  The  isolated  group  of  hills 
which  is  called  by  this  collective  name  stands  between  the  plain 
which  has  just  been  traversed  and  that  other  plain  which  is  the 
Campagna  of  Eome.  All  the  bases  of  the  mountain  were  then 
(as  indeed  they  are  partially  now)  clustered  around  with  the  villas 
and  gardens  of  wealthy  citizens.  The  Appian  Way  climbs  and 
then  descends  along  its  southern  slope.  After  passing  Lanuvium 
it  crossed  a  crater-like  valley  on  immense  substructions  which  still 
remain.  Here  is  Aricia,  an  easy  stage  from  Rome.  The  town  was 
above  the  road,  and  on  the  hillside  swarms  of  beggars  beset  travel- 
lers as  they  passed.  On  the  summit  of  the  next  rise  Paul  of  Tarsus 
would  obtain  his  first  view  of  Eome.  There  is  no  doubt  that  the 
prospect  was  in  many  respects  very  different  from  the  view  which 
is  now  obtained  from  the  same  spot.  It  is  true  that  the  natural 
features  of  the  scene  are  unaltered.  The  long  wall  of  blue  Sabine 
40 


626  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

mountains,  with  Soracte  in  the  distance,  closed  in  the  Campagna, 
which  stretched  far  across  to  the  sea  and  around  the  base  of  the 
Alban  Hills.  But  ancient  Eome  was  not,  like  modern  Rome,  im- 
pressive from  its  solitude,  standing  alone,  with  its  one  conspicuous 
cupola,  in  the  midst  of  a  desolate  though  beautiful  waste.  Paul 
would  see  a  vast  city,  covering  the  Campagna  and  almost  contin- 
uously connected  by  its  suburbs  with  the  villas  on  the  hill  where 
he  stood  and  with  the  bright  towns  which  clustered  on  the  sides  of 
the  mountains  opposite.  Over  all  the  intermediate  space  were 
liouses  and  gardens,  through  which  aqueducts  and  roads  might  be 
traced  in  converging  lines  towards  the  confused  mass  of  edifices 
which  formed  the  city  of  Eome.  Here  no  conspicuous  building, 
elevated  above  the  rest,  attracted  the  eye  or  the  imagination. 
Ancient  Rome  had  neither  cupola  nor  campanile.  Still  less  had  it 
any  of  those  spires  which  give  life  to  all  the  landscapes  of  Northern 
Christendom.  It  was  a  widespread  aggregate  of  buildings,  which 
though  separated  by  narrow  streets  and  open  squares,  appeared, 
when  seen  from  near  Aricia,  blended  into  one  indiscriminate  mass ; 
for  distance  concealed  the  contrasts  which  divided  the  crowded 
habitations  of  the  poor  and  the  dark  haunts  of  filth  and  misery 
from  the  theatres  and  colonnades,  the  baths,  the  temples,  and  pal- 
aces with  gilded  roofs  flashing  back  the  sun. 

The  road  descended  into  the  plain  of  Bovillse,  six  miles  from 
Aricia,  and  thence  it  proceeded  in  a  straight  line,  with  the  sepul- 
chres of  illustrious  families  on  either  hand.  One  of  these  w^as  the 
burial-place  of  the  Julian  gens,  with  which  the  centurion  who  had 
charge  of  the  prisoners  was  in  some  way  connected.  As  they  pro- 
ceeded over  the  old  pavement  among  gardens  and  modern  houses, 
and  approached  nearer  the  busy  metropolis,  the  conflux  issuing 
forth  or  entering  in  "  in  various  costumes  and  on  various  errands 
— vehicles,  horsemen,  and  foot-passengers,  soldiers  and  laborers, 
Romans  and  foreigners — became  more  crowded  and  confusing. 
The  houses  grew  closer.  They  were  already  in  Rome.  It  was  im- 
possible to  define  the  commencement  of  the  city.  Its  populous 
portions  extended  far  beyond  the  limits  marked  out  by  Servius. 
The  ancient  wall,  with  its  once  sacred  pomoerium,  was  rather  an 
object  for  antiquarian  interest,  like  the  walls  of  York  or  Chester, 
than  any  protection  against  the  enemies,  who  were  kept  far  aloof 
by  the  legions  on  the  frontier. 

Yet  the  Porta  Capena  is  a  spot  which  we  can  hardly  leave  with- 


628  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL 


larger  cities  of  the  world  to  draw  any  marked  lines  of  distinction 
among  the  different  classes  of  buildings.  It  is  true  the  contrasts 
are  really  great,  but  details  are  lost  in  a  distant  view  of  so  vast  an 
aggregate.  The  two  scourges  to  which  ancient  Eome  was  most 
exposed  revealed  very  palpably  the  contrast  both  of  the  natural 
ground  and  the  human  structures  which  by  the  general  observer 
might  be  unnoticed  or  forgotten.  When  the  Tiber  was  flooded, 
and  the  muddy  waters  converted  all  the  streets  and  open  places 
of  the  lower  part  of  the  city  into  lakes  and  canals,  it  would  be 
seen  very  clearly  how  much  lower  were  the  Forum  and  the  Cam- 
pus Martins  than  those  three  detached  hills  (the  Capitoline,  the 
Palatine,  and  the  Aventine)  which  rose  near  the  river,  and  those 
four  ridges  (the  Coelian,  the  Esquiline,  the  Viminal,  and  the 
Quirinal)  which  ascended  and  united  together  in  the  higher  ground 
on  which  the  praetorian  camp  was  situated.  And  when  fires  swept 
rapidly  from  roof  to  roof,  and  vast  ranges  of  buildings  were  buried 
in  the  ruins  of  one  night,  that  contrast  between  the  dwellings  of 
the  poor  and  the  palaces  of  the  rich  which  had  supplied  the  apos- 
tle with  one  of  his  most  forcible  images  would  be  clearly  revealed— 
the  difference  between  structures  of  "  sumptuous  marbles,  with 
silver  and  gold,"  which  abide  after  the  fire,  and  the  hovels  of 
"wood,  hay,  stubble,"  which  are  burnt  (1  Cor.  iii.  10-15). 

If  we  look  at  a  map  of  modern  Eome  with  a  desire  of  realizing 
to  ourselves  the  appearance  of  the  city  of  Augustus  and  Nero,  we 
must  in  the  first  place  obliterate  from  our  view  that  circuit  of  walls 
which  is  due  in  various  proportions  to  Aurelian,  Belisarius,  and 
Pope  Leo  IV.  The  wall  through  which  the  Porta  Capena  gave 
admission  was  the  old  Servian  enclosure,  which  embraced  a  much 
smaller  area,  though  we  must  bear  in  mind,  as  we  have  remarked 
above,  that  the  city  had  extended  itself  beyond  this  limit,  and 
spread  through  various  suburbs  far  into  the  country.  In  the 
next  place,  we  must  observe  that  the  hilly  part  of  Eome,  which  is 
now  half  occupied  by  gardens,  was  then  the  most  populous,  while 
the  Campus  Martins,  now  covered  with  crowded  streets,  was  com- 
paratively open.  It  was  only  about  the  close  of  the  republic  that 
many  buildings  were  raised  on  the  Campus  Martins,  and  these 
were  chiefly  of  a  public  or  decorative  character.  One  of  these, 
the  Pantheon,  still  remains  as  a  monument  of  the  reign  of  Augus- 
tus. This,  indeed,  is  the  period  from  which  we  must  trace  the 
beginning  of  all  the  grandeur  of  Eoman  buildings.    Till  the  civil 


DESCRIPTION  OF  THE  CITY. 


629 


war  between  Pompey  and  Csesar  the  private  houses  of  the  citizens 
had  been  mean,  and  the  only  public  structures  of  note  were  the 
cloacae  and  the  aqueducts.  But  in  proportion  as  the  ancient  fabric 
of  the  constitution  broke  down,  and  while  successful  generals 
brought  home  wealth  from  provinces  conquered  and  plundered 
on  every  shore  of  the  Mediterranean,  the  city  began  to  assume  the 
appearance  of  a  new  and  imperial  magnificence.  To  leave  out 
of  view  the  luxurious  and  splendid  residences  which  wealthy  citi- 
zens raised  for  their  own  uses,  Pompey  erected  the  first  theatre  of 
stone  and  Julius  Csesar  surrounded  the  great  circus  with  a  portico. 
From  this  time  the  change  went  on  rapidly  and  incessantly.  The 
increase  of  public  business  led  to  the  erection  of  enormous  basil- 
icas. The  Forum  was  embellished  on  all  sides.  The  temple  of 
Apollo  on  the  Palatine,  and  those  other  temples  the  remains  of 
which  are  still  conspicuous  at  the  base  of  the  Capitoline,  were 
only  a  small  part  of  similar  buildings  raised  by  Augustus.  The 
triumphal  arch  raised  by  Tiberius  near  the  same  place  was  only 
one  of  many  structures  which  rose  in  rapid  succession  to  decorate 
that  busy  neighborhood.  And  if  we  wish  to  take  a  wider  view,  we 
have  only  to  think  of  the  aqueducts,  which  rose  in  succession  be- 
tween the  private  enterprises  of  Agrippa  in  the  reign  of  Augustus 
and  the  recent  structures  of  the  emperor  Claudius  just  before  the 
arrival  of  the  apostle  Paul.  We  may  not  go  farther  in  the  order 
of  chronology.  We  must  remember  that  the  Colosseum,  the  Basil- 
ica of  Constantine,  and  the  baths  of  other  emperors,  and  many 
other  buildings  which  are  now  regarded  as  the  conspicuous  features 
of  ancient  Pome,  did  not  then  exist.  We  are  describing  a  period 
which  is  anterior  to  the  time  of  Nero's  fire.  Even  after  the  op- 
portunity which  that  calamity  afibrded  for  reconstructing  the  city, 
Juvenal  complains  of  the  narrowness  of  the  streets.  Were  we  to 
attempt  to  extend  our  description  to  any  of  these  streets — whether 
the  old  Vicus  Tuscus,  with  its  cheating  shopkeepers,  which  led 
round  the  base  of  the  Palatine  from  the  Forum  to  the  Circus,  zi 
the  aristocratic  Carinie  along  the  slope  of  the  Esquiline,  or  the  noisy 
Suburra,  in  the  hollow  between  the  Yiminal  and  Quirinal,  which 
had  sunk  into  disrepute,  though  once  the  residence  of  Julius 
Csesar — we  should  only  wander  into  endless  perplexity.  And  we 
should  be  equally  lost  if  we  were  to  attempt  to  discriminate  the 
mixed  multitudes  which  were  crowded  on  the  various  landings 
of  those  insulcBj  or  piles  of  lodging-houses,  which  are  perhaps  best 


630         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

described  by  comparing  them  to  tlie  houses  in  the  "  old  town"  of 
Edinburgh. 

If  it  is  difficult  to  describe  the  outward  appearances  of  the  city, 
it  is  still  more  difficult  to  trace  the  distinctive  features  of  all  the 
parts  of  that  colossal  population  which  filled  it.  Within  a  circuit 
of  little  more  than  twelve  miles  more  than  two  millions  of  inhabit- 
ants were  crowded.  It  is  evident  that  this  fact  is  only  explicable 
by  the  narrowness  of  the  streets,  with  that  peculiarity  of  the  houses 
which  has  been  alluded  to  above.  In  this  prodigious  collection  of 
human  beings  there  were  of  course  all  the  contrasts  which  are  seen 
in  a  modern  city — all  the  painful  lines  of  separation  between  luxury 
and  squalor,  wealth  and  want.  But  in  Eome  all  these  differences 
were  on  an  exaggerated  scale,  and  the  institution  of  slavery  mod- 
ified further  all  social  relations.  The  free  citizens  were  more  than 
a  million ;  of  these,  the  senators  were  so  few  in  number  as  to  be 
hardly  appreciable ;  the  knights,  who  filled  a  great  proportion  of 
the  public  offices,  were  not  more  than  ten  thousand;  the  troops 
quartered  in  the  city  may  be  reckoned  at  fifteen  thousand ;  the 
rest  were  the  plehs  urhana.  That  a  vast  number  of  these  would  be 
poor  is  an  obvious  result  of  the  most  ordinary  causes.  But  in 
ancient  Eome  the  luxury  of  the  wealthier  classes  did  not  produce 
a  general  diffusion  of  trade,  as  it  does  in  a  modern  city.  The 
handicraft  employments,  and  many  of  what  we  should  call  pro- 
fessions, were  in  the  hands  of  slaves;  and  the  consequence  was 
that  a  vast  proportion  of  the  plehs  urhana  lived  on  public  or  private 
charity.  Yet  were  these  pauper  citizens  proud  of  their  citizenship, 
though  many  of  them  had  no  better  sleeping-place  for  the  night 
than  the  public  porticoes  or  the  vestibules  of  temples.  They  cared 
for  nothing  beyond  bread  for  the  day,  the  games  of  the  circus,  and 
the  savage  delight  of  gladiatorial  shows.  Manufactures  and  trade 
they  regarded  as  the  business  of  the  slave  and  the  foreigner.  The 
number  of  slaves  was  perhaps  about  a  million.  The  number  of 
the  strangers  or  peregrini  was  much  smaller,  but  it  is  impossible 
to  describe  their  varieties.  Every  kind  of  nationality  and  religion 
found  its  representative  in  Eome.  But  it  is  needless  to  pursue 
these  details.  The  most  obvious  comparison  is  better  than  an 
elaborate  description.  Eome  was  like  London  with  all  its  miseries, 
vices,  and  follies  exaggerated,  and  without  Christianity. 

One  part  of  Eome  still  remains  to  be  described,  the  Trastevere,'' 
or  district  beyond  the  river.    This  portion  of  the  city  has  been 


THE  JEWS  IN  ROME. 


631 


known  in  modern  times  for" the  energetic  and  intractable  character 
of  its  population.  In  earlier  times  it  was  equally  notorious,  though 
not  quite  for  the  same  reason.  It  was  the  residence  of  a  low  rab- 
ble and  the  place  of  the  meanest  merchandise.  There  is,  however, 
one  reason  why  our  attention  is  particularly  called  to  it.  It  was 
the  ordinary  residence  of  the  Jews,  the  "  Ghetto of  ancient  Eome ; 
and  great  part  of  it  was  doubtless  squalid  and  miserable,  like  the 
Ghetto  of  modern  Eome,  though  the  Jews  were  often  less  oppressed 
under  the  Caesars  than  under  the  popes.  Here,  then — on  the  level 
ground  between  the  windings  of  the  muddy  river  and  the  base  of 
that  hill  from  the  brow  of  which  Porsena  looked  down  on  early 
Rome,  and  where  the  French  within  these  few  years  have  planted 
their  cannon — we  must  place  the  home  of  those  Israelitish  families 
among  whom  the  gospel  bore  its  first-fruits  in  the  metropolis  of  the 
world ;  and  it  was  on  these  bridges,  which  formed  an  immediate 
communication  from  the  district  beyond  the  Tiber  to  the  emperor's 
household  and  the  guards  on  the  Palatine,  that  those  despised 
Jewish  beggars  took  their  stand  to  whom  in  the  place  of  their  ex- 
ile had  come  the  hopes  of  a  better  citizenship  than  that  which  they 
had  lost. 

The  Jewish  community  thus  established  in  Rome  had  its  first 
beginnings  in  the  captives  brought  by  Pompey  after  his  Eastern 
campaign.  Many  of  them  were  manumitted,  and  thus  a  great 
proportion  of  the  Jews  in  Rome  were  freedmen.  Frequent  acces- 
sions to  their  numbers  were  made  as  years  went  on,  chiefly  from 
the  mercantile  relations  which  subsisted  between  Rome  and  the 
East.  Many  of  them  were  wealthy,  and  large  sums  were  sent 
annually  for  religious  purposes  from  Italy  to  the  mother-country. 
Even  the  proselytes  contributed  to  these  sacred  funds.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  estimate  the  amount  of  the  religious  influence  exerted  by 
the  Roman  Jews  upon  the  various  heathens  around  them,  but  all 
our  sources  of  information  lead  us  to  conclude  that  it  was  very 
considerable.  So  long  as  this  influence  was  purely  religious  we 
h[ive  no  reason  to  suppose  that  any  persecution  from  the  civil 
power  resulted.  It  was  when  commotions  took  place  in  conse- 
(luence  of  expectations  of  a  temporal  Messiah,  or  when  vague 
suspicions  of  this  mysterious  people  were  more  than  usually  ex- 
cited, that  the  Jews  of  Rome  were  cruelly  treated  or  peremptorily 
banished.  Yet  from  all  these  cruelties  they  recovered  with  elastic 
force,  and  from  all  these  exiles  they  returned ;  and  in  the  early 


632         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

years  of  Nero,  which  were  distinguished  for  a  mild  and  lenient 
government  of  the  empire,  the  Jews  in  Eome  seem  to  have  enjoyed 
complete  toleration  and  to  have  been  a  numerous,  wealthy,  and  in- 
fluential community. 

The  Christians  doubtless  shared  the  protection  which  was  ex- 
tended to  the  Jew.*.  They  were  hardly  yet  sufficiently  distin- 
guished as  a  self-existent  community  to  provoke  any  independent 
hostility.  It  is  even  possible  that  the  Christians,  so  far  as  they 
were  known  as  separate,  were  more  tolerated  than  the  Jews ;  for, 
not  having  the  same  expectation  of  an  earthly  hero  to  deliver 
them,  they  had  no  political  ends  in  view,  and  would  not  be  in  the 
same  danger  of  exciting  the  suspicion  of  the  government.  Yet  we 
should  fall  into  a  serious  error  if  we  were  to  suppose  that  all  the 
Christians  in  Eome,  or  the  majority  of  them,  had  formerly  been 
Jews  or  proselytes ;  though  this  was  doubtless  true  of  its  earliest 
members,  who  may  have  been  of  the  number  that  were  dispersed 
after  the  first  Pentecost,  or  possibly  disciples  of  our  Lord  himself. 
It  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  any  certain,  conclusion  concerning  the 
first  origin  and  early  growth  of  the  Church  in  Eome,  though  from 
the  manifold  links  between  the  city  and  the  provinces  it  is  easy  to 
account  for  the  formation  of  a  large  and  flourishing  community. 
Its  history  before  the  year  61  might  be  divided  into  three  periods, 
separated  from  each  other  by  the  banishment  of  the  Jews  from 
Eome  in  the  reign  of  Claudius  and  the  writing  of  Paul's  letter 
from  Corinth.  Even  in  the  first  of  these  periods  there  might  be 
points  of  connection  between  the  Eoman  Church  and  Paul,  for 
some  of  those  whom  he  salutes  (Eom.  xvi.  7,  11)  as  "kinsmen" 
are  also  said  to  have  been  "  Christians  before  him."  In  the  sec- 
ond period  it  cannot  well  be  doubted  that  a  very  close  connection 
began  between  Paul  and  some  of  the  conspicuous  members  and 
principal  teachers  of  the  Eoman  Church.  The  expulsion  of  the 
Jews  in  consequence  of  the  edict  of  Claudius  brought  them  in 
large  numbers  to  the  chief  towns  of  the  Levant,  and  there  Paul 
met  them  in  the  synagogues.  We  have  seen  what  results  followed 
from  his  meeting  with  Aquila  and  Priscilla  at  Corinth.  They  re- 
turned to  Eome  with  all  the  stores  of  spiritual  instruction  which 
he  had  given  them ;  and  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Eomans  we  find  him, 
as  is  natural,  saluting  them  thus :  "  Greet  Priscilla  and  Aquila,  my 
helpers  in  Jesus  Christ :  who  have  for  my  sake  laid  down  their  own 
necks :  unto  whom  not  only  I  give  thanks,  but  also  all  the  churches 


THE  ROMAN  CHURCH. 


G33 


of  the  Gentiles.  Likewise  greet  the  church  that  is  in  their  house.'^ 
All  this  reveals  to  us  a  great  amount  of  devoted  exertion  on  br- 
half  of  one  large  congregation  in  Eome,  and  all  of  it  distinct! / 
connected  with  Paul.  And  this  is  perhaps  only  a  specimen  of 
other  cases  of  the  like  kind.  Thus,  he  sends  a  greeting  to  Epgene- 
tus,  whom  he  names  "the  first-fruits  of  Asia''  (v.  5),  and  who  may 
have  had  the  same  close  relation  to  him  during  his  long  ministra- 
tion at  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.)  which  Aquila  and  Priscilla  had  at  Cor- 
inth. Nor  must  we  forget  those  women  whom  he  singles  out  for 
special  mention — "Mary,  who  hestoweth  much  labor  on  him"  (v. 
6);  "the  beloved  Persis,  who  labored  much  in  the  Lord"  (v.  12), 
with  Tryphsena  and  Tryphosa,  and  the  unknown  mother  of  Eufus 
(v.  13).  We  cannot  doubt  that  though  the  Church  of  Eome  may 
have  received  its  growth  and  instruction  through  various  channels, 
many  of  them  were  connected  directly  or  indirectly  with  Paul ;  and 
accordingly  he  writes  in  the  whole  of  the  letter  as  one  already  m 
intimate  relation  with  a  Church  which  he  has  never  seen.  And 
whatever  bonds  subsisted  between  this  apostle  and  the  Eom^in 
Christians  must  have  been  drawn  still  closer  when  the  letter  hdd 
been  received,  for  from  that  time  they  w^ere  looking  forward  to  a 
personal  visit  from  him  in  his  projected  journey  to  the  West. 
Thenceforward  they  must  have  taken  the  deepest  interest  in  all 
his  movements,  and  received  with  eager  anxiety  the  news  of  his 
imprisonment  at  Csesarea,  and  waited  (as  we  have  already  seen) 
for  his  arrival  in  Italy.  It  is  indeed  but  too  true  that  there  were 
parties  among  the  Christians  in  Eome,  and  that  some  had  a  hostile 
feeling  against  Paul  himself ;  yet  it  is  probable  that  the  animosity 
of  the  Judaizers  was  less  developed  than  it  was  in  those  regions 
which  he  had  personally  visited  and  to  which  they  had  actually 
followed  him.  As  to  the  unconverted  Jews,  the  name  of  Paul  was 
doubtless  known  to  them,  yet  were  they  comparatively  little  inte- 
rested in  his  movements.  Their  proud  contempt  of  the  Christian 
heresy  would  make  them  indifferent.  The  leaven  of  the  gospel 
was  working  around  them  to  an  extent  of  which  they  were  hardly 
aware.  The  very  magnitude  of  the  population  of  Eome  had  a 
tendency  to  neutralize  the  currents  of  party  feeling.  For  these 
reasons  the  hostility  of  the  Jews  was  probably  less  violent  than 
in  any  other  part  of  the  empire. 

Yet  Paul  could  not  possibly  be  aware  of  the  exact  extent  of  their 
enmity  against  himself.    Independently,  therefore,  of  his  general 


G34         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

principle  of  preaching,  first  to  the  Jew  and  then  to  the  Gentile,  . 
he  had  an  additional  reason  for  losing  no  time  in  addressing  him- 
self to  his  countrymen.  Thus,  after  the  mention  of  Paul's  being 
delivered  up  to  Burrus,  and  allowed  by  him  to  be  separate  from 
the  other  prisoners,  the  next  scene  to  which  the  sacred  historian 
introduces  us  is  among  the  Jews.  After  three  days  he  sent  for  the 
principal  men  among  them  to  his  lodging,  and  endeavored  to  con- 
ciliate their  feelings  towards  himself  and  the  gospel. 

It  was  highly  probable  that  the  prejudices  of  these  Roman  Jews 
were  already  roused  against  the  apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  or,  if  they 
had  not  yet  conceived  an  unfavorable  opinion  of  him,  there  was  a 
danger  that  they  would  now  look  upon  him  as  a  traitor  to  his 
country  from  the  mere  fact  that  he  had  appealed  to  the  Eoman 
power.  Ke  might  even  have  been  represented  to  them  in  the  « 
odious  light  of  one  who  had  come  to  Rome  as  an  accuser  of  the 
Sanhedrin  before  the  emperor.  Paul  therefore  addressed  his 
auditors  on  this  point  at  once,  and  showed  that  his  enemies  were 
guilty  of  this  very  appeal  to  a  foreign  power  of  which  he  had 
himself  been  suspected.  He  had  committed  no  offence  against  the 
holy  nation  and  the  customs  of  their  fathers,  yet  his  enemies  at 
Jerusalem  had  delivered  him — one  of  their  brethren  of  the  seed  of 
Abraham,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews— 
into  the  hands  of  the  Romans.  So  unfounded  was  the  accusation 
that  even  the  Roman  governor  had  been  ready  to  liberate  the 
prisoner,  but  his  Jewish  enemies  opposed  his  liberation.  They 
strove  to  keep  a  child  of  Israel  in  Roman  chains.  So  that  he  was 
compelled  as  his  only  hope  of  safety  to  appeal  unto  Csesar.  He 
brought  no  accusation  against  his  countrymen  before  the  tribunal 
of  the  stranger :  that  was  the  deed  of  his  antagonists.  In  fact,  his 
only  crime  had  been  his  firm  faith  in  God's  deliverance  of  his 
people  through  the  Messiah  promised  by  the  prophets.  "  For  the  ^ 
hope  of  Israel  J  ^  he  concluded,  '^I  am  bound  with  this  chain.''^ 

Their  answer  to  this  address  was  reassuring.  They  said  that 
they  had  received  no  written  communication  from  Judaea  concern- 
ing Paul,  and  that  none  of  "  the  brethren  '^  who  had  arrived  from 
the  East  had  spoken  any  evil  of  him.  They  further  expressed  a 
wish  to  hear  from  himself  a  statement  of  his  religious  sentiments, 
adding  that  the  Christian  sect  was  everywhere  spoken  against. 
There  was  perhaps  something  hardly  honest  in  this  answer,  for  it 
seems  to  imply  a  greater  ignorance  with  regard  to  Christianity 


PAUl/s  INTERVIEW  WITH  THE  JEWS. 


635 


than  we  can  suppose  to  have  prevailed  among  the  Eoman  Jews. 
But  with  regard  to  Paul  himself  it  might  well  be  true  that  they 
had  little  information  concerning  him.  Though  he  had  been 
imprisoned  long  at  Csesarea,  his  appeal  had  been  made  only  a  short 
time  before  winter.  After  that  time  (to  use  the  popular  expression) 
the  sea  was  shut,  and  the  winter  had  been  a  stormy  one  ;  so  that 
it  w^as  natural  enough  that  his  case  should  be  first  made  known 
to  the  Jews  by  himself.  All  these  circumstances  gave  a  favorable 
opening  for  the  preaching  of  the  gospel,  and  Paul  hastened  to  take 
advantage  of  it.  A  day  was  fixed  for  a  meeting  at  his  own  private 
lodging. 

They  came  in  great  numbers  at  the  appointed  time.  Then  fol- 
lowed an  impressive  scene,  like  that  at  Troas  (Acts  xxi.) — the 
apostle  pleading  long  and  earnestly,  bearing  testimony  concerning 
the  kingdom  of  God  and  endeavoring  to  persuade  them  by  argu- 
ments drawn  from  their  own  Scriptures,  "from  morning  till 
evening."  The  result  was  a  division  among  the  auditors — "  not 
peace,  but  a  sword  " — the  division  which  has  resulted  ever  since 
when  the  truth  of  God  has  encountered,  side  by  side,  earnest  con- 
viction with  worldly  indifference,  honest  investigation  with  bigoted 
prejudice,  trustful  faith  with  the  pride  of  scepticism.  After  a  long 
and  stormy  discussion  the  unbelieving  portion  departed,  but  not 
until  Paul  had  warned  them,  in  one  last  address,  that  they  were 
bringing  upon  themselves  that  awful  doom  of  judicial  blindness 
which  was  denounced  in  their  own  Scriptures  against  obstinate 
unbelievers — that  the  salvation  wdiich  they  rejected  would  be 
withdrawn  from  them,  and  the  inheritance  they  renounced  would 
be  given  to  the  Gentiles.  The  sentence  with  which  he  gave 
emphasis  to  this  warning  was  the  passage  in  Isaiah  which  is  more 
often  quoted  in  the  New  Testament  than  any  other  w^ords  from  the 
Old — which,  recurring  thus  with  solemn  force  at  the  very  close  of 
the  apostolic  history,  seems  to  bring  very  strikingly  together  the 
Old  Dispensation  and  the  New,  and  to  connect  the  ministry  of  our 
Lord  with  that  of  his  apostles :  ^^Go  unto  this  people  and  say,  Hear- 
ing ye  shall  hear,  ayid  shall  not  understand,  and  seeing  ye  shall  see, 
and  shall  not  perceive ;  for  the  heart  of  this  people  is  ivaxed  gross,  und 
their  ears  are  dull  of  hearing,  and  their  eyes  have  they  closed ;  lest  they 
should  see  with  their  eyes,  and  understand  with  their  heart,  and  should 
be  converted,  and  I  should  heal  them^ 

A  formal  separation  was  now  made  between  the  apostle  of  the 


636  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Gentiles  and  the  Jews  of  Eome.  They  withdrew  to  dispute  con- 
cerning the  "sect''  which  was  making  such  inroads  on  their 
prejudices  (ver.  29).  He  remained  in  his  own  hired  house,  where 
the  indulgence  of  Burrus  permitted  him  to  reside  instead  of  con- 
fining him  within  the  walls  of  the  prsetorian  barrack.  We  must 
not  forget,  however,  that  he  was  still  a  prisoner  under  military- 
custody,  chained  by  the  arm,  both  day  and  night,  to  one  of  the 
imperial  body-guard,  and  thus  subjected  to  the  rudeness  and 
caprice  of  an  insolent  soldiery.  This  severity,  however,  was  in- 
dispensable according  to  the  Koman  law,  and  he  received  every 
indulgence  which  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  prefect  to  grant.  He 
was  allowed  to  receive  all  who  came  to  him  (ver.  30),  and  was  per- 
mitted without  hinderance  to  preach  boldly  the  kingdom  of  God 
and  teach  the  things  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  (ver.  31). 

Thus  was  fulfilled  his  long-cherished  desire  "to  proclaim  the  ik. 
gospel  to  them  that  were  in  Eome  also  "  (Eom.  i.  15).  Thus  ends 
the  apostolic  history,  so  far  as  it  has  been  directly  revealed.  Here 
the  thread  of  sacred  narrative,  which  we  have  followed  so  long,  is 
suddenly  broken.  Our  knowledge  of  the  incidents  of  his  residence 
in  Eome  and  of  his  subsequent  history  must  be  gathered  almost 
exclusively  from  the  letters  of  the  apostle  himself. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 


DELAY  OF  PAUL'S  TEIAL. — HIS  OCCUPATIONS  AND  COMPANIONS 
DURING  HIS  IMPRISONMENT, — HE  WRITES  "THE  EPISTLE  TO 
PHILEMON,"  "the  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS,"  AND  "THE 
EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS  "  (SO  CALLED). 

We  have  seen  that  PauPs  accusers  had  not  yet  arrived  from  Pales- 
tine, and  that  their  coming  was  not  even  expected  by  the  Eoman 
Jews.  This  proves  that  they  had  not  left  Syria  before  the  preced- 
ing winter,  and  consequently  that  they  could  not  have  set  out  on 
their  journey  till  the  following  spring,  when  the  navigation  of  the 
Mediterranean  was  again  open.  Thus  they  would  not  reach  Eome 
till  the  summer  or  autumn  of  the  year  61  A.  D.  Meanwhile,  the 
progress  of  the  trial  was  necessarily  suspended,  for  the  Eoman 
courts  required  the  personal  presence  of  the  prosecutor.  It  would 
seem  that  at  this  time  an  accused  person  might  be  thus  kept  in 
prison  for  an  indefinite  period  merely  by  the  delay  of  the  prose- 
cutor to  proceed  with  his  accusation ;  nor  need  this  surprise  us  if 
we  consider  how  harshly  the  law  has  dealt  with  supposed  offenders, 
and  with  what  indifference  it  has  treated  the  rights  of  the  accused, 
even  in  periods  w^hose  civilization  was  not  only  more  advanced 
than  that  of  the  Eoman  empire,  but  also  imbued  with  the  merciful 
spirit  of  Christianity.  And  even  when  the  prosecutors  were 
present,  and  no  ground  alleged  for  the  delay  of  the  trial,  a  corrupt 
judge  might  postpone  it,  as  Felix  did,  for  months  and  years  to 
gratify  the  enemies  of  the  prisoner.  And  if  a  provincial  governor, 
though  responsible  for  such  abuse  of  power  to  his  master,  might 
venture  to  act  in  this  arbitrary  manner,  much  more  might  the 
emperor  himself,  who  was  responsible  to  no  man.  Thas  we  find 
that  Tiberius  was  in  the  habit  of  delaying  the  hearing  of  causes 
and  retaining  the  accused  in  prison  unheard,  merely  out  of  pro- 
crastination. So  that,  even  after  PauFs  prosecutors  had  arrived, 
and  though  we  were  to  suppose  them  anxious  for  the  progress  of 
the  trial,  it  might  still  have  been  long  delayed  by  the  emperor's 

637 


638         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


caprice.  But  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  when  they  came  they 
would  have  wished  to  press  on  the  cause.  From  what  had  already 
occurred  they  had  every  reason  to  expect  the  failure  of  the  prose- 
cution. In  fact,  it  had  already  broken  dov/n  at  its  first  stage,  and 
Festus  had  strongly  pronounced  his  opinion  of  the  innocence  of 
the  accused.  Their  hope  of  success  at  Eome  must  have  been 
grounded  either  on  influencing  the  emperor's  judgment  by  private 
intrigue  or  on  producing  further  evidence  in  support  of  their  accu- 
sation. For  both  these  objects  delay  would  be  necessary.  More- 
over, it  was  quite  in  accordance  with  the  regular  course  of  Roman 
jurisprudence  that  the  court  should  grant  a  long  suspension  of  the 
cause  on  the  petition  of  the  prosecutor,  that  he  might  be  allowed 
time  to  procure  the  attendance  of  witnesses  from  a  distance.  The 
length  of  time  thus  granted  w^ould  depend  upon  the  remoteness 
of  the  place  where  the  alleged  crimes  had  been  committed.  We 
read  of  an  interval  of  twelve  months  permitted  during  Nero's 
reign  in  the  case  of  an  accusation  against  Suilius  for  misdemean- 
ors committed  during  his  government  of  Proconsular  Asia.  The 
accusers  of  Paul  might  fairly  demand  a  longer  suspension,  for  they 
accused  him  of  offences  committed  not  only  in  Palestine  (which 
was  far  more  remote  than  Proconsular  Asia  from  Eome),  but  also 
over  the  whole  empire.  Their  witnesses  must  be  summoned  from 
Judsea,  from  Syria,  from  Cilicia,  from  Pisidia,  from  Macedonia; 
in  all  cities,  from  Damascus  to  Corinth,  in  all  countries,  from 
Jerusalem  round  about  unto  Illyricum,  must  testimony  be  sought 
to  prove  the  seditious  turbulence  of  the  ringleader  of  the  Naza- 
renes.  The  interval  granted  them  for  such  a  purpose  could  not  be 
less  than  a  year,  and  might  well  be  more.  Supposing  it  to  be  the 
shortest  possible,  and  assuming  that  the  prosecutors  reached  Rome 
in  August,  A.  D.  61,  the  first  stage  of  the  trial  would  be  appointed 
to  commence  not  before  August,  A.  D.  62.  And  when  this  period 
arrived  the  prosecutors  and  the  accused,  with  their  witnesses,  must 
have  been  heard  on  each  of  the  charges  separately  (according  to 
Nero's  regulations),  and  sentence  pronounced  on  the  first  charge 
before  the  second  was  entered  into.  Now,  the  charges  against 
Paul  were  divided  (as  we  have  seen)  into  three  separate  heads  of 
accusation.  Consequently,  the  proceedings,  which  would  of  course 
be  adjourned  from  time  to  time  to  suit  the  emperor's  convenience, 
may  well  have  lasted  till  the  beginning  of  63,  at  which  time  Luke's 
narrative  would  lead  us  to  fix  their  termination. 


Paul's  labors  in  rome. 


639 


During  the  long  delay  of  his  trial  Paul  was  not  reduced,  as  he 
had  been  at  Csesarea,  to  a  forced  inactivity.  On  the  contrary,  he 
was  permitted  the  freest  intercourse  with  his  friends,  and  was 
allowed  to  reside  in  a  house  of  sufficient  size  to  accommodate  the 
congregation  which  flocked  together  to  listen  to  his  teaching.  The 
freest  scope  was  given  to  his  labors  consistent  with  the  military 
custody  under  which  he  w^as  placed.  We  are  told  in  language 
peculiaily  emphatic  that  his  preaching  w^as  subjected  to  no  re- 
Etraint  whatever.  And  that  which  seemed  at  first  to  impede  must 
really  have  deepened  the  impression  of  his  eloquence,  for  w^ho 
could  see  without  emotion  that  venerable  form  subjected  by  iron 
links  to  the  coarse  control  of  the  soldier  who  stood  beside  him? 
How  often  must  the  tears  of  the  assembly  have  been  called  forth 
by  the  upraising  of  that  fettered  hand  and  the  clanking  of  the 
chain  which  checked  its  energetic  action  ! 

We  shall  see  hereafter  that  these  labors  of  the  imprisoned  con 
fessor  were  not  fruitless;  in  his  own  words,  he  begot  many  chil 
dren  in  his  chains.  Meanwhile,  he  had  a  wider  sphere  of  actior. 
than  even  the  metropolis  of  the  world.  Not  only  "the  crowd 
which  pressed  upon  him  daily,"  but  also  "the  care  of  all  the 
churches,"  demanded  his  constant  vigilance  and  exertion.  Though 
himself  tied  down  to  a  single  spot,  he  kept  up  a  constant  inter- 
course by  his  delegates  with  his  converts  throughout  the  empire; 
and  not  only  with,  his  own  converts,  but  with  the  other  Gentile 
churches  who  as  yet  had  not  seen  his  face  in  the  flesh.  To  enable 
him  to  maintain  this  superintendence,  he  manifestly  needed  many 
faithful  messengers — men  who  (as  he  says  of  one  of  them)  ren- 
dered him  profitable  service — and  by  some  of  whom  he  seems  to 
have  been  constantly  accompanied  wheresoever  he  went.  Accord- 
ingly, we  find  him  during  this  Roman  imprisonment  surrounded 
by  many  of  his  oldest  and  most  valued  attendants.  Luke,  his 
fellow-traveller,  remained  with  him  during  his  bondage;  Timo- 
theus,  his  beloved  son  in  the  faith,  ministered  to  him  at  Rome,  as 
he  had  done  in  Asia,  in  Macedonia,  and  in  Achaia.  Tychicus, 
^vho  had  formerly  borne  him  company  from  Corinth  to  Ephesus, 
is  now  at  hand  to  carry  his  letters  to  the  shores  which  they  had 
visited  together.  But  there  are  two  names  amongst  his  Roman 
companions  which  excite  a  peculiar  interest,  though  from  opposite 
reasons — the  names  of  Demas  and  of  Mark.  The  latter,  when  last 
we  heard  of  him,  was  the  unhappy  cause  of  the  separation  of  Bar- 


640         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


nabas  and  Paul.  He  was  rejected  by  Paul  as  unworthy  to  attend 
him,  because  he  had  previously  abandoned  the  work  of  the  gospel 
out  of  timidity  or  indolence.  It  is  delightful  to  find  him  now 
ministering  obediently  to  the  very  apostle  who  had  then  repudiated 
his  services ;  still  more,  to  know  that  he  persevered  in  this  fidelity 
even  to  the  end,  and  was  sent  for  by  Paul  to  cheer  his  dying  hours. 
Demas,  on  the  other  hand,  is  now  a  faithful  "fellow-laborer'^  of 
the  apostle,  but  in  a  few  years  we  shall  find  that  he  had  "  forsaken  '' 
him,  "having  loved  this  present  world.''  Perhaps  we  may  be 
allowed  to  hope  that  as  the  fault  of  Demas  was  the  same  with  that 
of  Mark,  so  the  repentance  of  Mark  may  have  been  paralleled  by 
that  of  Demas. 

Amongst  the  rest  of  Paul's  companions  at  this  time  there  were 
two  whom  he  distinguishes  by  the  honorable  title  of  his  "  fellow- 
prisoners."  One  of  these  is  Aristarchus,  the  other  Epaphras. 
With  regard  to  the  former,  we  know  that  he  was  a  Macedonian  of 
Thessalonica,  one  of  "  Paul's  companions  in  travel"  whose  life  was 
endangered  by  the  mob  at  Ephesus,  and  who  embarked  with  Paul 
at  Csesarea  when  he  set  sail  for  Rome.  The  other,  Epaphras,  was 
a  Colossian,  who  must  not  be  identified  with  the  Philippian  Epapli- 
roditus,  another  of  Paul's  fellow-laborers  during  this  time.  It  is 
not  easy  to  say  what  was  the  exact  sense  in  which  these  two  dis- 
ciples were  peculiarly  felloiu-prisoners  of  Paul.  Perhaps  it  only 
implies  they  dwelt  in  his  house,  which  was  also  his  prison. 

But  of  all  the  disciples  now  ministering  to  Paul  at  Rome,  none 
has  for  us  a  greater  interest  than  the  fugitive  Asiatic  slave  Onesi- 
mus.  He  belonged  to  a  Christian  named  Philemon,  a  member  of 
the  Colossian  Church.  But  he  had  robbed  his  master  and  fled 
from  Colosse,  and  at  last  found  his  way  to  Rome.  It  is  difficult 
to  imagine  any  portion  of  mankind  more  utterly  depraved  than 
the  associates  among  whom  a  runaway  pagan  slave  must  have 
found  himself  in  the  capital.  Profligate  and  unprincipled  as  we 
know  even  the  highest  and  most  educated  society  to  have  then 
been,  what  must  have  been  its  dregs  and  ofial?  Yet  from  this 
lowest  depth  Onesimus  was  dragged  forth  by  the  hand  of  Christian 
love.  Perhaps  some  Asiatic  Christian  who  had  seen  him  formerly 
at  his  master's  house  recognized  him  in  the  streets  of  Rome  desti- 
tute and  starving  and  had  compassion  on  him,  and  thus  he  might 
have  been  brought  to  hear  the  preaching  of  the  illustrious  pris- 
oner.   Or  it  is  not  impossible  that  he  may  have  already  known 


EPISTLE  TO  PHILEMON. 


641 


Paul  at  Ephesus,  where  bis  master  Philemon  had  formerly  been 
himself  converted  by  the  apostle.  However  this  may  be,  it  is 
certain  that  Onesimus  was  led  by  the  providence  of  God  to  listen 
to  that  preaching  now  which  he  had  formerly  despised.  He  was 
converted  to  the  faith  of  Christ,  and  therefore  to  the  morality  of 
Christ.  He  confessed  to  Paul  his  sins  against  his  master.  The 
apostle  seems  to  have  been  peculiarly  attracted  by  the  character 
of  Onesimus,  and  he  perceived  in  him  the  indications  of  gifts 
which  fitted  him  for  a  more  important  post  than  any  which  he 
could  hold  as  the  slave  of  Philemon.  He  wished  to  keep  him  at 
Kome  and  employ  him  in  the  service  of  the  gospel.  Yet  he  would 
not  transgress  the  law  nor  violate  the  rights  of  Philemon  by  act- 
ing in  this  matter  without  his  consent.  He  therefore  decided  that 
Onesimus  must  immediately  return  to  his  master;  and  to  make 
this  duty  less  painful  he  undertook  himself  to  discharge  the  sum 
of  which  Philemon  had  been  defrauded.  An  opportunity  now 
offered  itself  to  Onesimus  to  return  in  good  company,  for  Paul 
was  sending  Tychicus  to  Asia  Minor,  charged,  amongst  other  com- 
missions, with  an  Epistle  to  Colosse,  the  home  of  Philemon.  Un- 
der his  care,  therefore,  he  placed  the  penitent  slave,  who  was  now 
willing  to  surrender  himself  to  his  offended  master.  Nevertheless, 
he  did  not  give  up  the  hope  of  placing  his  new  convert  in  a  posi- 
tion wherein  he  might  minister  no  longer  to  a  private  individual, 
but  to  the  Church  at  large.  He  intimated  his  wishes  on  the  sub- 
ject to  Philemon  himself,  with  characteristic  delicacy,  in  a  letter 
which  he  charged  Onesimus  to  deliver  on  his  arrival  at  Colosse. 
This  letter  is  not  only  a  beautiful  illustration  of  the  character  of 
Paul,  but  also  a  practical  commentary  upon  the  precepts  concern- 
ing the  mutual  relations  of  slaves  and  masters  given  in  his  con- 
temporary Epistles.  We  see  here  one  of  the  earliest  examples  of 
the  mode  in  which  Christianity  operated  upon  these  relations — 
not  by  any  violent  disruption  of  the  organization  of  society,  such 
as  could  only  have  produced  another  servile  war,  but  by  gradually 
leavening  and  interpenetrating  society  with  the  spirit  of  a  relig- 
ion which  recognized  the  equality  of  all  men  in  the  sight  of  God. 
The  letter  was  as  follows: 

THE  EPISTLE  TO  PHILEMOK 
1  Paul,  a  prisoneb,  of  Christ  Jesus,  and  Timo-  Salutation. 

THEUS   THE    BROTHER,  TO   PhILEMON   OUR   BELOVED  FRIEND 
41 


642  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


2  AND  fellow-laborer;  and  to  Appia  our  beloved  sister. 

AND  TO  ArCHIPPUS  OUR  FELLOW-SOLDIER,  AND  TO  THE  ChURCH 
AT  THY  HOUSE. 

3  Grace  be  to  you  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father  and  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

4  I  thank  my  God,  making  mention  of  thee  always  in  Thanksgivings 

5  my  prayers,  because  I  hear  of  thy  love  and  faith  to-  for  Phiiemmu  ^ 

6  wards  our  Lord  Jesus,  and  towards  all  God's  people,  while  I  pray 
that  thy  faith  may  communicate  itself  to  others,  and  may  become 
workful,  in  causing  in  true  knowledge  of  all  the  good  which  is  in  us, 

7  for  Christ's  service.  For  I  have  great  joy  and  consolation  in  thy 
love,  because  the  hearts  of  God's  people  have  been  comforted  by  thee, 
brother. 

8  Wherefore,  although  in  the  authority  of  Christ  I  Request  for  the 
might  boldly  enjoin  upon  thee  that  which  is  befitting,  tton^^of^  Onea- 

9  yet  for  love's  sake  I  rather  beseech  thee,  as  Paul  the 

10  aged,  and  now  also  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ.    I  beseech  thee  for  my 

11  son,  whom  I  have  begotten  in  my  chains,  Onesimus ;  who  formerly 
was  to  thee  unprofitable,  but  now  is  profitable  both  to  thee  and  me. 

12  Whom  I  have  sent  back  to  thee ;  but  do  thou  receive  him  as  my  own 

13  flesh  and  blood.  For  I  would  gladly  retain  him  with  myself,  that  he 
might  render  service  to  me  in  thy  stead,  while  I  am  a  prisoner  for 
declaring  the  glad  tidings  ;  but  I  am  unwilling  to  do  anything 

14  without  thy  decision,  that  thy  kindness  may  not  be  constrained,  but 

15  voluntary.  For  perhaps  to  this  very  end  he  was  parted  from  thee  for 

16  a  time,  that  thou  mightest  possess  him  for  ever;  no  longer  as  a  bonds- 
man, but  above  a  bondsman,  a  brother  beloved ;  very  dear  to  me, 
but  how  much  more  to  thee,  being  thine  both  in  the  flesh  and  in  the 

17  Lord.    If,  then,  thou  count  me  in  fellowship  with  thee,  receive  him 

18  as  myself.    But  whatsoever  he  has  wronged  thee  of,  or  owes  thee, 

19  reckon  it  to  my  account  (I,  Paul,  write  this  with  my  own  hand) ; 

20  I  will  repay  it ;  for  I  would  not  say  to  thee  that  thou  owest  me  even 
thine  own  self  besides.  Yea,  brother,  let  me  have  joy  of  thee  in  the 
Lord ;  comfort  my  heart  in  Christ. 

21  I  write  to  thee  with  full  confidence  in  thy  obedience.  Announcement 

...         -  .1-1  T  of  a  visit  from 

knowmg  that  thou  wilt  do  even  more  than  1  say.  Paui   to  Asia 

<^<.-»  T-»   ,  .  •  1  X  ]Minor   on  his 

22  But,  moreover,  prepare  to  receive  me  as  thy  guest ;  lor  acquittal. 
I  trust  through  your  prayers  I  shall  be  given  to  you. 

23  There  salute  thee  Epaphras  my  fellow-prisoner  in  Salutations 

24  Christ  Jesus,  Marcus,  Aristarchus,  Demas,  Lucas,  my 
fellow-laborers. 


Paul's  letter  to  the  colossians. 


643 


25     The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  your  concluding 

.  benediction. 

spirits. 

While  Onesimus,  on  the  arrival  of  the  two  companions  at  Colosse, 
hurried  to  the  house  of  his  master  with  the  letter  w^hich  we  have 
just  read,  Tychicus  proceeded  to  discharge  his  commission  likewise 
by  delivering  to  the  presbyters  the  Epistle  with  which  he  was 
charged,  that  it  might  be  read  to  the  whole  Colossian  Church  at 
their  next  meeting.  The  letter  to  the  Colossians  itself  gives  us 
distinct  information  as  to  the  cause  which  induced  Paul  to  write  it. 
Epaphras,  the  founder  of  that  Church  (Col.  i.  7),  was  now  at  Eome, 
and  he  had  communicated  to  the  apostle  the  unwelcome  tidings 
that  the  faith  of  the  Colossians  was  in  danger  of  being  perverted 
by  false  teaching.  It  has  been  questioned  whether  several  different 
systems  of  error  had  been  introduced  among  them,  or  whether  the 
several  errors  combated  in  the  Epistle  were  parts  of  one  system 
and  taught  by  the  same  teachers.  On  the  one  side  we  find  that  in 
the  Epistle  Paul  warns  the  Colossians  separately  against  the  follow- 
ing different  errors:  First,  a  combination  of  angel-worship  and 
asceticism ;  secondly,  a  self-styled  philosophy  or  gnosis^  which  de- 
preciated Christ;  thirdly,  a  rigid  observance  of  Jewish  festivals 
and  sabbaths.  On  the  other  side,  first,  the  Epistle  seems  distinctly 
(though  with  an  indirectness  caused  by  obvious  motives)  to  point 
to  a  single  source,  and  even  a  single  individual,  as  the  origin  of  the 
errors  introduced;  and,  secondly,  we  know  that  at  any  rate  the 
first  two  of  these  errors,  and  apparently  the  third  also,  were  com- 
bined by  some  of  the  early  Gnostics.  The  most  probable  view, 
therefore,  seems  to  be,  that  some  Alexandrian  Jew  had  appeared 
at  Colosse  professing  a  belief  in  Christianity  and  imbued  with  the 
Greek  "  philosophy  "  of  the  school  of  Philo,  but  combining  with  it 
the  rabbinical  theosophy  and  angelology  Avhich  afterward  was  em- 
bodied in  the  Cabbala,  and  an  extravagant  asceticism  which  also 
afterward  distinguished  several  sects  of  the  Gnostics.  In  short, 
one  of  the  first  heresiarchs  of  the  incipient  Gnosticism  had  begun 
to  pervert  the  Colossians  from  the  simplicity  of  their  faith.  Wd 
have  seen  in  a  former  chapter  how  great  was  the  danger  to  be  ap- 
prehended from  this  source  at  the  stage  which  the  Church  had 
now  reached;  especially  in  a  Church  which  consisted,  as  that  at 
Colosse  did,  principally  of  Gentiles  (Col.  i.  25-27;  ii.  11);  and 
that,  too,  in  Phrygia,  where  the  national  character  was  so  prone 
to  a  mystic  fanaticism.  We  need  not  wonder,  therefore,  that  Paul, 


644         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


acting  under  the  inspiration  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  should  have  thought 
it  needful  to  use  every  effort  to  counteract  the  growing  evil.  This 
he  does  both  by  contradicting  the  doctrinal  errors  of  the  new  sys- 
tem, and  by  inculcating,  as  essential  to  Christianity,  that  pure 
morality  which  these  early  heretics  despised.  Such  appears  to 
have  been  the  main  purpose  of  the  following  Epistle ; 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 
I. 

1  Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Cheist  by  the  will  salutation. 

2  OF  God,  and  Timotheus  the  brother,  to  the  holy  and 

FAITHFUL  BRETHREN  IN  ChRIST  WHO  ARE  AT  COLOSSE, 

Grace  be  to  you,  and  peace  from  God  our  Father. 

3  I  give  continual  thanks  to  God  the  Father  of  our  Thanksgiving 

4  Lord  J esus  Christ,  in  my  prayers  for  you  (since  I  heard  ^ersion?^ 

of  your  faith  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  your  love  to  all  his  people), 

5  because  of  the  hope  laid  up  for  you  in  the  heavens,  whereof  you 

6  heard  the  promise  in  the  truthful  word  of  the  glad  tidings ;  which  is 
come  to  you,  as  it  is  through  all  the  world,  where  it  bears  fruit  and 
grows,  as  it  does  also  among  you,  since  the  day  when  first  you  heard 

7  it,  and  learned  to  know  truly  the  grace  of  God.  And  thus  you  were 
taught  by  Epaphras,  my  beloved  fellow-bondsman,  who  is  a  faithful 

8  servant  of  Christ  on  your  ])ehalf  And  it  is  he  who  has  declared  to 
me  your  love  for  me  in  the|jtelloTN'i  hip  of  the  Spirit. 

9  Wherefore  I  also,  since  the  day  when  first  I  heard  it.  Prayers  for  their 
cease  not  to  pray  for  you,  and  to  ask  of  God  that  you 

10  may  fully  attain  to  the  knowledge  of  his  will ;  that  in  all  wisdom 
and  spiritual  understanding  you  may  walk  worthy  of  the  Lord,  to 
please  him  in  all  things ;  that  you  may  bear  fruit  in  all  good  works, 

11  and  grow  continually  in  the  knowledge  of  God ;  that  you  may  be 
strengthened  to  the  uttermost  in  the  strength  of  his  glorious  power, 

12  to  bear  all  sufferings  with  steadfast  endurance  and  with  joy,  giving 
thanks  to  the  Father  who  has  enabled  us  to  share  the  portion  of  his 
people  in  the  light. 

13  For  he  has  delivered  us  from  the  dominion  of  dark-  Atonement  and 
ness,  and  transplanted  us  into  the  kingdom  of  his  beloved  chdst!^^^^  ^ 

14  Son,  in  whom  we  have  our  redemption,  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins. 

15  Who  is  a  visible  image  of  the  invisible  God,  the  first-born  of  all 

16  creation ;  for  in  him  were  all  things  created,  both  in  the  heavens  and 
on  the  earth,  both  visible  and  invisible,  whether  they  be  thrones,  or 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 


645 


dominations,  or  principalities,  or  powers ;  by  him  and  for  him  were 

17  all  created.    And  he  is  before  all  things,  and  in  him  all  things  sub- 

18  sist.  And  he  is  the  Head  of  the  body,  the  Church ;  whereof  he  is  the 
beginning,  as  first-born  from  the  dead ;  that  in  all  things  his  place 
might  be  the  first. 

For  he  willed  that  in  himself  all  the  fulness  of  the  universe  should 

19  dwell;  and  by  himself  he  willed  to  reconcile  all  things  to  himself, 

20  having  made  peace  by  the  blood  of  his  cross ;  by  himself  (I  say)  to 
reconcile  all  that  exist,  whether  on  the  earth,  or  in  the  heavens. 

21  And  you,  likewise,  who  once  were  estranged  from  The  coiossiana 

•      :  ,  \    ^  .  •,    1  .  1  had  been  called 

him,  and  with  your  mmd  at  war  with  him,  when  you  from  heathen- 

22  lived  in  wickedness,  yet  now  he  has  reconciled  in  the  ciied^  to  God^by 
body  of  his  flesh  through  death,  that  he  might  bring 

you  to  his  presence  in  holiness,  without  blemish  and  without  re- 

23  proach ;  if,  indeed;^  you  be  steadfast  in  your  faith,  with  your  founda- 
tion firmly  grounded  and  immovably  fixed,  and  not  suffering  your- 
selves to  be  shifted  away  from  the  hope  of  the  glad  tidings  which 
first  you  heard,  which  has  been  published  throughout  all  the  earth, 
whereof  I,  Paul,  have  been  made  a  ministering  servant. 

24  And  even  now  I  rejoice  in  the  afllictions  which  I  Paul's  commis- 
bear  for  your  sake,  and  I  fill  up  what  yet  is  lacking  of  the^  chdttfan 
the  sufferings  of  Christ  in  my  flesh,  on  behalf  of  his        |a^i  ^l^ull 

25  body,  which  is  the  Church ;  whereof  I  was  made  a  ser- 

vant,  to  minister  in  the  stewardship  which  God  gave  me  for  you 

26  [Gentiles],  that  I  might  fulfil  it  by  declaring  the  word  of  God,  the 
mystery  which  has  been  hid  for  countless  ages  and  generations,  but 

27  has  now  been  shown  openly  to  his  people ;  to  whom  God  willed  to 
manifest  how  rich,  among  the  Gentiles,  is  the  glory  of  this  mystery, 
which  is  Christ  in  you,  the  hope  of  glory. 

28  Him,  therefore,  I  proclaim,  warning  every  man,  and  teaching 
every  man,  in  all  wisdom ;  that  I  may  bring  every  man  into  his 

29  presence  full  grown  in  Christ.  And  to  this  end  I  labor  in  earnest 
conflict,  according  to  his  inward  working  which  works  in  me  with 
mighty  power. 

1  For  I  would  have  you  know  how  great  a  conflict  I  He  prays  that 
sustain  for  you,  and  for  those  at  Laodicea,  and  for  all  iu truewis§om- 

2  who  have  not  seen  my  face  in  the  flesh ;  that  their  hearts  may  be  com- 
forted, and  that  they  may  be  knit  together  in  love,  and  may  gain  in 
all  its  richness  the  full  assurance  of  understanding,  truly  to  know  the 

3  mystery  of  God,  wherein  are  all  the  treasures  of  wisdom  and  of  know- 
ledge hidden. 


646 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


4  I  say  this,  lest  any  man  should  mislead  you  with  en-  and  warns  them 

5  ticing  words.    For  though  I  am  absent  from  you  in  who  would  mis- 
the  flesh,  yet  I  am  present  with  you  in  the  spirit,  re- 
joicing when  I  behold  your  good  order,  and  the  firmness  of  your 

6  faith  in  Christ.    As,  therefore,  you  first  received  Christ  Jesus  the 

7  Lord,  so  continue  to  live  in  him ;  having  in  him  your  root,  and  in 
him  the  foundation  whereon  you  are  continually  built  up ;  persever- 
ing steadfastly  in  your  faith,  as  you  were  taught ;  and  abounding  in 
thanksgiving. 

8  Beware  lest  there  be  any  man  who  leads  you  captive  by  a  system  of 
by  his  philosophy,  which  is  a  vain  deceit,  following  losophy  which 
the  tradition  of  men,  the  outward  lessons  of  childhood,  chnJtf  ^^^^^^ 

9  not  the  teaching  of  Christ.    For  in  him  dwells  all  the  fulness  of  the 

10  Godhead  in  bodily  form,  and  in  him  you  have  your  fulness ;  for  he  is 

11  the  head  of  all  the  principalities  and  powers.  In  him,  also,  you  were 
circumcised  with  a  circumcision  not  made  by  hands,  even  the  off-cast- 

12  ing  of  the  whole  body  of  the  flesh,  the  circumcision  of  Christ ;  for 
with  him  you  were  buried  in  your  baptism,  wherein  also  you  were 
made  partakers  of  his  resurrection,  through  the  faith  wrought  in  you 

13  by  God,  who  raised  him  from  the  dead  ;  and  you  also,  when  you  were 
dead  in  the  transgressions  and  uncircumcision  of  your  flesh,  God 

14  raised  to  share  his  life.  For  he  forgave  us  all  our  transgressions, 
and  blotted  out  the  writing  against  us,  which  opposed  us  with  its 
decrees,  having  taken  it  out  of  our  way,  and  nailed  it  to  the  cross. 

15  And  he  disarmed  the  principalities  and  the  powers  which  fought 
against  him,  and  put  them  to  open  shame,  leading  them  captive  in 
his  triumph,  which  he  won  in  Christ. 

16  Therefore,  suflfer  not  any  man  to  condemn  you  for  and  unites  Jew- 
what  you  eat  or  drink,  nor  in  respect  of  feast-days,  or  with  angei-wor- 

17  new  moons,  or  sabbaths ;  for  these  are  a  shadow  of  cism.^"^  asceti- 

18  things  to  come,  but  the  body  is  Christ's.  Let  no  man  succeed  in  his 
wish  to  defraud  you  of  your  prize,  persuading  you  to  self-humiliation 
and  worship  of  the  angels,  intruding  rashly  into  things  which  he  has 
not  seen,  puffed  up  by  his  fleshly  mind,  and  not  holding  fast  the  Head, 

19  from  whom  the  whole  body,  by  tht*  joints  which  bind  it,  draws  full 
supplies  for  all  its  needs,  and  is  kmi  together,  and  increases  in  godly 
growth. 

20  If,  then,  when  you  died  with  Ciirist,  you  put  away  the  childish 
lessons  of  outward  things,  why,  as  though  you  still  lived  in  outward 

21  things,  do  you  submit  yourself  to  dt^crees  ("hold  not,  taste  not,  touch 
not'* — forbidding  the  use  of  things  ^hich  are  all  made  to  be  con- 

22  sumed  in  the  using)  founded  on  the  n^-ecepts  and  doctrines  of  men  ? 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  COLOSSIANS. 


647 


23  For  these  precepts,  tliougli  thej  have  a  show  of  wisdom,  in  a  self- 
chosen  worship,  and  in  humiliation,  and  chastening  of  the  body,  are 
of  no  value  to  check  the  indulgence  of  fleshly  passions. 

III. 

1  If,  then,  you  were  made  partakers  of  Christ's  resur-  Exhortation  to 

'  '  ,  .  ,  ,  ,  heavenward  ai- 

rection,  seek  those  things  which  are  above,  where  fections. 

2  Christ  abides,  seated  on  the  right  hand  of  God.    Set  your  hearts  on 

3  things  above,  not  on  things  earthly ;  for  ye  are  dead,  and  your  life 

4  is  hid  with  Christ  in  God.  When  Christ,  who  is  our  life,  shall 
be  made  manifest,  then  shall  ye  be  made  manifest  with  him  in 
glory. 

5  Give,  therefore,  unto  death  your  earthly  members;  Against  hea- 

^      .      .  TCI  •  1    ^^^^'^  impurity 

fornication,  uncleanness,  shameful  appetites,  unnatural  and  other  vices. 

6  desires,  and  the  lust  of  concupiscence,  which  is  idolatry.  For  these 
things  bring  the  wrath  of  God  upon  the  children  of  disobedience ; 

7  among  whom  you  also  walked  in  former  times,  when  you  lived  there- 

8  in ;  but  now,  with  us,  you  likewise  must  renounce  them  all.  Anger, 
passion,  and  malice  must  be  cast  away,  evil-speaking  Exhortation  to 

^       1  T       -r  .  put   on  the 

9  and  reviling  put  out  of  your  mouth.  Lie  not  one  to  christian  cha 
J.Q  another,  but  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  deeds,  and  various  "perfec* 

put  on  the  new  man,  who  grows  continually  to  a  more 

11  perfect  knowledge  and  likeness  of  his  Creator.  Wherein  there  is  not 
Greek  and  Jew,  circumcision  and  uncircumcision,  barbarian,  Scy- 

12  thian,  bondsman,  freeman ;  but  Christ  is  all,  and  in  all.  Therefore, 
as  God's  chosen  people,  holy  and  beloved,  put  on  tenderness  of  heart, 

13  kindness,  self-humiliation,  gentleness,  long-suffering ;  forbearing  one 
another,  and  forgiving  one  another,  if  any  thinks  himself  aggrieved 

14  by  his  neighbor ;  even  as  Christ  forgave  you,  so  also  do  ye.  And 
over  all  the  rest  put  on  the  robe  of  love,  which  binds  together  and 

15  completes  the  whole.  Let  the  peace  of  Christ  rule  in  your  hearts, 
to  which  also  you  were  called  in  one  body ;  and  be  thankful  one  to 

16  another.  Let  the  word  of  Christ  dwell  in  you  richly ;  teach  and 
admonish  one  another  in  all  wisdom. 

Let  your  sinerins:  be  of  psalms,  and  hymns,  and  spir-  Festive  meet- 

,  ,  ings,  howtoba 

itual  songs,  sung  m  thanksgiving,  with  your  heart,  unto  celebrated. 

17  God.  And  whatsoever  you  do,  in  word  or  deed,  do  all  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord  Jesus,  giving  thanks  to  God  our  Father  through  him. 

18  Wives,  submit  yourselves  to  your  husbands,  as  it  is  Exhortation  to 

n.  •     ^\     T      1  the  fulfihnent 

tit  m  the  Lord.  of  the  duties  of 

19  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  and  deal  not  harshly 
with  them. 


648  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


20  Children,  obey  your  parents  in  all  things ;  for  this  is  acceptable  in 
the  Lord. 

21  Fathers,  vex  not  your  children,  lest  their  spirit  should  be  broken. 

22  BondsDien,  obey  in  all  things  your  earthly  masters ;  Of  slaves  and 

,  .  .    "  1  1    X  •      •     1  p  masters. 

not  m  eye-service,  as  men-pleasers,  but  m  singleness  of 

23  heart,  fearing  the  Lord.    And  whatsoever  you  do,  do  it  heartily,  as 

24  for  the  Lord,  and  not  for  men ;  knowing  that  from  the  Lord  you  will 
receive  the  reward  of  the  inheritance  ;  for  you  are  the  bondsmen  of 

25  Christ,  our  Lord  and  Master.  But  he  who  wrongs  another  will  be 
requited  for  the  wrong  which  he  has  done,  and  [in  that  judgment] 
there  is  no  respect  of  persons. 

IV. 

1  Masters,  deal  rightly  and  justly  with  your  bondsmen,  knowing  that 
you  also  have  a  Master  in  heaven. 

2  Persevere  in  prayer,  and  join  thanksgiving  with  your  H e  as ks  f o  r 

3  watchfulness  therein;  and  pray  for  me  likewise,  that     ^^^^ P^^y^'is- 
God  would  open  to  me  a  door  of  entrance  for  his  word,  that  I  may 
declare  the  mystery  of  Christ,  which  is  the  very  cause  of  my  im- 

4  prisonment ;  pray  for  me  that  I  may  declare  it  openly,  as  I  ought  to 
speak. 

5  Conduct  yourselves  with  wisdom  towards  those  with-  Conduct  to- 

6  out  the  Church,  and  forestall  opportunity.    Let  your  lievers. 
speech  be  always  gracious,  with  a  seasoning  of  salt,  understanding 
how  to  give  to  every  man  a  fitting  answer. 

7  All  that  concerns  me  will  be  made  known  to  vou  bv  Mission  of 

"  1    Tychicus  and 

Tychicus,  my  beloved  brother  and  faithful  servant  and  Onesimus. 

8  fellow-bondsman  in  the  Lord,  whom  I  have  sent  to  you  for  this  very 

9  end,  that  he  might  learn  your  state,  and  comfort  your  hearts ;  with 
Onesimus,  the  faithful  and  iDcloved  brother,  your  fellow-countryman ; 
they  will  tell  you  all  which  has  happened  here. 

10  Aristarchus,  my  fellow-prisoner,  salutes  vou,  and  Greetings  from 

-iLT  1  •       /.  -T^         1  •         %  Christians     i  n 

Marcus,  the  cousm  of  Barnabas,  concerning  whom  you  Kome. 

11  received  instructions  (if  he  come  to  you  receive  him),  and  Jesus  sur- 
named  Justus.  Of  the  circumcision  these  only  are  my  fellow-laborers 
for  the  kingdom  of  God,  who  have  been  a  comfort  to  me. 

12  Epaphras,  your  fellow-countryman,  salutes  you;  a  bondsman  of 
Christy  who  is  ever  contending  on  your  behalf  in  his  prayers,  that  in 
ripeness  of  understanding  and  full  assurance  of  belief,  you  may  abide 

13  steadfast  in  all  the  will  of  God ;  for  I  bear  him  witness  that  he  is 
filled  with  zeal  for  you,  and  for  those  in  Laodicea  and  Hierapolis. 

14  Luke,  the  beloved  physician,  and  Demas,  salute  you. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS  (sO  CALLED). 


649 


15  Salute  the  brethren  in  Laodicea,  and  Nymphas,  with  Messages  to 

16  the  church  at  his  house.  And  when  this  letter  has  Laodicean 
been  read  among  you,  provide  that  it  be  read  also  in  "^tiaus. 

17  the  Church  of  the  Laodiceans,  and  that  you  also  read  the  letter  from 
Laodicea.  And  say  to  Archippus,  "  Take  heed  to  the  ministration 
which  thou  hast  received  in  the  Lord's  service,  that  thou  fulfil  it." 

18  The  salutation  of  me.  Paul,  with  my  own  hand.  Autograph  sai- 

,  utationani 

Kemember  my  chains.    Grace  be  with  you.  benediction. 

We  have  seen  that  the  above  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  aud  that 
to  Philemon  were  conveyed  by  Tychicus  and  Onesimus,  who 
travelled  together  from  Eome  to  Asia  Minor.  But  these  two  were 
not  the  only  letters  with  which  Tychicus  was  charged.  We  know 
that  he  carried  a  third  letter  also,  but  it  is  not  equally  certain  to 
whom  it  was  addressed.  This  third  letter  was  that  which  is  now 
entitled  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  concerning  the  destination  of 
which  (disputed  as  it  is)  the  least  disputable  fact  is  that  it  was  not 
addressed  to  the  Church  of  Ephesus. 

This  point  is  established  by  strong  evidence,  both  internal  and 
external.  To  begin  with  the  former,  we  remark,  first,  that  it  would 
be  inexplicable  that  Paul  when  he  wrote  to  the  Ephesians,  amongst 
whom  he  had  spent  so  long  a  time,  and  to  whom  he  was  bound  by 
ties  of  such  close  affection  (Acts  xx.  17,  etc.),  should  not  have  a 
single  message  of  personal  greeting  to  send.  Yet  none  such  are 
found  in  this  Epistle.  Secondly,  he  could  not  have  described  the 
Ephesians  as  a  Church  w^hose  conversion  he  knew  only  by  report 
(i.  15).  Thirdly,  he  could  not  speak  to  them  as  only  knowing 
himself  (the  founder  of  their  Church)  to  be  an  apostle  by  hearsay 
(iii.  2),  so  as  to  need  credentials  to  accredit  him  with  them  (iii.  4). 
Fourthly,  he  could  not  describe  the  Ephesians  as  so  exclusively 
Gentiles  (ii.  11;  iv.  17)  and  so  recently  converted  (v.  8;  i.  13; 
ii.  13). 

This  internal  evidence  is  confirmed  by  the  following  external 
evidence  also ; 

(1)  Basil  distinctly  asserts  that  the  early  writers  whom  he  had 
consulted  declared  that  the  manuscripts  of  this  Epistle  in  their 
time  did  not  contain  the  name  of  Ephesus,  but  left  out  altogether 
the  name  of  the  Church  to  which  the  Epistle  was  addressed.  He 
adds  that  the  most  ancient  manuscripts  which  he  had  himself  seen 
gave  the  same  testimony.  This  assertion  of  Basil's  is  confirmed  by 
Jerome,  Epiphanius,  and  TertuUian. 


650 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


(2)  The  most  ancient  manuscript  now  known  to  exist — namely, 
that  of  the  Vatican  Library — fully  bears  out  Basil's  words,  for  in 
its  text  it  does  not  contain  the  words  ^' in  Ephesus"  at  all,  and 
they  are  only  added  in  its  margin  by  a  much  later  hand. 

(3)  We  know  from  the  testimony  of  Marcion  that  this  Epistle 
was  entitled  in  its  collection  the  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans.  And 
his  authority  on  this  point  is  entitled  to  greater  weight  from  the 
fact  that  he  was  himself  a  native  of  the  district  where  we  should 
expect  the  earlier  copies  of  the  Epistle  to  exist. 

The  above  arguments  have  convinced  the  ablest  of  modern  critics 
that  this  Epistle  was  not  addressed  to  the  Ephesians.  But  there 
has  not  been  by  any  means  the  same  unanimity  on  the  question, 
Who  were  its  intended  readers?  In  the  most  ancient  manuscripts 
of  it  (as  we  have  seen)  no  Church  is  mentioned  by  name  except 
in  those  consulted  by  Marcion,  according  to  which  it  was  addressed 
to  the  Laodiceans.  Now,  the  internal  evidence  above  mentioned 
proves  that  the  Epistle  was  addressed  to  some  particular  Church 
or  churches  who  w^ere  to  receive  intelligence  of  Paul  through 
Tychicus,  and  that  it  was  not  a  treatise  addressed  to  the  whole 
Christian  world ;  and  the  form  of  the  salutation  shows  that  the 
name  of  some  place  must  originally  have  been  inserted  in  it. 
Again,  the  very  passages  in  the  Epistle  which  have  been  above 
referred  to  as  proving  that  it  could  not  have  been  directed  to  the 
Ephesians  agree  perfectly  with  the  hypothesis  that  it  was  addressed 
to  the  Laodiceans.  Lastly,  we  know  from  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colossians  that  Paul  did  wTite  a  letter  to  Laodicea  (Col.  iv.  16) 
about  the  same  time  with  that  to  Colosse.  On  these  grounds,  then, 
it  appears  the  safest  course  to  assume  (with  Paley  in  the  HorcR 
Paulince)  that  the  testimony  of  Marcion  (uncontradicted  by  any 
other  positive  evidence)  is  correct,  and  that  Laodicea  was  one  at 
least  of  the  churches  to  which  this  Epistle  was  addressed.  And 
consequently  as  we  know  not  the  name  of  any  other  Church  to 
which  it  was  written,  that  of  Laodicea  should  be  inserted  in  the 
place  which  the  most  ancient  manuscripts  leave  vacant. 

Still,  it  must  be  obvious  that  this  does  not  remove  all  the  difficulties 
of  the  question.  For,  first,  it  will  be  asked.  How  came  the  name  of 
Laodicea  (if  originally  inserted)  to  have  slipped  out  of  these  ancient 
manuscripts  ?  and  again,  Plow  came  it  that  the  majority  of  more 
recent  manuscripts  inserted  the  name  of  Ephesus?  These  perplex- 
ing questions  are  in  some  measure  answered  by  the  hypothesis 


PROBABLE  ORIGIN  OF  THE  EPISTLE. 


651 


originated  by  Archbishop  Usher,  that  this  Epistle  was  a  circular 
letter  addressed  not  to  one  only  but  to  several  churches,  in  the  same 
way  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  was  addressed  to  all  the  churches 
in  Galatia,  and  those  to  Corinth  were  addressed  to  the  Christians 
"  in  the  whole  province  of  Achaia."  On  this  view,  Tychicus  would 
have  carried  several  copies  of  it,  differently  superscribed — one  for 
Laodicea,  another  perhaps  for  Hierapolis,  another  for  Philadelphia, 
and  so  on.  Hence  the  early  copyists,  perplexed  by  this  diversity 
in  their  copies,  might  many  of  them  be  led  to  omit  the  words  in 
which  the  variation  consisted,  and  thus  the  state  of  the  earliest 
known  text  of  the  Epistle  would  be  explained.  Afterward,  how- 
ever, as  copies  of  the  Epistle  became  spread  over  the  world,  all 
imported  from  Ephesus  (the  commercial  capital  of  the  district 
where  the  Epistle  was  originally  circulated),  it  would  be  called 
(in  default  of  any  other  name)  the  Epistle  from  EphesuSj  and  the 
manuscripts  of  it  would  be  so  entitled;  and  thence  the  next  step, 
of  inserting  the  name  of  Ephesus  into  the  text  in  a  place  where 
some  local  designation  was  plainly  wanted,  would  be  a  very  easy 
one.  And  this  designation  of  the  Epistle  would  the  more  readily 
prevail  from  the  natural  feeling  that  Paul  must  have  written  some 
Epistle  to  so  great  a  Church  of  his  own  founding  as  Ephesus. 

Thus  the  most  plausible  account  of  the  origin  of  this  Epistle 
seems  to  be  as  follows :  Tychicus  was  about  to  take  his  departure 
from  Rome  for  Asia  Minor.  Paul  had  already  written  his  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians  at  the  request  of  Epaphras,  who  had  informed 
him  of  their  danger.  But  Tychicus  was  about  to  visit  other  places, 
w^hich,  though  not  requiring  the  same  warning  with  Colosse,  yet 
abounded  in  Christian  converts.  Most  of  these  had  been  heathens, 
and  their  hearts  might  be  cheered  and  strengthened  by  words 
addressed  directly  to  themselves  from  the  great  apostle  of  the  Gen- 
tiles, whose  face  they  had  never  seen,  but  wliose  name  they  had 
learned  to  reverence  and  whose  sufferings  had  endeared  him  to 
their  love.  These  scattered  churches  (one  of  which  was  Laodicea) 
had  very  much  in  common,  and  would  all  be  benefited  by  the  same 
instruction  and  exhortation.  Since  it  was  not  necessary  to  meet 
the  individual  case  of  any  one  of  them  as  distinct  from  the  rest, 
Paul  wrote  the  same  letter  to  them  all,  but  sent  to  each  a  separate 
copy  authenticated  by  the  precious  stamp  of  his  own  autograph 
benediction.  And  the  contents  of  this  circular  Epistle  naturally 
bore  a  strong  resemblance  to  those  of  the  letter  which  he  had  just 


652 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


concluded  to  the  Colossians,  because  the  thoughts  which  filled  his 
heart  at  the  time  would  necessarily  find  utterance  in  similar  lan- 
guage, and  because  the  circumstances  of  these  churches  were  in 
themselves  very  sim.ilar  to  those  of  the  Colossian  Church,  except 
that  they  were  not  infected  with  the  peculiar  errors  which  had 
crept  in  at  Colosse.  The  Epistle  which  he  thus  wrote  consists 
of  two  parts — first,  a  doctrinal,  and,  secondly,  a  hortatory,  portion. 
The  first  part  contains  a  summary,  very  indirectly  conveyed 
(chiefly  in  the  form  of  thanksgiving),  of  the  Christian  doctrines 
taught  by  Paul,  and  is  especially  remarkable  for  the  great  promi- 
nence given  to  the  abolition  of  the  Mosaic  Law.  The  hortatory 
part,  which  has  been  so  dear  to  Christians  of  every  age  and  coun- 
try, enjoins  unity  (especially  between  Jewish  and  Gentile  Chris- 
tians), the  renunciation  of  heathen  vices,  and  the  practice  of 
Christian  purity.  It  lays  down  rules  (the  same  as  those  in  the 
Epistle  to  Colosse,  only  in  an  expanded  form)  for  the  performance 
of  the  duties  of  domestic  life,  and  urges  these  new  converts,  in  the 
midst  of  the  perils  which  surrounded  them,  to  continue  steadfast 
in  watchfulness  and  prayer.  Such  is  the  substance,  and  such  was 
most  probably  the  history,  of  the  following  Epistle : 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS  (SO  CALLED). 

1  Paul,  an  Apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  the  w^ill  salutation. 

OF  God,  to  God's  people  who  are  [in  Laodicea],  and 

W^HO  HAVE  FAITH  IN  ChRIST  JeSUS. 

2  Grace  be  to  you  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father,  and  from  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

3  Blessed  be  God,  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Thanksgiving 

/-.I    •  •  •  '  ••111  I'^fiemption 

Christ,  who  has  ariven  us  m  Christ  all  spiritual  bless-  and  knowledge 

.  '         ,  ^  ,       ,  .     ,  .       T        ot   t  h  e  Chris- 

4  ings  m  the  heavens.  Lven  as  he  chose  us  m  him,  be-  tian  mystery 
fore  the  foundation  of  the  world,  that  we  should  be  holy  f potties.  ^  ^ 

5  and  spotless  in  his  sight.  For  in  his  love  he  predestined  us  to  be 
adopted  among  his  children  through  Jesus  Christ,  according  to  tho 

6  good  pleasure  of  his  will,  that  we  might  praise  and  glorify  his  grace, 

7  wherewith  he  favored  us  in  his  beloved.  For  in  him  we  have  our 
redemption  tlirough  his  blood,  even  the  forgiveness  of  our  sins,  in  the 
richness  of  his  grace,  which  he  bestowed  upon  us  above  measure ; 

8  and  he  made  known  to  us,  in  the  fulness  of  wisdom  and  understand- 

9  ing,  the  mystery  of  his  will,  according  to  his  good  pleasure,  wliich 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS  (sO  CALLED). 


653 


he  had  purposed  in  himself  to  fulfil,  that  it  should  be  dispensed  in 

10  the  fulness  of  time ;  to  make  all  things  one  in  Christ  as  head,  yea, 

11  both  things  in  heaven  and  things  on  earth  in  him ;  in  whom  we  also 
received  the  portion  of  our  Jot,  having  been  predestined  thereto 
according  to  his  purpose,  whose  working  makes  all  fulfil  the  counsel 

12  of  his  o^\^l  will ;  that  unto  his  praise  and  glory  we  might  live,  who 
have  hoped  in  Christ  before  you. 

13  And  you,  likewise,  have  hoped  in  him,  since  you  Thanks  for 

*^      '  '  1    1    •  T  r.  their  conver- 

heard  the  message  of  the  truth,  the  glad  tidings  oi  your  siou,^and  pray- 
salvation ;  and  you  believed  in  him,  and  received  his  enlightenment. 

14  seal,  tlie  Holy  Spirit  of  promise ;  who  is  an  earnest  of  our  inherit- 
ance, given  to  redeem  that  which  he  hath  purchased,  to  the  praise 
of  his  glory. 

15  Wherefore  I,  also,  since  I  heard  of  your  faith  in  our  Lord  Jesus, 

16  and  your  love  to  all  God's  people,  give  thanks  for  you  without  ceas- 

17  ing,  and  make  mention  of  you  in  my  prayers,  beseeching  the  God  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  Glory,  to  give  you  a  spirit 

18  of  wisdom  and  of  insight,  in  the  true  knowledge  of  himself ;  the  eyes 
of  your  understanding  being  filled  with  light,  that  you  may  know 

19  what  is  the  hope  of  his  calling,  and  how  rich  is  the  glory  of  his 
inheritance  in  his  people,  and  how  surpassing  is  the  power  which  he 
has  shown  toward  us  who  believe ;  [for  he  has  dealt  with  us]  in  the 
strength  of  that  might  wherewith  he  wrought  in  Christ,  office  and  dig- 

20  when  he  raised  him  from  the  dead ;  and  set  him  on  his  ^^^^  chnst. 

21  own  right  hand  in  the  heavens,  far  above  every  principality,  and 
power,  and  might,  and  domination,  and  every  name  Avhich  is  named, 

22  not  only  in  this  present  time,  but  also  in  that  which  is  to  come.  And 
"  he  put  all  things  under  his  feet/^  and  gave  him  to  be  sovereign  Head 

23  of  the  Church,  which  is  his  body  ;  the  fulness  of  Him  who  fills  all 
things  everywhere  with  himself. 

XL 

1  And  you,  likewise,  he  raised  from  death  to  life,  when  They  had  been 

2  you  were  dead  in  transgressions  and  sins  5   wherein   heathenism  by 
once  you  walked  according  to  the  course  of  this  world,  ^^'^  ®  s^&<^^f 
and  obeyed  the  ruler  of  the  powers  of  the  air,  even  the  spirit  who 

3  is  now  working  in  the  children  of  disobedience ;  amongst  whom  we 
also,  in  times  past,  lived,  all  of  us,  in  fleshly  lusts,  fulfilling  the  de- 
sires of  our  flesh,  and  of  our  imagination,  and  were  by  nature 

4  children  of  wrath,  no  less  than  others.    But  God,  who  is  rich  in 

5  mercy,  because  of  the  great  love  wherewith  he  loved  us,  even  when 
we  were  dead  in  sin,  caused  us  to  share  the  life  of  Christ — (by  grace 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


6  you  are  saved), — and  in  Christ  Jesns,  he  raised  us  up  with  him  from 

7  the  dead,  and  seated  us  with  him  in  the  heavens ;  that,  in  the  ages 
which  are  coming,  he  might  manifest  the  surpassing  riches  of  his 

8  grace,  by  kindness  towards  us  in  Christ  Jesus.  For  by  grace  you 
are  saved,  through  faith;  and  that  not  of  yourselves;  it  is  the  gift 

9, 10  of  God  ;  not  won  by  works,  lest  any  man  should  boast.  Fo? we 
are  his  workmanship,  created  in  Christ  Jesus  to  do  good  works, 
which  God  has  prepared  that  we  should  walk  therein. 

11  Wherefore  remember  that  you,  who  once  were  and  incorpor- 
reckoned  among  carnal  Gentiles,  who  are  called  the  israei."*^^  ^ 
uncircumcision  by  that  which  calls  itself  the  circumcision  (a  circum- 

12  cision  of  the  flesh,  made  by  the  hands  of  man) — that  in  those  times 
you  were  slnit  out  from  Christ,  aliens  from  the  commonwealth  of 
Israel,  and  strangers  from  the  covenants  of  the  promise,  having  no 

13  hope,  and  without  God  in  the  world.  But  now,  in  Christ  Jesus,  ye, 
who  were  once  far  oflj  have  been  brought  near  through  the  blood  of 

14  Clirist.    For  he  is  our  peace,  who  has  made  both  one,  The  Law  which 

15  and  has  broken  down  the  wall  which  parted  us  ;  for,  in  from^'^GentiTes 
his  flesh,  he  destroyed  the  ground  of  our  enmity,  the  ^^^^^^^^d. 

16  Law  of  enacted  ordinances ;  that  so,  making  peace  between  us,  out 
of  both  he  might  create  in  himself  one  new  man ;  and  that,  by  his 
cross,  he  might  reconcile  both,  in  one  body,  unto  God,  having  slain 

17  their  enmity  thereby.  And  when  he  came,  he  published  the  glad 
tidings  of  peace  to  you  that  were  far  oflf  and  to  them  that  were  near. 

18  For  through  him  we  both  have  power  to  approach  the  Father  in  the 

19  fellowship  of  one  Spirit.  Now,  therefore,  you  are  no  They  are  built 
more  strangers  and  sojourners,  but  fellow-citizens  with  of  God.^  temple 

20  God^s  people,  and  members  of  God's  household.  You  are  built  upon 
the  foundation  of  the  apostles  and  prophets,  Jesus  Christ  himself  be- 

21  ing  the  chief  corner-stone ;  in  whom  all  the  building,  fitly  framed 
together,  grows  into  a  temple  hallowed  by  the  indwelling  of  the 

22  Lord.  And  in  him,  not  others  only,  but  you  also,  are  built  up 
together,  to  make  a  house  wherein  God  may  dwell  by  the  presence 
of  his  Spirit. 

III. 

1  Wherefore  I,  Paul,  who,  for  maintaining  the  cause 

'  '  '  °   ,  The  mystery  of 

2  of  von  Gentiles,  am  the  prisoner  of  Jesus  Christ — for  I  universal  salva- 

'  1  /-N    1  •  tion  prociaitned 

suppose  tliat  you  have  heard  how  God's  grace  was  given  by  Paul,  a  pria- 

\       -r      .  1      T  .  Ill       oner  for  it. 

me,  that  I  might  dispense  it  among  you  ;  and  how,  by 

3  revelation,  was  made  known  to  me  the  mystery  (as  I  have  already 

4  shortly  written  to  you ;  so  that,  when  you  read,  you  may  perceive 
6  my  understanding  in  the  mystery  of  Christ),  which,  in  the  genera^ 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPIJESIANS  (sO  CALLED). 


655 


tions  of  old,  was  not  made  known  to  the  sons  of  men,  as  it  has  now 
been  revealed  by  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit,  to  his  holy  apostles  and 

6  prophets ;  to  wit,  that  the  Gentiles  are  heirs  of  the  same  inheritance, 
and  members  of  the  same  body,  and  partakers  of  the  same  promise 
in  Christ,  by  means  of  the  glad  tidings. 

7  And  of  this  glad  tidings  I  was  made  a  ministering  servant,  accord- 
ing to  the  gift  of  the  grace  of  God,  which  was  given  me  in  the  full 

8  measure  of  his  mighty  working ; — to  me,  I  say,  who  am  less  than  the 
least  of  all  God's  people,  this  grace  was  given,  to  bear  among  the 

9  Gentiles  the  glad  tidings  of  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ,  and  to 
bring  light  to  all,  whereby  they  might  understand  the  dispensation 
of  the  mystery  which,  from  the  ages  of  old,  has  been  hid  in  God,  the 

10  Maker  of  all  things ;  that  now,  by  the  Church,  the  manifold  wisdom 
of  God  might  be  made  known  to  the  principalities  and  powers  in  the 

11  heavens,  according  to  his  eternal  purpose,  which  he  fulfilled  in  Christ 

12  J esus  our  Lord ;  in  whom  we  can  approach  without  fear  to  God,  in 
trustful  confidence,  through  faith  in  him. 

13  Wherefore  I  pray  that  I  may  not  faint  under  my  He  prays  for 

14  sufferings  for  you,  which  are  your  glory.    For  this  Ihemftiiat  they 

15  cause  I  bend  my  knees  before  the  Father,  whose  chil-  ^h  e  ifed^an^d 

16  dren  all  are  called  in  heaven  and  in  earth,  beseeching  enhghteued. 
him,  that,  in  the  richness  of  his  glory,  he  would  grant  you  strength 
by  the  entrance  of  his  Spirit  into  your  inner  man,  that  Christ  may 

17  dwell  in  your  hearts  by  faith ;  that  having  your  root  and  your  founda- 

18  tion  in  love,  you  may  be  enabled,  with  all  God's  people,  to  compre- 

19  hend  the  breadth  and  length,  and  depth  and  height  thereof ;  and  to 
know  the  love  of  Christ  which  passeth  knowledge,  that  you  may  be 

20  filled  therewith,  even  to  the  measure  of  the  fulness  of  God.  Now 
unto  Him  who  is  able  to  do  exceeding  abundantly,  above  Doxoiogy. 

21  all  that  we  ask  or  think,  in  the  power  of  his  might  which  works 
within  us,— unto  him,  in  Christ  Jesus,  be  glory  in  the  Church,  even 
to  all  the  generations  of  the  age  of  ages.  Amen. 

IV. 

1  I,  therefore,  the  Lord's  prisoner,  exhort  you  to  walk  Exhortation  to 

2  worthv  of  the  callinsr  wherewith  you  were  called :  in  ^°ity.  Differ- 

o     n   1      T  1  1  ent  gifts  and 

3  all  lowlmess,  and  gentleness,  and  lonff-sufferino:,  for-  offices  must 

,       .  1        .     -,  .   .  .      ?'  combine  to 

bearing  one  another  jn  love,  striving  to  maintain  the  buiid  up  th© 
unity  of  the  Spirit,  bound  together  with  the  bond  of  '^^^ 

4  peace.    You  are  one  body  and  one  spirit,  even  as  you  were  called  to 

5  share  one  common  hope ;  you  have  one  Lord,  you  have  one  faith, 

6  you  have  one  baptism ;  you  have  one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  ia 


656 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OP  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL, 


7  over  all,  and  works  through  all,  and  dwells  in  all.    But  each  one  of 
us  received  the  gift  of  grace  which  he  possesses  according  to  the 

8  measure  wherein  it  was  given  by  Christ.    Wherefore  it  is  written: 
"  When  he  ivent  up  on  highy  he  led  captivity  captive,  and  gave  gifts  unto 

9  menJ^    Now  that  word  ^'he  went  up/^  what  saith  it,  but  that  he  first 

10  came  down  to  the  earth  below  ?  Yea,  He  who  came  down  is  the  same 
who  is  gone  up,  far  above  all  the  heavens,  that  he  might  fill  all 

1 1  things.    And  lie  gave  some  to  be  apostles,  and  some  prophets,  and 

12  some  evangelists,  and  some  pastors  and  teachers ;  for  the  perfecting 
of  God's  people,  to  labor  in  their  appointed  service,  to  build  up  the 

13  body  of  Christ ;  till  we  all  attain  the  same  faith  and  knowledge  of 
the  Son  of  God,  and  reach  the  stature  of  manhood,  and  be  of  ripe  ago 

14  to  receive  the  fulness  of  Christ ;  that  we  should  no  longer  be  children 
in  understanding,  tossed  to  and  fro,  and  blown  round  by  every  shift- 
ing current  of  teaching,  tricked  by  the  sleight  of  men,  and  led  astray 

15  into  the  snares  of  the  cunning ;  but  that  we  should  live  in  truth  and 
love,  and  should  grow  up  in  every  part  to  the  measure  of  His  growth 

16  who  is  our  Head,  even  Christ.  From  whom  the  whole  body  (being 
knit  together,  and  compacted  by  all  its  joints)  derives  its  continued 
growth  in  the  working  of  his  bounty,  which  supplies  its  needs,  ac- 
cording to  the  measure  of  each  several  part,  that  it  may  build  itself 
up  in  love. 

17  This  I  say,  therefore,  and  adjure  you  in  the  Lord,  j,^|^Qj.tation  to 
to  live  no  longer  like  other  Gentiles,  whose  minds  are  tiie  rejection  of 

18  filled  with  folly,  whose  understanding  is  darkened,  who  and  to  moral 
are  estranged  from  the  life  of  God  because  of  the  ignor- 

19  ance  which  is  in  them,  through  the  hardness  of  their  hearts ;  who, 
being  past  feeling,  have  given  themselves  over  to  lasciviousness,  to 

20  work  all  uncleanness  in  lust.    But  you  have  not  so  learned  Christ ; 

21  if,  indeed,  you  have  heard  his  voice,  and  been  taught  in  him,  as  the 

22  truth  is  in  Jesus ;  to  forsake  your  former  life,  and  put  off  the  old 
man,  whose  way  is  destruction,  following  the  desires  which  deceive ; 

23, 24  and  to  be  renewed  in  the  spirit  of  your  mind,  and  to  put  on  the  new 
man,  created  after  God's  likeness,  in  the  righteousness  and  holiness 
2-5  of  the  truth.    Wherefore,  putting  away  lying,  speak  Against  several 

26  every  man  truth  with  his  neighbor;  for  we  are  mem-  ^p®^^^®'^ 

27  bers  one  of  another.    "  Be  ye  angry,  and  sin  not^    Let  not  the  sun 

28  go  down  upon  your  wrath,  nor  give  way  to  the  devil.  Let  the  robber 
rob  no  more,  but  rather  let  him  labor,  working  to  good  purpose  with 
his  hands,  that  he  may  have  somewhat  to  share  with  the  needy. 

29  From  your  mouth  let  no  filthy  words  proceed,  but  such  as  may  build 
up  the  Church  according  to  its  n<^ed,  and  give  a  blessing  to  the  hear- 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  EPHESIANS  (sO  CALLED). 


657 


30  ers.    And  grieve  not  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  who  was  given  to  seal 

31  vou  for  the  day  of  redemption.  Let  all  bitterness  and  passion,  and 
anger,  and  clamor,  and  evil-speaking  be  put  away  from  yon,  with  all 

32  malice ;  and  be  kind  one  to  another,  tender-hearted,  forgiving  one 
another,  even  as  God  in  Christ  has  forgiven  you. 

V. 

1  Therefore  be  followers  of  God's  example  as  the  chil-  Exhortation  to 

2  dren  of  his  love.    And  walk  in  love,  as  Christ  also  pveness  and 
loved  us,  and  gave  himself  for  us,  a  sacrifice  of  sweet 

odor,  to  be  ofiered  up  to  God. 

3  But  as  befits  God's  people,  let  not  fornication,  or  any  Against  impur- 
kind  of  uncleanness  or  lust  be  so  much  as  named  sins  of  heathen 

4  among  you ;  nor  filthiness,  or  buflfoonery,  or  ribald 

jesting,  for  such  speech  beseems  you  not,  but  rather  thanksgiving. 

5  Yea,  this  you  know ;  for  you  have  learned  that  no  fornicator,  or  im- 
pure or  lustful  man,  who  is  nothing  less  than  an  idolater,  has  any 

6  inheritance  in  the  kingdom  of  Christ  and  God.  Let  no  man  mislead 
you  by  empty  reasonings ;  for  these  are  the  deeds  which  bring  the 

7  wrath  of  God  upon  the  children  of  disobedience.    Be  not  ye,  there- 

8  fore,  partakers  with  them ;  for  you  once  were  darkness,  but  now  are 

9  light  in  the  Lord.    Walk  as  children  of  light ;  for  the  fruits  of  light 

10  are  in  all  goodness,  and  righteousness,  and  truth.    Examine  well 

11  what  is  acceptable  to  the  Lord,  and  have  no  fellowship     ^.  ^ 

^     ^  '  ^    which  must  be 

with  the  unfruitful  works  of  darkness,  yea,  rather  ex-  rebuked  by  the 

-rt  -r-«  .1  example  and 

12  pose  their  foulness.    For,  concerning  the  secret  deeds  watchfulness  of 

n  Christians. 

Id  of  the  heathen,  it  is  shameful  even  to  speak ;  yet  all 

these  things,  when  exposed,  are  made  manifest  by  the  shining  of  the 
light ;  for  whatsoever  is  shone  upon  and  made  manifest  becomes 

14, 15  light.  Wherefore  it  is  written,  "  Awake^  thou  that  sleepestj  and 
arise  from  the  dead,  and  Christ  shall  shine  upon  theeP 

16  See,  then,  that  you  walk  without  stumbling,  not  in  folly,  but  in 

17  wisdom,  forestalling  opportunity,  because  the  times  are  evil.  There- 
fore, be  not  without  understanding,  but  learn  to  know  what  the  will 
of  the  Lord  is. 

18  Be  not  drunk  with  wine,  like  those  who  live  riot-  Festive  i^ee^ 

19  ously ;  but  be  filled  with  the  indwelling  of  the  Spirit,  cefebrated. 
when  you  speak  one  to  another.    Let  your  singing  be  of  psalms  and 
hymns  and  spiritual  songs,  and  make  melody  with  the  music  of  your 

20  hearts,  to  the  Lord.  And  at  all  times,  for  all  things  which  befall  you, 
give  thanks  to  our  God  and  Father,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ. 

42 


658 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


21  Submit  yourselves  one  to  another  in  the  fear  of  Duties  of  wivea 

22  Christ.    Wives,  submit  yourselves  to  your  husbands, 

23  as  unto  the  Lord;  for  the  husband  is  head  of  the  wife,  even  as 
Christ  is  Head  of  the  Church,  his  body,  which  he  saves  from  harm. 

24  But,  as  the  Church  submits  itself  to  Christ,  so  let  the  wives  submit 
themselves  to  their  husbands  in  all  things. 

25  Husbands,  love  your  wives,  as  Christ  also  loved  the  Church,  and 

26  gave  himself  for  it,  that  having  purified  it  by  the  water  wherein  it  is 
washed,  he  might  hallow  it  by  the  indwelling  of  the  word  of  God  ; 

27  that  he  might  himself  present  unto  himself  the  Church  in  stainless 
glory,  not  having  spot  or  wrinkle,  or  any  such  thing ;  but  that  it 

28  should  be  holy  and  unblemished.  In  like  manner,  husbands  ought  to 
love  their  wives  as  they  love  their  own  bodies ;  for  he  tliat  loves  his 

29  wife  does  but  love  himself ;  and  no  man  ever  hated  his  own  flesh, 
but  nourishes  and  cherishes  it,  as  Christ  also  nourishes  and  cherishes 

30  the  Church  ;  for  we  are  members  of  his  body,  portions  of  his  flesh. 

31  "  For  this  cause  shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  his  mother,  and  shall 

32  cleave  unto  his  wife,  and  they  two  shall  be  one  fleshJ^    This  mystery  is 

33  great ;  but  I  speak  of  Christ  and  of  the  Church.  Nevertheless,  let 
every  one  of  you  individually  so  love  his  wife  even  as  himself,  and 
let  the  wife  see  that  she  reverence  her  husband, 

VI. 

1  Children,  obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord  ;  for  this  is  J^en^"  ^^^^j 

2  right.      Honor  thy  father  and  thy  mother/' which.  IS  iliQ  reuts. 

3  first  commandment  with  promise :  "  That  it  may  be  well  with  thee,  and 
thou  shalt  live  long  upon  the  earthJ' 

4  And  ye,  fathers,  vex  not  your  children ;  but  bring  them  up  in  such 
training  and  correction  as  befits  the  servants  of  the  Lord. 

5  Bondsmen,  obey  your  earthly  masters  with  anxiety  Duties  of  slaves 
and  self-distrust,  in  singleness  of  heart,  as  unto  Christ ; 

6  not  with  eye-service,  as  men-pleasers,  but  as  bondsmen  of  Christ, 

7  doing  the  will  of  God  from  the  soul.   With  goodwill  fulfilling  your 

8  service,  as  to  the  Lord  our  Master,  and  not  to  men.  For  you  know 
that  whatever  good  any  man  does,  the  same  shall  he  receive  from  the 
Lord,  whether  he  be  bond  or  free. 

9  And  ye,  masters,  do  in  like  manner  by  them,  and  abstain  from 
threats  ■  knowing  that  your  own  Master  is  in  heaven,  and  that  with 
him  is  no  respect  of  persons. 

10  Finally,  my  brethren,  let  your  hearts  be  strengthened  Exhortation  to 
in  the  Lord,  and  in  the  conquering  power  of  his  might.  c^dUiau  ar^ 

11  Put  on  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  you  may  be  able 


CX)NTENTS  OF  COLOSSIANS  AND  "  EPHESIANS."  659 


12  to  stand  firm  against  the  wiles  of  the  devil.  For  the  adversaries 
with  whom  we  wrestle  are  not  flesh  and  blood,  but  they  are  the 
principalities,  the  powers,  and  the  sovereigns  of  this  present  dark- 

13  ness,  the  company  of  evil  spirits  in  the  heavens.  "Wherefore,  take  up 
with  you  to  the  battle  the  whole  armor  of  God,  that  you  may  be  able 
to  withstand  them  in  the  evil  day,  and  having  overthrown  them  all, 

14  to  stand  unshaken.    Stand,  therefore,  girt  with  the  belt  of  truth, 

15  and  wearing  the  breastplate  of  righteousness,  and  shod  as  ready  mes- 

16  sengers  of  the  glad  tidings  of  peace;  and  take  up  to  cover  you  the 
shield  of  faith,  wherewith  you  shall  be  able  to  quench  all  the  fiery 

17  darts  of  the  Evil  One.  Take,  likewise,  the  helmet  of  salvation,  and 
the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God. 

18  Continue  to  pray  at  every  season  with  all  earnest-  To  pray  for 
ness  of  supplication  in  the  Spirit ;  and  to  this  end  Le  Paul, 
watchful  with  all  perseverance  in  prayer  for  all  Christ's  people,  and 

19  for  me,  that  utterance  may  be  given  me,  to  open  my  mouth  and  make 

20  known  with  boldness  the  mystery  of  the  glad  tidings,  for  which  I 
am  an  ambassador  in  fetters.  Pray  that  I  may  declare  it  boldly,  as 
I  ought  to  speak. 

21  But  that  you,  as  well  as  others,  may  be  informed  of  Tychicus  the 
my  concerns,  and  how  I  fare,  Tychicus,  my  beloved 

brother,  and  faithful  servant  in  the  Lord,  will  make  all  known  to 

22  you.  And  I  have  sent  him  to  you  for  this  very  end,  that  you  may 
learn  what  concerns  me,  and  that  he  may  comfort  your  hearts. 

23  Peace  be  to  the  brethren,  and  love  with  faith,  from  Concluding 
God  our  Father,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  benediction. 

24  Grace  be  with  all  who  love  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  in  sincerity. 


NOTE. 


To  complete  the  view  of  the  two  preceding  Epistles,  the  following 
tables  are  added ;  the  first  of  which  gives  a  comparative  outline  of 
their  contents ;  the  second  shows  the  verbal  correspondence  be- 
tween the  parallel  passages  in  each : 


Epistle  to  Colossians. 
1-2.  Salutation. 
3-6.  Thanksgiving  for  their 

conversion  (7-8,  Epaph- 

ras). 


Epistle  to  Ephesians  {so  called), 

I.     1-2.  Salutation. 

3-12.  Thanksgiving  for  re- 
demption and  know- 
ledge of  Christian 
mystery. 


660         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


I.    9-14.  Prayer  for  their  enligbt- 
enment  and  thankful- 
ness for  redemption. 
15-20.  Christ's    work,  nature, 

and  dignity. 
21-22.  He  had  called  them  from 
heathenism  and  recon- 
ciled them  to  God. 


23-29,  Paul  a  prisoner  and  min- 
ister of  the  mystery  of 
universal  salvation. 
II.     1-4.  Prayer  for  their  constancy 
and  growth  in  Chris- 
tian wisdom. 
4-23.  Warning  against  a  false 
philosophy,  which  de- 
preciated   Christ  and 
united  Jewish  obser- 
vance   (abolished  by 
Christ)  with  angel-wor- 
ship and  asceticism. 
III.     1-4.  Exhortation  to  heaven- 
ward affections. 


6-9.  Against  heathen  impu- 
rity, anger,  malice, 
falsehood. 


10-16.  Exhortation  to  moral  re- 
newal, including  meek- 
ness, forbearance,  for- 
giveness, charity,  and 
mutual  exhortation. 


I.  13-19.  Thanksgiving  for  their 
conversion,  and  prayer 
for  their  enlightenment. 
20-23.  Work    and   dignity  of 
Christ. 

II.    1-10.  They  had  been  awakened 
from    heathenism  by 
God's  grace. 
11-13.  And    incorporated  into 

God's  Israel. 
14-18.  Law  which  divided  Jews 
from  Gentiles  abolished. 

19-  22.  They  are  built  into  the 

temple  of  God. 
III.    1-12.  Mystery  of  universal  sal- 
vation proclaimed  by 
Paul,  a  prisoner  for  it. 

13-17.  He  prays  for  himself  and 
them,  that  they  may  be 
strengthened. 

18-19.  And  enlightened. 

20-  21.  Doxology. 


IV.    1-16.  Exhortation    to  unity. 

Different  gifts  and 
offices  combine  [Col.  ii. 
19]  to  build  up  the 
Church. 

17-24.  Exhortation  to  reject 
heathen  vice  and  to 
moral  renewal. 

25-31.  Against  lying,  anger, 
robbery,  impure  words, 
malice. 

32.-V.  2.  Exhortation  to  Christ- 
like forgiveness  and 
love. 

V.    3-10.  Against    impurity  and 
other  sins  of  heathen 
darkness. 
11-17.  Which  are  to  be  rebuked 


PARALLELISM  BETWEEN  COLOSSLA.NS  AND  "  EPHESLiNS.'^  661 


IIL  16-17.  Festive  meetings,  how  to 
be  celebrated. 
18-19.  Duties  of  wives  and  hus- 
bands. 

20-21.  Duties  of  children  and 
parents. 

22-IV.  1.  Duties  of  slaves  and 
masters. 


IV.     2-  4.  Exhortation  to  pray  for 
themselves  and  Paul. 
5-  6.  Watchfulness  in  conduct 
towards  unbelievers 
[Eph.  V.  11-17]. 
7-  9.  Tychicus  and  Onesimus, 

the  messengers. 
10-14.  Salutations  from  Rome. 
15-17.  Messages  concerning  La- 
odicea  and  Archippus. 
18.  Autograph  salutation 
and  benediction. 


by  the  example  and 
watchfulness  of  Chris- 
tians [Col.  iv.  5-6]. 
V.  18-20.  Festive  meetings,  how  to 
be  celebrated. 
21-33.  Duties  of  wives  and  hus- 
bands. 

VL     1-  4.  Duties  of  children  and 
parents. 
5-  9.  Duties    of   slaves  and 
masters. 
10-17.  Exhortation  to  fight  in 

the  Christian  armor. 
18-20.  To  pray  for  otners  and 
for  Paul. 


21-22.  Tychicus  tho  messenger. 


23-24.  Concluding  benediction* 


Verbal  resemblances  between  the  so-called  Epistle  to  the  Epheaians  and 
the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 


Eph. 


.  1-Col.  i.  1. 

2-  Col.  i.  2. 

3-  Col.  i.  3. 

4-  Col.  i.  22. 
5- 

6- 

7-Col.  i.  14. 
8- 

9-Col.  1.  25. 

10-  Col.  i.  20. 

11-  Col.  i.  12. 
12- 

13- 
14- 


Eph.  i.  15- 
16- 
17- 
18- 
19- 
20- 
21- 
22- 
23- 
ii.  1-J 
2 
3- 


I  Col.  i.  3-4.  - 


Col 


fi.  16,  n 

•  1  ii.  13. 


t,  19,  21, 


-  1         r  i.  13. 
-l^^Mi.21. 
4- 

5-Col.  ii.  13. 


662         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES 


OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Eph.  ii, 


6- 
7- 
8- 
9- 
10- 

11-Col.  ii.  13. 
12- 

13- 
14- 
15- 
16-  . 
17- 


21. 
22, 


'  }  Col.  i.  { 

5II  Col.  ii.  1^^- 
6- J  l^O- 


Col.  i. 


18- 

19- 
20- 
21- 
22- 
iii.  1-] 

2-  I 

3— 

4- 

6- 

6- 

7- 

»- 

9-  ^ 
10-  ' 
11- 
12- 
13- 

14-Col.  1.  9, 
15- 


'  24. 
25. 
26. 
27. 
28. 
L'y. 


16- 
17- 
18- 
19- 


Col. 


r  9. 
111. 


ii.  7. 


[2-3. 
L9. 


20- 
21- 

iv.    1-Col.  iv.  3. 
3-  \  Col 


111. 


12. 
13. 
14. 
15. 


Col.  ii. 


Col.  iii. 


Col.  iii. 


Col.  iv.  A. 


PARALLELISM  BETWEEN  COLOSSIANS  AND  "ePHESIANS."  663 


Eph.v.  19-]  ri6. 
2^)_jCoI.iii.  1^7^ 

21- 

22-Col.  iii.  18. 

23- 

24- 

25-Col.  m.  19. 

26- 

27- 

28- 

29- 

30- 

31- 

31- 

32- 

33- 

vi.  1-Col.  iii.  20. 
2- 
3- 

4-Col.  iii.  21. 


Eph. 


7- 
8- 


Col. 


.  22. 
23. 
24. 
25. 
1. 


lo- 
ll- 

12-Col.  ii.  15. 
13- 
14- 
15- 
16- 
17- 
18- 
19- 
20- 
21- 
22- 
23- 
24- 


Col.  iv. 


Col.  iv. 


(i; 

C: 


From  the  first  of  the  above  tables  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is 
scarcely  a  single  topic  in  the  Ephesian  Epistle  which  is  not  also 
to  be  found  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  but,  on  the  other  hand, 
that  there  is  an  important  section  of  Colossians  (ii.  8-23)  which 
has  no  parallel  in  Ephesians.  From  the  second  table  it  appears 
that  out  of  the  one  hundred  and  fifty-five  verses  contained  in  the 
so-called  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  seventy-eight  verses  contain 
expressions  identical  with  those  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 

The  kind  of  resemblance  here  traced  is  not  that  which  would  be 
found  in  the  work  of  a  forger  servilely  copying  the  Epistle  to 
Colosse.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  just  what  we  might  expect  to  find 
in  the  work  of  a  man  whose  mind  was  thoroughly  imbued  with 
the  ideas  and  expressions  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians  when  he 
wrote  the  other  Epistle. 


CHAPTEK  XXVI. 

THJ:  PR^TORIUM  AKD  the  palatine. — ARRIVAL  OF  EPAPHRO- 
DITUS. — POLITICAL  EVENTS  AT  ROME. — OCTAVIA  AND  POPP^A. 
— PAUL  WRITES  "the  EPISTLE  TO  THE  PHILIPPIANS." — HE 
MAKES  CONVERTS  IN  THE  IMPERIAL  HOUSEHOLD. 

The  close  of  the  Epistle  to  which  our  attention  has  just  been 
turned  contains  a  remarkable  example  of  the  forcible  imagery  of 
Paul.  Considered  simply  in  itself,  this  description  of  the  Chris- 
tian's armor  is  one  of  the  most  striking  passages  in  the  Sacred 
Volume.  But  if  we  view  it  in  connection  with  the  circumstances 
with  which  the  apostle  was  surrounded,  we  find  a  new  and  living 
emphasis  in  his  enumeration  of  all  the  parts  of  the  heavenly 
panoply — the  belt  of  sincerity  and  truth  with  which  the  loins  are 
girded  for  the  spiritual  war — the  breastplate  of  that  righteousness 
the  inseparable  links  whereof  are  faith  and  love — the  strong  san- 
dals with  which  the  feet  of  Christ's  soldiers  are  made  ready,  not 
for  such  errands  of  death  and  despair  as  those  on  which  the  prae- 
torian soldiers  were  daily  sent,  but  for  the  universal  message  of 
the  gospel  of  peace — the  large  shield  of  confident  trust,  wherewith 
the  whole  man  is  protected,  and  whereon  the  fiery  arrows  of  the 
Wicked  One  fall  harmless  and  dead — the  close-fitting  helmet  with 
which  the  hope  of  salvation  invests  the  head  of  the  believer — and 
finally  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  the  word  of  God,  which  when 
wielded  by  the  great  Captain  of  our  salvation  turned  the  tempt- 
er in  the  wilderness  to  flight,  while  in  the  hands  of  his  chosen 
apostle  (with  whose  memory  the  sword  seems  inseparably  asso- 
ciated) it  became  the  means  of  establishing  Christianity  on  the 
earth. 

All  this  imagery  becomes  doubly  forcible  if  we  remember  that 
when  Paul  wrote  the  words  he  was  chained  to  a  soldier  and  in  the 
close  neighborhood  of  military  sights  and  sounds.  The  appearance 
of  the  praetorian  guards  was  daily  familiar  to  him,  as  his  "chains," 
ou  the  other  hand  (so  he  tells  us  in  the  succeeding  Epistle),  be- 
664 


THE  PR^TORIUM. 


665 


came  "well  known  throughout  the  whole  Prcetorium^^  (Phil.  i. 
13).  A  difFerence  of  opinion  has  existed  as  to  the  precise  mean- 
ing of  the  word  in  this  passage.  Some  have  identified  it,  as  in 
the  Authorized  Version,  with  the  "house  of  Caesar"  on  the  Pala- 
tine; more  commonly  it  has  been  supposed  to  mean  that  perma- 
nent  camp  of  the  prsetorian  guards  which  Tiberius  established  on 
the  north  of  the  city  outside  the  w^alls.  As  regards  the  former 
opinion,  it  is  true  that  the  word  came  to  be  used,  almost  as  we  use 
the  word  "palace,"  for  royal  residences  generally  or  for  any  resi- 
dences of  a  princely  splendor,  and  that  thus  we  read  in  other 
parts  of  the  New  Testament  of  the  Prsetorium  of  Pilate  at  Jeru- 
salem and  the  Praetorium  of  Herod  at  Csesarea.  Yet  we  never 
find  the  word  employed  for  the  imperial  house  at  Rome;  and  w^e 
believe  the  truer  view  to  be  that  which  has  been  recently  advo- 
cated— namely,  that  it  denotes  here  not  the  palace  itself,  but  the 
quarters  of  that  part  of  the  imperial  guards  which  was  in  imme- 
diate attendance  upon  the  emperor.  Such  a  military  establish- 
ment is  mentioned  in  the  fullest  account  which  we  possess  of  the 
first  residence  of  Augustus  on  the  Palatine;  and  it  is  in  harmony 
with  the  general  ideas  on  which  the  monarchy  was  founded.  The 
emperor  was  prmtor  or  commander-in-chief  of  the  troops,  and  it 
was  natural  that  his  immediate  guard  should  be  in  a  prmforium 
near  him.  It  might,  indeed,  be  argued  that  this  military  estab- 
lishment on  the  Palatine  would  cease  to  be  necessary  when  the 
praetorian  camp  w^as  established ;  but  the  purpose  of  that  establish- 
ment was  to  concentrate  near  the  city  those  cohorts  which  had 
previously  been  dispersed  in  other  parts  of  Italy;  a  local  body- 
guard near  the  palace  would  not  cease  to  be  necessary;  and  Jose- 
phus,  in  his  account  of  the  imprisonment  of  Agrippa,  speaks  of  a 
"camp"  in  connection  with  the  "royal  house."  Such  we  conceive 
to  have  been  the  barrack  immediately  alluded  to  by  Paul,  though 
the  connection  of  these  smaller  quarters  with  the  general  camp 
was  such  that  he  would  naturally  become  known  to  all  the  resi^* 
of  the  guards  as  well  as  those  who  might  for  the  time  be  connected 
with  the  imperial  household. 

What  has  just  been  said  of  the  Avord  "Praetorium"  applied  still 
more  extensively  to  the  word  "  Palatium."  Originally  denoting 
the  hill  on  which  the  twin-brothers  w^ere  left  by  the  retreating 
river,  it  grew  to  be,  and  it  still  remains,  the  symbol  of  imperial 
power.    Augustus  was  born  on  the  Palatine,  and  he  fixed  his 


666  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

ofScial  residence  there  when  the  civil  wars  were  terminated.  Thus 
it  may  be  truly  said  that  "  after  the  Capitol  and  the  Forum  no 
locality  in  the  ancient  city  claims  so  much  of  our  interest  as  the 
Palatine  Hill — at  once  the  birthplace  of  the  infant  city  and  the 
abode  of  her  rulers  during  the  days  of  her  greatest  splendor — 
where  the  reed-thatched  cottage  of  Romulus  was  still  preserved  in 
the  midst  of  the  gorgeous  structures  of  Caligula  and  Nero.''  About 
the  close  of  the  republic  it  was  still  the  residence  of  many  dis- 
tinguished citizens,  such  as  Crassus,  Cicero,  Catiline,  Clodius,  and 
Antony.  Augustus  himself  simply  bought  the  house  of  Horten- 
sius  and  lived  there  in  modest  state.  But  the  new  era  was  begun 
for  the  Palatine  when  the  first  emperor,  soon  after  the  battle  of 
Actium,  raised  the  temple  of  Apollo,  with  its  celebrated  Greek  and 
Latin  libraries,  on  the  side  near  the  Forum.  Tiberius  erected  a 
new  palace,  or  an  addition  to  the  old  one,  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  hill,  immediately  above  the  Circus  Maximus.  It  remained  for 
subsequent  emperors  to  cover  the  whole  area  of  the  hill  with  struc- 
tures connected  with  the  palace.  Caligula  extended  the  imperial 
buildings  by  a  bridge  (as  fantastic  as  that  at  Baise)  which  joined 
the  Palatine  with  the  Capitol.  Nero  made  a  similar  extension  in 
the  direction  of  the  Esquiline ;  and  this  is  the  point  at  which  we 
must  arrest  our  series  of  historical  notices,  for  the  burning  of 
Pome  and  the  erection  of  the  Golden  House  intervened  between 
the  first  and  second  imprisonments  of  the  apostle  Paul.  The  fire, 
moreover,  which  is  so  closely  associated  with  the  first  sufferings  of 
the  Church,  has  made  it  impossible  to  identify  any  of  the  existing 
ruins  on  the  Palatine  with  buildings  that  were  standing  when  the 
apostle  was  among  the  praetorian  guards.  Nor  indeed  is  it  possible 
to  assign  the  ruins  to  their  proper  epochs.  All  is  now  confusion 
on  the  hill  of  Pomulus  and  Augustus.  Palace  after  palace  suc- 
ceeded till  the  empire  was  lost  in  the  midst  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
As  we  explore  the  subterraneous  chambers  where  classical  paint- 
ings are  still  visible  on  the  plaster,  or  look  out  through  broken 
arches  over  the  Campagna  and  its  aqueducts,  the  mind  is  filled 
with  blending  recollections  not  merely  of  a  long  line  of  Roman 
Caesars,  but  of  Ravenna  and  Constantinople,  Charlemagne  and 
Rienzi.  This  royal  part  of  the  Western  Babylon  has  almost 
shared  the  fate  of  the  city  of  the  Euphrates.  The  Palatine 
contains  gardens  and  vineyards  and  half-cultivated  spaces  of 
ground,  where  the  acanthus-weed  grows  in  wild  luxuriance,  but 


ARRIVAL  OF  EPAPHRODITUS. 


667 


its  population  has  shrunk  to  one  small  convent,  and  the  unhealthy 
air  seems  to  brood  like  a  curse  over  the  scene  of  Nero's  tyranny 
and  crime. 

Paul  was  at  Rome  precisely  at  that  time  when  the  Palatine  was 
tbs  most  conspicuous  spot  on  the  earth,  not  merely  for  crime,  but 
for  splendor  and  power.  This  was  the  centre  of  all  the  movements 
of  the  empire.  Here  were  heard  the  causes  of  all  Roman  citizens 
who  had  appealed  to  Ctesar.  Hence  were  issued  the  orders  to  the 
governors  of  provinces  and  to  the  legions  on  the  frontier.  From 
the  "Golden  Milestone"  [Milliarium  Aureum)  below  the  palace 
the  roads  radiated  in  all  directions  to  the  remotest  verge  of  civili- 
zation. The  official  messages  of  the  emperor  were  communicated 
along  them  by  means  of  posts  established  by  the  government,  but 
these  roads  afforded  also  the  means  of  transmitting  the  letters 
of  private  citizens,  whether  sent  by  means  of  tahellarii  or  by  the 
voluntary  aid  of  accidental  travellers.  "To  such  communications 
between  the  metropolis  and  the  provinces  others  were  now  added 
of  a  kind  hitherto  unknown  in  the  world — not  different,  indeed,  in 
outward  appearance  from  common  letters,  but  containing  com- 
mands more  powerful  in  their  effects  than  the  despatches  of  Nero — 
touching  more  closely  the  private  relations  of  life  than  all  the  cor- 
respondence of  Seneca  or  Pliny,  and  proclaiming  in  the  very  form 
of  their  salutations  the  perpetual  union  of  the  Jew,  the  Greek,  and 
the  Roman." 

It  seems  probable  that  the  three  letters  which  we  have  last  read 
were  despatched  from  Rome  when  Paul  had  been  resident  there 
about  a  year — that  is,  in  the  spring  of  the  year  62  A.  D.  After  the 
departure  of  Tychicus  and  Onesimus  the  apostle's  prison  was  cheered 
by  the  arrival  of  Epaphroditus,  who  bore  a  contribution  from  the 
Christians  of  Philippi.  We  have  before  seen  instances  of  the 
noble  liberality  of  that  Church,  and  now  once  more  we  find  them 
ministering  to  the  necessities  of  their  beloved  teacher.  Epaphro- 
ditus, apparently  a  leading  presbyter  among  the  Philippians,  had 
brought  on  himself,  by  the  fatigues  or  perils  of  his  journey,  a  dan- 
gerous illness.  Paul  speaks  of  him  with  touching  affection.  He 
calls  him  his  "  brother,  and  companion  in  labor,  and  fellow-soldier" 
(ii.  25),  declares  "  that  his  labor  in  the  cause  of  Christ  had  brought 
him  near  to  death"  (ii.  30),  and  that  he  had  "hazarded  his  life" 
in  order  to  supply  the  means  of  communication  between  the  Phi* 
lippians  and  himself.  And  when  speaking  of  his  recovery  he  says, 


668         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


"God  had  compassion  on  him,  and  not  on  him  only,  but  on  me  also, 
that  I  might  not  have  sorrow  upon  sorrow"  (ii.  27).  We  must 
suppose  from  these  expressions  that  Epaphroditus  had  exposed 
himself  to  some  unusual  risk  in  his  journey.  Perhaps  his  health 
was  already  feeble  when  he  set  out,  so  that  he  showed  self-devotion 
in  encountering  fatigues  which  were  certain  to  injure  him. 

Meanwhile,  Paul  continued  to  preach  and  his  converts  to  mul- 
tiply. We  shall  find  that  when  he  wrote  to  the  Philippians,  either 
towards  the  close  of  this  year  or  at  the  beginning  of  the  next,  great 
effects  had  already  been  produced,  and  that  the  Church  of  Pome 
was  not  only  enlarged,  but  encouraged  to  act  with  greater  boldness 
upon  the  surrounding  masses  of  heathenism  by  the  successful 
energy  of  the  apostolic  prisoner.  Yet  the  political  occurrences  of 
the  year  might  well  have  alarmed  him  for  his  safety,  and  counselled 
a  more  timid  course.  We  have  seen  that  prisoners  in  Paul's  posi- 
tion were  under  the  charge  of  the  prastorian  prefect;  and  in  this 
year  occurred  the  death  of  the  virtuous  Burrus,  under  whose 
authority  his  imprisonment  had  been  so  unusually  mild.  Upon 
this  event  the  prefecture  was  put  into  commission,  and  bestowed 
on  Fenius  Eufus  and  Sofonius  Tigellinus.  The  former  was  re- 
spectable, but  wanting  in  force  of  character,  and  quite  unable  to 
cope  with  his  colleague,  who  was  already  notorious  for  that  ener- 
getic wickedness  which  has  since  made  his  name  proverbial.  PauFs 
Christian  friends  in  Kome  must  have  trembled  to  think  of  him  as 
subject  to  the  caprice  of  this  most  detestable  of  Nero's  satellites. 
It  does  not  seem,  however,  that  his  situation  was  altered  for  the 
worse;  possibly  he  was  never  brought  under  the  special  notice  of 
Tigellinus,  who  was  too  intent  on  court  intrigues  at  this  period 
to  attend  to  so  trifling  a  matter  as  the  concerns  of  a  Jewish  pris- 
oner. 

Another  circumstance  occurred  about  the  same  time  which 
seemed  to  threaten  still  graver  mischief  to  the  cause  of  Paul. 
This  was  the  marriage  of  Nero  to  his  adulterous  mistress  Pop- 
psea,  who  had  become  a  proselyte  to  Judaism.  This  infamous 
woman,  not  content  with  inducing  her  paramour  to  divorce  his 
young  wife  Octavia,  had  demanded  and  obtained  the  death  of  her 
rival,  and  had  gloated  over  the  head  of  the  murdered  victim,  which 
was  forwarded  from  Pandataria  to  Eome  for  her  inspection.  Her 
power  seemed  now  to  have  reached  its  zenith,  but  rose  still  higher 
at  the  beginning  of  the  following  year  upon  the  birth  of  a  daughter, 


Paul's  letter  to  the  philippians. 


669 


when  temples  were  erected  to  her  and  her  infant,  and  divine  honors 
paid  them.  We  know  from  Josephus  that  she  exerted  her  influence 
over  Nero  in  favor  of  the  Jews,  and  that  she  patronized  their  emis- 
saries at  Rome ;  and  assuredly  no  scruples  of  humanity  would  pre- 
vent her  from  seconding  their  demand  for  the  punishment  of  their 
most  detested  antagonist. 

These  changed  circumstances  fully  account  for  the  anticipations 
of  an  unfavorable  issue  to  his  trial  which  we  shall  find  Paul  now 
expressing,  and  which  contrast  remarkably  with  the  confident  ex- 
pectation of  release  entertained  by  him  when  he  wrote  the  letter 
to  Philemon.  AVhen  we  come  to  discuss  the  trial  of  Paul  we  shall 
see  reason  to  believe  that  the  providence  of  God  did  in  fact  avert 
this  danger,  but  at  present  all  things  seemed  to  wxar  a  most  threat- 
ening aspect.  Perhaps  the  death  of  Pallas  (which  also  happened 
this  year)  may  be  considered,  on  the  other  hand,  as  removing  an 
unfavorable  influence ;  for  as  the  brother  of  Felix  he  would  have 
been  willing  to  soften  the  Jewish  accusers  of  that  profligate  gov- 
ernor by  co-operating  with  their  designs  against  Paul.  But  his 
power  had  ceased  to  be  formidable  either  for  good  or  evil  some 
time  before  his  death. 

Meanwhile,  Epaphroditus  was  fully  recovered  from  his  sickness 
and  able  once  more  to  travel,  and  he  willingly  prepared  to  comply 
with  PauFs  request  that  he  would  return  to  Philippi.  We  are  told 
that  he  was  "  filled  with  longing  "  to  see  his  friends  again,  and  the 
more  so  when  he  heard  that  great  anxiety  had  been  caused  among 
them  by  the  news  of  his  sickness.  Probably  he  occupied  an  influ- 
ential post  in  the  Philippian  Church,  and  Paul  was  unwilling  to 
detain  him  any  longer  from  his  duties  there.  He  took  the  occasion 
of  his  return  to  send  a  letter  of  grateful  acknowledgment  to  his 
Philippian  converts. 

It  has  been  often  remarked  that  this  Epistle  contains  less  of  cen- 
sure and  more  of  praise  than  any  other  of  Paul's  extant  letters.  It 
gives  us  a  very  high  idea  of  the  Christian  state  of  the  Philippians, 
as  shown  by  the  firmness  of  their  faith  under  persecution,  their 
constant  obedience  and  attachment  to  Paul,  and  the  liberality 
which  distinguished  them  above  all  other  churches.  They  were 
also  free  from  doctrinal  errors,  and  no  schism  had  as  yet  been 
created  among  them  by  the  Judaizing  party.  They  are  warned, 
however,  against  these  active  propagandists,  who  were  probably 
busy  in  their  neighborhood  or  (at  least)  might  at  any  time  appear 


670 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


among  them.  The  only  blemish  recorded  as  existing  in  the  Church 
of  Philippi  is,  that  certain  of  its  members  were  deficient  in  lowli- 
ness of  mind,  and  were  thus  led  into  disputes  and  altercations  with 
their  brethren.  Two  women  of  consideration  amongst  the  converts, 
Euodia  and  Syntyche  by  name,  had  been  especially  guilty  of  this 
fault;  and  their  variance  was  the  more  to  be  regretted  because 
they  had  both  labored  earnestly  for  the  propagation  of  the  faith. 
Paul  exhorts  the  Church  with  great  solemnity  and  earnestness  to 
let  these  disgraceful  bickerings  cease  and  to  be  all  of  one  soul 
and  one  mind."  He  also  gives  them  very  full  particulars  about 
his  own  condition  and  the  spread  of  the  gospel  at  Eome.  He 
writes  in  a  tone  of  most  affectionate  remembrance,  and  while  an- 
ticipating the  speedily-approaching  crisis  of  his  fate  he  expresses 
his  faith,  hope,  and  joy  with  peculiar  fervency: 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  PHILIPPIANS. 
I. 

1  Paul  and  Timotheus,  bondsmen  of  Jesus  Christ,  Salutation. 
TO  ALL  God's  people  in  Christ  Jesus  who  are  at  Philippi, 

WITH  THE  bishops  AND  DEACONS. 

2  Grace  be  to  you  and  peace,  from  God  our  Father,  and  from  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

3  I  thank  my  God  upon  every  remembrance  of  you   Thanksgivin  ors 

4  (continually  in  all  my  prayers  making  my  supplication  them.''^^^^^ 

5  for  you  all  with  joy),  for  your  fellowship  in  forwarding  the  glad  tid- 

6  ings,  from  the  first  day  until  now.  And  I  am  confident  accordingly, 
that  He  who  has  begun  a  good  work  in  you  will  perfect  it,  even  until 

7  the  day  of  Jesus  Christ.  And  it  is  just  that  I  should  be  thus  mind- 
ful of  you  all,  because  you  have  me  in  your  hearts,  and  both  in  my 
imprisonment  and  in  my  defence  and  confirmation  of  the  glad  tidings, 

8  you  all  share  in  the  grace  bestowed  upon  me.  God  is  my  witness 
how  I  long  after  you  all,  in  the  affections  of  Christ  Jesus. 

9  And  this  I  pray,  that  your  love  may  abound  yet  more  and  more, 
in  true  knowledge,  and  in  all  understanding,  teaching  you  to  distin- 

10  guish  good  from  evil ;  that  you  may  be  pure,  and  may  walk  without 

11  stumbling  until  the  day  of  Christ;  being  filled  with  the  fruits  of 
righteousness  which  are  by  Jesus  Christ,  unto  the  glory  and  praise 
of  God. 

12  I  would  have  you  know,  brethren,  that  the  things  intelligence  of 
which  have  befallen  me  have  tended  rather  to  the  Komel'  '  * 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  PHILIPPIANS. 


671 


13  furtherance  than  hinderance  of  the  glad  tidings.  So  that  my  chains 
have  become  well  known  in  the  name  of  Christ,  throughout  the 

14  whole  Pnetorium,  and  to  all  the  rest.  And  thus  most  of  the  brethren 
in  the  Lord,  rendered  confident  hj  my  chains,  are  very  much  em- 

15  boldened  to  speak  the  word  fearlessly.  Some,  indeed,  proclaim 
Christ  even  out  of  envy  and  contention ;  but  some,  also,  out  of  good- 

16  will.    These  do  it  from  love,  knowing  that  I  am  appointed  to  defend 

17  the  glad  tidings ;  but  those  declare  Christ  from  a  spirit  of  intrigue, 
not  sincerely,  thinking  to  stir  up  persecution  against  me  in  my  im- 

18  prisonment.  What  then  ?  nevertheless,  every  way,  whether  in  pre- 
tence or  in  truth,  the  tidings  of  Christ  are  published ;  and  herein  I 

19  rejoice  now — yea,  and  I  shall  rejoice  hereafter.    For  I  know  that 

these  things  shall  fall  out  to  my  salvation,^  through  your  prayers,  and 
through  the  supply  of  all  my  needs  by  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  Christ ; 

20  according  to  my  earnest  expectation  and  hope,  that  I  shall  in  no 
wise  be  put  to  shame,  but  that  with  all  boldness,  as  at  all  other  times, 
so  now  also,  Christ  will  be  magnified  in  my  body,  whether  by  my  life 

21 ,  22  or  by  my  death.  For  to  me  life  is  Christ,  and  death  is  gain.  But 
whether  this  life  in  the  flesh  shall  be  the  fruit  of  my  labor,  and  what 

23  I  should  choose,  I  know  not.  For  between  the  two  I  am  in  per- 
plexity ;  having  the  desire  to  depart  and  be  with  Christ,  which  is  far 

24  better ;  yet  to  remain  in  the  flesh  is  more  needful,  for  your  sake. 

25  And  in  this  confidence,  I  know  that  I  shall  remain,  and  shall  con- 

26  tinue  with  you  all,  to  your  furtherance  and  joy  in  faith ;  that  you 
may  have  more  abundant  cause  for  your  boasting  in  Clirist  Jesus  on 
my  account,  by  my  presence  again  among  you. 

27  Only  live  worthy  of  the  glad  tidings  of  Christ,  that  Exhortations  to 

,       ,  T  ,  Steadfast  end ur- 

whether  1  come  and  see  you,  or  be  absent,  I  may  hear  a  nee,  concord, 

28  concerning  you,  that  you  stand  firmly  in  one  spirit,  lowliness, 
contending  together  with  one  mind  for  the  faith  of  the  glad  tidings, 
and  nowise  terrified  by  its  enemies ;  for  their  enmity  is  to  them  an 
evidence  of  perdition,  but  to  you  of  salvation,  and  that  from  God. 

29  For  to  you  it  has  been  given,  on  behalf  of  Christ,  not  only  to  believe 

30  on  him,  but  also  to  suflfer  for  his  sake  ;  having  the  same  conflict  which 
once  you  saw  in  me,  and  which  now  you  hear  that  I  endure. 

II. 

1  If,  then,  you  can  be  entreated  in  Christ,  if  you  can  be  persuaded 
by  love,  if  you  have  any  fellowship  in  the  Spirit,  if  you  have  any 

2  tenderness  or  compassion,  I  pray  you  make  my  joy  full,  be  of  one 

3  accord,  filled  with  the  same  love,  of  one  soul,  of  one  mind.  Do 
nothing  in  a  spirit  of  intrigue,  or  vanity,  but  in  lowliness  of  mind  let 


672 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


4  each  account  others  above  himself.  Seek  not  your  private  ends 
alone,  but  let  every  man  seek  likewise  his  neighbor's  good. 

5,  G  Let  tliis  mind  be  in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus ;  who, 
being  in  the  form  of  God,  thought  it  not  robbery  to  be  equal  with 

7  God,  yet  stripped,  himself  [of  his  glory]  and  took  upon  him  the  form 

8  of  a  slave,  being  changed  into  the  likeness  of  man.  And  having 
appeared  in  the  guise  of  men,  he  abased  himself  and  showed  obedi- 

9  ence,  even  unto  death,  yea,  death  upon  the  cross.  Wherefore  God 
also  exalted  him  above  measure,  and  gave  him  the  Name  which  is 

10  above  every  name;  that  in  the  name  of  Jesus,  every  knee  should 
bow,^'  of  all  who  dwell  in  heaven,  in  earth,  or  under  the  earth,  and 

11  every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord,  to  the  glory 
of  God  the  Father. 

12  Wherefore,  my  beloved,  as  you  have  always  obeyed  me,  not  as  in 
my  presence  only,  but  now  much  more  in  my  absence,  work  out  your 

13  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling ;  for  it  is  God  who  works  in 

14  you  both  will  and  deed.    Do  all  things  for  the  sake  of  goodwill, 

15  without  murmurings  and  disputings,  that  you  may  be  blameless  and 
guileless,  the  sons  of  God  without  rebuke,  in  the  midst  of  "a  crooked 
and  perverse  generation,'' '  among  wliom  ye  shine  like  stars  in  the 

16  world ;  holding  fast  the  word  of  life ;  that  you  may  give  me  ground 
of  boasting,  even  to  the  day  of  Christ,  that  I  have  not  run  in  vain,  nor 
labored  in  vain. 

17  But  though  my  blood  be  poured  forth  upon  the  min-  Paul's  expecta- 
istration  of  the  sacrifice  of  your  faith,  I  rejoice  for  tions. 

18  myself,  and  rejoice  with  you  all ;  and  do  ye  likewise  rejoice,  both  for 

19  yourselves  and  with  me.  But  I  hope  in  the  Lord  Jesus  to  send 
Timotheus  to  you  shortly,  that  I  also  may  be  cheered,  by  learning 

20  your  state ;  for  I  have  no  other  like-minded  with  me,  who  would  care 
in  earnest  for  your  concerns ;  for  all  seek  their  own,  not  the  things  of 

21  Jesus  Christ.  But  you  know  the  trials  which  have  proved  his  worth, 

22  and  that,  as  a  son  with  a  father,  he  has  shared  my  servitude,  to  pro- 

23  claim  the  glad  tidings.    Him,  then,  I  hope  to  send  without  delay,  as 

24  soon  as  I  see  how  it  will  go  with  me ;  but  I  trust  in  the  Lord  that  I 
also  myself  shall  come  shortly. 

25  Epaphroditus,  who  is  my  brother  and  companion  in  Return  of 
labor  and  fellow-soldier,  and  your  messenger  to  min-  ^p^p^^^*^^*^"^- 

26  ister  to  my  wants,  I  have  thought  it  needful  to  send  to  you.  For  he 
was  filled  with  longing  for  you  all,  and  with  sadness,  because  you  had 

27  heard  that  he  was  sick.  And,  indeed,  he  had  a  sickness  which 
brought  him  almost  to  death,  but  God  had  compassion  on  him;  and 
not  on  him  only,  but  on  me,  that  I  might  not  liave  sorrow  upon  sor- 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  PHILIPPIANS. 


673 


28  row.  Therefore  I  have  been  the  more  anxious  to  send  him,  that  you 
may  have  the  joy  of  seeing  him  again,  and  that  I  may  have  one 

29  sorrow  the  less.    Receive  him,  therefore,  in  the  Lord,  with  all  glad- 

30  ness,  and  hold  such  men  in  honor ;  because  his  labor  in  the  cause  of 
Christ  brought  him  near  to  death ;  for  he  hazarded  his  life  that  he 
might  supply  all  which  you  could  not  do,  in  ministering  to  me. 

III. 

1  Finally,  my  brethren,  rejoice  in  the  Lord.    To  re-  Warning  against 

,  .         .  .  -  Judaizers,  and 

peat  the  same  warmngs  is  not  wearisome  to  me,  and  exhortation  to 

2  it  is  safe  for  you.    Beware  of  the  dogs,  beware  of  the  tiii^^^*^chri?tian 

3  evil  workmen,  beware  of  the  concision.    For  we  are 

the  circumcision,  who  worship  God  with  the  spirit,  whose  boasting 

4  is  in  Christ  Jesus,  and  whose  confidence  is  not  in  the  flesh.  Although 
I  might  have  confidence  in  the  flesh  also.    If  any  other  man  thinks 

5  that  he  has  ground  of  confidence  in  the  flesh,  I  have  more.  Circum- 
cised the  eighth  day,  of  the  stock  of  Israel,  of  the  tribe  of  Benjamin, 

6  a  Hebrew  of  the  Hebrews ;  as  to  the  Law,  a  Pharisee ;  as  to  zeal,  a 
persecutor  of  the  Church ;  as  to  the  righteousness  of  the  Law,  un- 

7  blamable.    But  what  once  was  gain  to  me,  that  I  have  counted  loss 

8  for  Christ.  Yea,  doubtless,  and  I  count  all  things  but  loss,  because 
all  are  nothing-worth  in  comparison  with  the  knowledge  of  Christ 
Jesus  my  Lord ;  for  whom  I  have  sufiered  the  loss  of  all  things,  and 
count  them  but  as  dung,  that  I  may  gain  Christ,  and  be  found  in 

9  him ;  not  having  my  own  righteousness  of  the  Law,  but  the  right- 
eousness of  faith  in  Christ,  the  righteousness  which  God  bestows  on 

10  faith;  that  I  may  know  him,  and  the  power  of  his  resurrection, 
and  the  fellowship  of  his  sufferings,  sharing  the  likeness  of  his 

11  death ;  if  by  any  means  I  might  attain  to  the  resurrection  from 
the  dead. 

12  Not  that  I  have  already  won,  or  am  already  perfect ;  but  I  press 
onward,  if,  indeed,  I  might  lay  hold  on  that,  for  which  Christ  also 

13  laid  hold  on  me.  Brethren,  I  count  not  myself  to  have  laid  hold 
thereon ;  but  this  one  thing  I  do — forgetting  that  which  is  behind, 

14  and  reaching  forth  to  that  which  is  before,  I  press  onward  towards 
the  mark,  for  the  prize  of  God's  heavenly  calling  in  Christ  Jesus. 

15  Let  us  all,  then,  who  are  ripe  in  understanding,  be  thus  minded  ; 
and  if  in  anything  you  are  otherwise  minded,  that  also  shall  be 

16  revealed  to  you  by  God  [in  due  time].  Nevertheless,  let  us  walk 
according  to  that  which  we  have  attained. 

17  Brethren,  be  imitators  of  me  with  one  consent,  and  mark  those 

18  who  walk  ac -^rding  to  my  example.    For  many  walk,  of  whom  I 

43 


674 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


told  you  often  in  times  past,  and  now  tell  you  even  weeping,  tliat 

19  they  are  the  enemies  of  the  cross  of  Christ ;  whose  end  is  destruc- 
tion, whose  God  is  their  belly,  and  whose  glory  is  in  their  shame ; 

20  whose  mind  is  set  on  earthly  things.    For  my  life  abides  in  heaven, 

21  from  whence  also  I  look  for  a  Saviour,  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  who 
shall  change  my  vile  body  into  the  likeness  of  his  glorious  body ; 
according  to  the  working  whereby  he  is  able  even  to  subdue  all 
things  unto  himself. 

IV. 

1  Therefore  my  brethren,  dearly  beloved  and  longed  for,  my  joy  and 
crown,  so  stand  fast  in  the  Lord,  my  dearly  beloved. 

2  I  exhort  Euodia,  and  I  exhort  Syntyche,  to  be  of  one  Euodia  and 

3  mind  in  the  Lord.  Yea,  and  I  beseech  thee  also,  my  be "econciiecT.^^ 
true  yoke-fellow,  to  help  them  [to  be  reconciled]  ;  for  they  strove 
earnestly  in  the  work  of  the  glad  tidings  with  me,  together  with 
Clemens  and  my  other  fellow-laborers,  whose  names  are  in  the  book 
of  life. 

4  Kejoice  in  the  Lord  at  all  times.    Again  will  I  say.  Exhortation  to 

-  -r*  .   .  T  i>    1  n  rejoice  in  trib- 

5  Rejoice.    Let  your  forbearance  be  known  to  all  men.  uiation,  and  to 

6  The  Lord  is  at  hand.    Let  no  care  trouble  you,  but  in  goodness. 

all  things,  by  prayer  and  supplication  with  thanksgiving,  let  your 

7  requests  be  made  known  to  God.  And  the  peace  of  God,  which  pass- 
eth  all  understanding,  shall  keep  your  hearts  and  minds  in  Christ 

^  Jesus.  Finally,  brethren,  wliatsoever  is  true,  whatsoever  is  vener- 
able, whatsoever  is  just,  whatsoever  is  pure,  whatsoever  is  endearing, 
whatsoever  is  of  good  report — if  there  be  any  virtue,  and  if  there  be 

)  any  praise — be  such  the  objects  of  your  esteem.  That  which  you 
were  taught  and  learned,  and  which  you  heard  and  saw  in  me — be 
that  your  practice.    So  shall  the  God  of  peace  be  with  you. 

10  I  reioiced  in  the  Lord  o^reatly  when  I  found  that  now,  Liberality    o  r 

,  .  p  Til  .         the  Philippian 

after  so  long  a  time,  your  care  lor  me  had  borne  iruit  church, 
again  ;  though  your  care  indeed  never  failed,  but  you  lacked  oppor- 

11  tunity.    Not  that  I  speak  as  if  I  were  in  want;  for  I  have  learnt,  in 

12  whatsoever  state  I  am,  therewith  to  be  content.  I  can  bear  either 
abasement  or  abundance.  In  all  things,  and  amongst  all  men,  I 
have  been  taught  the  lesson,  to  be  full  or  to  be  hungry,  to  want  or  to 

13  abound.    I  can  do  all  things,  in  Him  who  strengthens  my  heart. 

14  Nevertheless,  you  have  done  well,  in  contributing  to  the  help  of  my 

15  affliction.  And  you  know  yourselves,  Philippians,  tliat,  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  glad  tidings,  after  I  had  left  Macedonia,  no  Church 
communicated  with  me  on  account  of  giving  and  receiving,  but  you 


CONVERTS  IN  NEEO's  HOUSEHOLD. 


67c 


16  alone.    For  even  while  I  was  still  in  Thessalonica,  you  sent  once  and 

17  again  to  relieve  my  need.    Not  that  I  seek  your  gifts,  but  I  seek  the 

18  fruit  which  accrues  therefrom,  to  your  account.  But  I  have  all  which 
I  require,  and  more  than  I  require.  I  am  fully  supplied,  having 
received  from  Epaphroditus  your  gifts,  "an  odor  of  siveeiness/^  an 

19  acceptable  sacrifice  well  pleasing  to  God.  And  your  own  needs  shall 
be  all  supplied  by  my  God,  in  the  fulness  of  his  glorious  riches  in 

20  Christ  Jesus.  Now  to  our  God  and  Father  be  glory  unto  the  ages 
of  ages.  Amen. 

21  Salute  all  God's  people  in  Christ  Jesus.    The  breth-  Salutations, 
ren  who  are  with  me  salute  you. 

22  All  God's  people  here  salute  you,  especially  those  who  belong  to 
the  house  of  Caesar. 

23  The  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  bo  with  your  Autograph 

.  . ,  benediction. 

spirits. 

The  above  Epistle  gives  us  an  unusual  amount  of  information 
concerning  the  personal  situation  of  its  writer,  which  we  have 
already  endeavored  to  incorporate  in  our  narrative.  But  nothing 
in  it  is  more  suggestive  than  Paul's  allusion  to  the  prsetorian  guards 
and  to  the  converts  he  had  gained  in  the  household  of  Nero.  He 
tells  us  (as  we  have  just  read)  that  throughout  the  praetorian  quar- 
ters he  was  well  known  as  a  prisoner  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  and 
he  sends  special  salutations  to  the  Philippian  Church  from  the 
Christians  in  the  imperial  household.  These  notices  bring  before 
us  very  vividly  the  moral  contrasts  by  which  the  apostle  was  sur- 
rounded. The  soldier  to  whom  he  was  chained  to-day  might  have 
been  in  Nero's  body-guard  yesterday;  his  comrade  who  next 
relieved  guard  upon  the  prisoner  might  have  been  one  of  the  exe- 
cutioners of  Octavia,  and  might  have  carried  her  head  to  Poppsea 
a  few  weeks  before.  Such  were  the  ordinary  employments  of  the 
fierce  and  blood-stained  veterans  who  were  daily  present,  like 
wolves  in  the  midst  of  sheep,  at  the  meetings  of  the  Christian 
brotherhood.  If  there  were  any  of  these  soldiers  not  utterly 
hardened  by  a  life  of  cruelty,  their  hearts  must  surely  have  been 
touched  by  the  character  of  their  prisoner,  brought  as  they  were 
into  so  close  a  contact  with  him.  They  must  have  been  at  least 
astonished  to  see  a  man  under  such  circumstances  so  utterly  care- 
less of  selfish  interests  and  devoting  himself  with  an  energy  so 
unaccountable  to  the  teaching  of  others.  Strange  indeed  to  their 
ears,  fresh  from  the  brutality  of  a  Roman  barrack,  must  have  been 


676  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

the  sound  of  Christian  exhortation,  of  prayers,  and  of  hymns — 
stranger  still,  perhaps,  the  tender  love  which  bound  the  converts 
to  their  teacher  and  to  one  another,  and  showed  itself  in  every 
look  and  tone. 

But  if  the  agents  of  Nero^s  tyranny  seem  out  of  place  in  such  a 
scene,  still  more  repugnant  to  the  assembled  worshippers  must 
haye  been  the  instruments  of  his  pleasures,  the  ministers  of  his  lust. 
Yet  some  even  among  these,  the  depraved  servants  of  the  palace, 
were  redeemed  from  their  degradation  by  the  Spirit  of  Christ, 
which  spoke  to  them  in  the  words  of  Paul.  How  deep  their  deg- 
radation was  we  know  from  authentic  records.  We  are  not  left 
to  conjecture  the  services  required  from  the  attendants  of  Nero. 
The  ancient  historians  have  polluted  their  pages  with  details  of 
infamy  which  no  writer  in  the  languages  of  Christendom  may  dare 
to  repeat.  Thus,  the  very  immensity  of  moral  amelioration 
wrought  operates  to  disguise  its  own  extent,  and  hides  from  inex- 
perienced eyes  the  gulf  which  separates  heathenism  from  Chris- 
tianity. Suffice  it  to  say  that  the  courtiers  of  Nero  were  the 
spectators,  and  the  members  of  his  household  the  instruments,  of 
vices  so  monstrous  and  so  unnatural  that  they  shocked  even  the 
men  of  that  generation,  steeped  as  it  was  in  every  species  of  ob- 
scenity. But  we  must  remember  that  many  of  those  who  took 
part  in  such  abominations  were  involuntary  agents,  forced  by  the 
compulsion  of  slavery  to  do  their  master's  bidding.  And  the  very 
depth  of  vileness  in  which  they  were  plunged  must  have  excited 
in  some  of  them  an  indignant  disgust  and  revulsion  against  vice. 
Under  such  feelings,  if  curiosity  led  them  to  visit  the  apostle's 
prison,  they  were  well  qualified  to  appreciate  the  purity  of  its 
moral  atmosphere.  And  there  it  was  that  some  of  these  unhappy 
bondsmen  first  tasted  of  spiritual  freedom,  and  were  prepared  to 
brave  with  patient  heroism  the  tortures  under  which  they  soon 
were  destined  to  expire  in  the  gardens  of  the  Vatican. 

History  has  few  stranger  contrasts  than  when  it  shows  us  Paul 
preaching  Christ  under  the  walls  of  Nero's  palace.  Thencefor- 
ward, there  were  but  two  religions  in  the  Roman  world — the  wor- 
ship of  the  emperor  and  the  worship  of  the  Saviour.  The  old 
superstitions  had  been  long  worn  out;  they  had  lost  all  hold  on 
educated  minds.  There  remained  to  civilized  heathens  no  other 
worship  possible  but  the  worship  of  power,  and  the  incarnation 
of  power  which  they  cl^ose  was,  very  naturally,  the  sovereign  of 


THE  NEED  OF  CHRISTIANITY. 


677 


the  world.  This,  then,  was  the  ultimate  result  of  the  noble  intui- 
tions of  Plato,  the  methodical  reasonings  of  Aristotle,  the  pure 
morality  of  Socrates.  All  had  failed  for  want  of  external  sanc- 
tion and  authority.  The  residuum  they  left  was  the  philosophy 
of  Epicurus  and  the  religion  of  Nerolatry.  But  a  new  doctrine 
was  already  taught  in  the  Forum  and  believed  even  on  the  Pala- 
tine. Over  against  the  altars  of  Nero  and  Poppsea  the  voice  of  a 
prisoner  was  daily  heard,  and  daily  woke  in  grovelling  souls  the 
consciousness  of  their  divine  destiny.  Men  listened,  and  knew 
that  self-sacrifice  was  better  than  ease,  humiliation  more  exalted 
than  pride,  to  suffer  nobler  than  to  reign.  They  felt  that  the 
only  religion  which  satisfied  the  needs  of  man  was  the  religion 
of  sorrow,  the  religion  of  self-devotion,  the  religion  of  the  cross. 

There  are  some  amongst  us  now  who  think  that  the  doctrine 
which  Paul  preached  was  a  retrograde  movement  in  the  course  of 
humanity ;  there  are  others  who  with  greater  plausibility  acknow- 
ledge that  it  was  useful  in  its  season,  but  tell  us  that  it  is  now  worn 
out  and  obsolete.  The  former  are  far  more  consistent  than  the 
latter,  for  both  schools  of  infidelity  agree  in  virtually  advising  us 
to  return  to  that  effete  philosophy  which  had  been  already  tried 
and  found  wanting  when  Christianity  was  winning  the  first  triumphs 
of  its  immortal  youth.  This  might  well  surprise  us  did  we  not 
know  that  the  progress  of  human  reason  in  the  paths  of  ethical 
discovery  is  merely  the  progress  of  a  man  in  a  treadmill,  doomed 
for  ever  to  retrace  his  own  steps.  Had  it  been  otherwise,  we  might 
have  hoped  that  mankind  could  not  again  be  duped  by  an  old  and 
useless  remedy  which  was  compounded  and  recompounded  in  every 
possible  shape  and  combination  two  thousand  years  ago,  and  at 
last  utterly  rejected  by  a  nauseated  world.  Yet  for  this  antiquated 
anodyne,  disguised  under  a  new  label,  many  are  once  more  barter- 
ing the  only  true  medicine  that  can  heal  the  diseases  of  the  soul. 

For  such  mistakes  there  is  indeed  no  real  cure  except  prayer  to 
Him  who  giveth  sight  to  the  blind,  but  a  partial  antidote  may  be 
supplied  by  the  history  of  the  imperial  commonwealth.  The  true 
wants  of  the  apostolic  age  can  best  be  learned  from  the  annals  of 
Tacitus.  There  men  may  still  see  the  picture  of  that  Rome  to 
which  Paul  preached,  and  thence  they  may  comprehend  the  results 
of  civilization  without  Christianity,  and  the  impotence  of  a  moral 
philosophy  destitute  of  supernatural  attestation. 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 


AUTHORITIES  FOR  PAULAS  SUBSEQUENT  HISTORY. — HIS  APPEAI. 
IS  HEARD. — HIS  ACQUITTAL. — HE  GOES  FROM  ROME  TO  ASIA 
MINOR. — THENCE  TO  SPAIN,  WHERE  HE  RESIDES  TWO  YEARS. 
— HE  RETURNS  TO  ASIA  MINOR  AND  MACEDONIA. — WRITES 
*'THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHEUS.'^ — VISITS  CRETE. — 
WRITES  "the  epistle  TO  TITUS." — HE  WINTERS  AT  NICOPO- 
LIS. — HE  IS  AGAIN  IMPRISONED  AT  ROME. — PROGRESS  OF  HIS 
TRIAL. — HE  WRITES  "THE  SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHEUS." 
— HIS  CONDEMNATION  AND  DEATH. 

We  have  already  remarked  that  the  light  concentrated  upon  that 
portion  of  Paul's  life  which  is  related  in  the  latter  chapters  of  the 
Acts  makes  darker  by  contrast  the  obscurity  which  rests  upon  the 
remainder  of  his  course.  The  progress  of  the  historian  who  at- 
tempts to  trace  the  footsteps  of  the  apostles  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  scriptural  narrative  must,  at  best,  be  hesitating  and  uncertain. 
It  has  been  compared  to  the  descent  of  one  Avho  passes  from  the 
clear  sunshine  which  rests  upon  a  mountain's  top  into  the  mist 
which  wraps  its  side.  But  this  is  an  inadequate  comparison,  for 
such  a  wayfarer  loses  the  daylight  gradually,  and  experiences  no 
abrupt  transition  from  the  bright  prospect  and  the  distinctness  of 
the  onward  path  into  darkness  and  bewilderment.  Our  case  should 
rather  be  compared  with  that  of  the  traveller  on  the  Chinese  fron- 
tier, who  has  just  reached  a  turn  in  the  valley  along  which  his 
course  has  led  him,  and  has  come  to  a  point  whence  he  expected 
to  enjoy  the  view  of  a  new  and  brilliant  landscape,  when  he  sud- 
denly finds  all  further  prospect  cut  off  by  an  enormous  wall,  filling 
up  all  the  space  between  precipices  on  either  hand,  and  opposing 
a  blank  and  insuperable  barrier  to  his  onward  progress.  And  if 
a  chink  here  and  there  should  allow  some  glimpses  of  the  rich 
territory  beyond,  they  are  only  enough  to  tantalize,  without  grat- 
ifying his  curiosity. 
678 


EVIDENCE  IN  FAVOR  OF  PAUL's  LIBERATION.  679 

Doubtless,  however,  it  was  a  providential  design  which  has  thus 
limited  our  knowledge.  The  wall  of  separation  which  for  ever  cuts 
off  the  apostolic  age  from  that  which  followed  it  was  built  by  the 
hand  of  God.  That  age  of  miracles  was  not  to  be  revealed  to  us 
as  passing  by  any  gradual  transition  into  the  common  life  of  the 
Church ;  it  was  intentionally  isolated  from  all  succeeding  time, 
that  we  might  learn  to  appreciate  more  fully  its  extraordinary 
character,  and  see  by  the  sharpness  of  the  abruptest  contrast  the 
difference  between  the  human  and  the  divine. 

A  few  faint  rays  of  light,  however,  have  been  permitted  to  pene- 
trate beyond  the  dividing  barrier,  and  of  these  we  must  make  the 
best  use  we  can  ;  for  it  is  now  our  task  to  trace  the  history  of  Paul 
beyond  the  period  where  the  narrative  of  his  fellow-traveller  so 
suddenly  terminates.  The  only  contemporary  materials  for  this 
purpose  are  his  own  letters  to  Titus  and  Timotheus,  and  a  single 
sentence  of  his  disciple  Clement  of  Rome;  and  during  the  three 
centuries  which  followed  we  can  gather  but  a  few  scattered  and 
unsatisfactory  notices  from  the  writers  who  have  handed  down  to 
us  the  traditions  of  the  Church. 

The  great  question  which  we  have  to  answer  concerns  the  ter- 
mination of  that  long  imprisonment  whose  history  has  occupied  the 
preceding  chapters.  Luke  tells  us  that  Paul  remained  under 
military  custody  in  Rome  for  tv/o  whole  years"  (Acts  xxviii.  16 
and  30),  but  he  does  not  say  what  followed  at  the  close  of  that 
period.  Was  it  ended,  we  are  led  to  ask,  by  the  apostle's  condem- 
nation and  death  or  by  his  acquittal  and  liberation  ?  Although 
the  answer  to  this  question  has  been  a  subject  of  dispute  in  modern 
times,  no  doubt  was  entertained  about  it  by  the  ancient  Church. 
It  was  universally  believed  that  Paul's  appeal  to  Csesar  terminated 
successfully,  that  he  was  acquitted  of  the  charges  laid  against  him, 
and  that  he  spent  some  years  in  freedom  'j^rore  he  was  again  im- 
prisoned and  condemned.  The  evidence  on  this  subject,  though 
(as  we  have  said)  not  copious,  is  yet  conclusive  so  far  as  it  goes; 
and  it  is  all  one  way. 

The  most  important  portion  of  it  is  supplied  by  Clement,  the 
disciple  of  Paul  mentioned  in  Phil.  iv.  3,  who  was  afterward  bishop 
of  Rome.  This  author,  writing  /rom  Rome  to  Corinth,  expressly 
asserts  that  Paul  had  preached  the  gospel  in  the  East  and  in 
THE  West,"  that  he  ''had  instructed  the  whole  world  [L  e.  the 
Eoman  empire,  which  was  commonly  so  called]  in  righteousness," 


680         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


and  that  he  "had  gone  to  the  extremity  of  the  West"  before 
his  martyrdom. 

Now,  in  a  Eoman  author  the  extremity  of  the  West  could  mean 
nothing  short  of  Spain,  and  the  expression  is  often  used  by  Koman 
writers  to  denote  Spain.  Here,  then,  we  have  the  express  testi- 
mony of  Paul's  own  disciple  that  he  fulfilled  his  original  intention 
(mentioned  Eom.  xv.  24-28)  of  visiting  the  Spanish  peninsula, 
and  consequently  that  he  was  liberated  from  his  first  imprisonment 
at  Eome. 

The  next  piece  of  evidence  which  we  possess  on  the  subject  is 
contained  in  the  canon  of  the  New  Testament,  compiled  by  an 
unknown  Christian  about  the  year  A.  D.  170,  which  is  known  as 
Muratori's  Canon.  In  this  document  it  is  said  in  the  account  of 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  that  ^^LuJce  relates  to  Theophilus  events  of 
which  he  was  an  eye-iuitness,  as  also,  in  a  separate  place  (semote) 
[viz.  Luke  xxii.  31-3*3],  he  evidently  declares  the  martyrdom  of  Peter ^ 
but  {omits)  THE  JOURis^EY  OF  Paul  from  Eome  to  Spain.'' 

In  the  next  place,  Eusebius  tells  us,  ^^After  defending  himself 
successfully,  it  is  currently  reported  that  the  apostle  again  went  forth  to 
^proclaim  the  gospel,  and  afterward  came  to  Bome  a  seco7id  time,  and 
was  martyred  under  JSferoJ^ 

Next  we  have  the  statement  of  Chrysostom,  who  mentions  it  as 
an  undoubted  historical  fact  that  ^^Faul  after  his  residence  in  Bome 
departed  to  Spaiii,^^ 

About  the  same  time  Jerome  bears  the  same  testimony,  saying 
that  Paul  was  dismissed  by  Nei^o,  that  he  might  preach  Chrisfs  gos- 
pel in  the  West  J' 

Against  this  unanimous  testimony  of  the  primitive  Church  there 
js  no  external  evidence  whatever  to  oppose.  Those  who  doubt 
the  liberation  of  Paul  from  his  imprisonment  are  obliged  to  resort 
to  a  gratuitous  hypothesis  or  to  inconclusive  arguments  from  prob- 
ability. Thus,  they  try  to  account  for  the  tradition  of  the  Spanish 
journey  by  the  arbitrary  supposition  that  it  arose  from  a  wish  to 
represent  Paul  as  having  fulfilled  his  expressed  intentions  (Eom. 
XV.  19)  of  visiting  Spain.  Or  they  say  that  it  is  improbable  Nero 
would  have  liberated  Paul  after  he  had  fallen  under  the  in- 
fluence of  Poppaea,  the  Jewish  proselyte.  Or,  lastly,  they  urge 
that  if  Paul  had  really  been  liberated,  we  must  have  had  some 
account  of  his  subsequent  labors.  The  first  argument  needs  no 
answer,  being  a  mere  hypothesis.    The  second,  as  to  the  probabil- 


Paul's  further  labors. 


681 


ity  of  the  matter,  may  be  met  by  the  remark  that  we  know  far  too 
little  of  the  circumstances  and  of  the  motives  which  weighed  with 
Nero  to  judge  how  he  would  have  been  likely  to  act  in  the  case. 
To  the  third  argument  w^e  may  oppose  the  fact  that  we  have  no 
account  w^hatever  of  Paul's  labors,  toils,  and  sufferings  during  sev- 
eral of  the  most  active  years  of  his  life,  and  only  learn  their  ex- 
istence by  a  casual  allusion  in  a  letter  to  the  Corinthians  (2  Cor. 
xi.  24,  25).  Moreover,  if  this  argument  be  worth  anything,  it 
w^ould  prove  that  none  of  the  apostles  except  Paul  took  any  part 
whatever  in  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  after  the  first  few^  years, 
since  we  have  no  testimony  to  their  subsequent  labors  at  all  more 
definite  than  that  which  w^e  have  above  quoted  concerning  the 
work  of  Paul  after  his  liberation. 

But  further,  unless  we  are  prepared  to  dispute  the  genuineness 
of  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  we  must  admit  not  only  that  Paul  was 
liberated  from  his  Eoman  imprisonment,  but  also  that  he  con- 
tinued his  apostolic  labors  for  at  least  some  years  afterward.  It  is 
now  admitted  by  nearly  all  those  who  are  competent  to  decide  on 
such  a  question,  first,  that,  the  historical  facts  mentioned  in  the 
Epistles  to  Timotheus  and  Titus  cannot  be  placed  in  any  portion 
of  Paul's  life  before  or  during  his  first  imprisonment  in  Eome; 
and  secondly,  that  the  style  in  which  those  Epistles  are  written 
and  the  condition  of  the  Church  described  in  them  forbids  the 
supposition  of  such  a  date.  Consequently,  we  must  acknowledge 
(unless  we  deny  the  authenticity  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles)  that 
after  Paul's  Roman  imprisonment  he  was  travelling  at  liberty  in 
Ephesus,  Crete,  Macedonia,  Miletus,  and  Nicopolis,  and  that  he 
was  afterward  a  second  time  in  prison  at  Eome. 

But  when  we  have  said  this  we  have  told  nearly  all  that  we 
know  of  the  apostle's  personal  history  from  his  liberation  to  his 
death.  We  cannot  fix  with  certainty  the  length  of  the  time  which 
intervened,  nor  the  order  in  which  he  visited  the  different  places 
where  he  is  recorded  to  have  labored.  The  following  data,  how- 
ever, we  have.  In  the  first  place,  his  martyrdom  is  universally 
said  to  have  occurred  in  the  reign  of  Nero.  Secondly,  Timotheus 
was  still  a  young  man  (i.  e.  young  for  the  charge  committed  to 
him)  at  the  time  of  Paul's  second  imprisonment  at  Eome.  Thirdly, 
the  three  Pastoral  Epistles  were  written  within  a  few  months  of 
one  another.  Fourthly,  their  style  differs  so  much  from  the  style 
of  the  earlier  Epistles  that  we  must  suppose  as  long  an  interval 


682  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


between  their  date  and  that  of  the  Epistle  to  Philippi  as  is  con- 
sistent with  the  preceding  conditions. 

These  reasons  concur  in  leading  us  to  fix  the  last  year  of  Nero  as 
that  of  Paul's  martyrdom.  And  this  is  the  very  year  assigned  to 
it  by  Jerome,  and  the  next  to  that  assigned  by  Eusebius,  the  two 
earliest  WTiters  who  mention  the  date  of  Paul's  death  at  all.  We 
have  already  seen  that  Paul  first  arrived  in  Eome  in  the  spring  of 
A.  D.  61 :  we  therefore  have,  on  our  hypothesis,  an  interval  of  five 
years  between  the  period  with  which  Luke  concludes  (a.  d.  63) 
and  the  apostle's  martyrdom.  And  the  grounds  above  mentioned 
lead  us  to  the  conclusion  that  this  interval  was  occupied  in  the 
following  manner  : 

In  the  first  place,  after  the  long  delay  which  we  have  before 
endeavored  to  explain,  Paul's  appeal  came  on  for  hearing  before 
the  emperor.  The  appeals  from  the  provinces  in  civil  causes  were 
heard  not  by  the  emperor  himself,  but  by  his  delegates,  who  were 
persons  of  consular  rank :  Augustus  had  appointed  one  such  dele- 
gate to  hear  appeals  from  each  province  respectively.  But  crimi- 
nal appeals  appear  generally  to  have  been  heard  by  the  emperor 
in  person,  assisted  by  his  council  of  assessors.  Tiberius  and  Clau- 
dius had  usually  sat  for  this  purpose  in  the  Forum,  but  Nero,  afta 
the  example  of  Augustus,  heard  these  causes  in  the  imperial  palace, 
w^hose  ruins  still  crown  the  Palatine.  Here,  at  one  end  of  a  splen- 
did hall  lined  w^ith  the  precious  marbles  of  Egypt  and  of  Lybia, 
we  must  imagine  the  Caesar  seated  in  the  midst  of  his  assessors. 
These  councillors,  twenty  in  number,  were  men  of  the  highest 
rank  and  greatest  influence.  Among  them  were  the  two  consuls 
and  selected  representatives  of  each  of  the  other  great  magistracies 
of  Rome.  The  remainder  consisted  of  senators  chosen  by  lot. 
Over  this  distinguished  bench  of  judges  presided  the  representa- 
tive of  the  most  powerful  monarchy  which  has  ever  existed,  the 
absolute  ruler  of  the  whole  civilized  world.  But  the  reverential 
awe  which  his  position  naturally  suggested  was  changed  into  con- 
tempt and  loathing  by  the  character  of  the  sovereign  who  nov; 
presided  over  that  supreme  tribunal.  For  Nero  was  a  man  whom 
even  the  awful  attribute  of  "power  equal  to  the  gods"  could  not 
render  august  except  in  title.  The  fear  and  horror  excited  by  his 
omnipotence  and  his  cruelty  were  blended  with  contempt  for  his 
ignoble  lust  of  praise  and  his  shameless  licentiousness.  He  had 
not  as  yet  plunged  into  that  extravagance  of  tyranny  which  at  a 


PAUI.  BEFORE  NERO. 


683 


later  period  exhausted  the  patience  of  his  subjects  and  brought 
him  to  destruction.  Hitherto,  bis  public  measures  had  been  guided 
by  sage  advisers,  and  his  cruelty  had  injured  his  own  family  rather 
than  the  state.  But  already,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  had 
murdered  his  innocent  wife  and  his  adopted  brother,  and  had  dyed 
his  hands  in  the  blood  of  his  mother.  Yet  even  these  enormities 
seem  to  have  disgusted  the  Romans  less  than  his  prostitution  of 
the  imperial  purple  by  publicly  performing  as  a  musician  on  the 
stage  and  a  charioteer  in  the  circus.  His  degrading  want  of  dig- 
nity and  insatiable  appetite  for  vulgar  applause  drew  tears  from 
the  councillors  and  servants  of  his  house,  who  could  see  him 
slaughter  his  nearest  relatives  without  remonstrance. 

Before  the  tribunal  of  this  blood-stained  adulterer  Paul  the 
apostle  was  now  brought  in  fetters,  under  the  custody  of  his  mili- 
tary guard.  We  may  be  sure  that  he  who  had  so  often  stood  un- 
daunted before  the  delegates  of  the  imperial  throne  did  not  quail 
when  he  was  at  last  confronted  with  their  master.  His  life  was 
not  in  the  hands  of  Nero ;  he  knew  that  while  his  Lord  had  work 
for  him  on  earth,  he  would  shield  him  from  the  tyrant^s  sword; 
and  if  his  work  was  over,  how  gladly  would  he  "  depart  and  be 
with  Christ,  which  was  far  better'^ !  To  him  all  the  majesty  of 
E-oman  despotism  was  nothing  more  than  an  empty  pageant;  the 
imperial  demigod  himself  w\as  but  one  of  ^'  the  princes  of  this 
w^orld,  that  come  to  naught."  Thus  he  stood,  calm  and  collected, 
ready  to  answer  the  charges  of  his  accusers,  and  knowing  that  in 
the  hour  of  his  need  it  should  be  given  him  what  to  speak. 

The  prosecutors  and  their  witnesses  were  now  called  forward  to 
support  their  accusation  ;  for  although  the  subject-matter  for  de- 
cision was  contained  in  the  written  depositions  forwarded  from 
Judjea  by  Festus,  yet  (as  we  have  before  observed)  the  Roman  law 
required  the  personal  presence  of  the  accusers  and  the  witnesses 
whenever  it  could  be  obtained.  We  already  know  the  charges 
brought  against  the  apostle.  He  was  accused  of  disturbing  the 
Jews  in  the  exercise  of  their  worship,  which  was  secured  to  them 
by  law,  of  desecrating  their  temple,  and,  above  all,  of  violating 
the  public  peace  of  the  empire  by  perpetual  agitation  as  the  ring- 
leader of  a  new  and  factious  sect.  This  charge  was  the  most 
serious  in  the  view  of  a  Roman  statesman,  for  the  crime  alleged 
amounted  to  majesfas,  or  treason  against  the  commonwealth,  and 
was  punishable  with  death. 


684  LIFE  A.\D  EPISTI.es  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


These  accusations  were  supported  by  the  emissaries  of  the  San- 
hedrin,  and  probably  by  the  testimony  of  witnesses  from  Judaea, 
Ephesus,  Corinth,  and  the  other  scenes  of  Paul's  activity.  The 
foreign  accusers,  however,  did  not  rely  on  the  support  of  their  own 
unaided  eloquence.  They  doubtless  hired  the  rhetoric  of  some 
accomplished  Eoman  pleader  (as  they  had  done  even  before  the 
provincial  tribunal  of  Felix)  to  set  off  their  cause  to  the  best 
advantage  and  paint  the  dangerous  character  of  their  antagonist 
in  the  darkest  colors.  Nor  would  it  have  been  difficult  to  repre- 
sent the  missionary  labors  of  Paul  as  dangerous  to  the  security  of 
the  Eoman  state  when  we  remember  how  ill  informed  the  Eoman 
magistrates  who  listened  must  have  been  concerning  the  questions 
really  at  issue  between  Paul  and  his  opponents,  and  when  we  con- 
sider how  easily  the  Jews  w^ere  excited  against  the  government  by 
any  fanatical  leader  who  appealed  to  their  nationality,  and  how 
readily  the  kingdom  of  the  Messiah,  which  Paul  proclaimed,  might 
be  misrepresented  as  a  temporal  monarchy  set  up  in  opposition  to 
the  foreign  domination  of  Eome. 

We  cannot  suppose  that  Paul  had  secured  the  services  of  any 
professional  advocate  to  repel  such  false  accusations  and  put  the 
truth  clearly  before  his  Eoman  judges.  We  know  that  he  resorted 
to  no  such  method  on  former  occasions  of  a  similar  kind.  And  it 
seems  more  consistent  with  his  character  and  his  un^vavering 
reliance  on  his  Master's  promised  aid  to  suppose  that  he  answered 
the  elaborate  harangue  of  the  hostile  pleader  by  a  plain  and 
simple  statement  of  facts,  like  that  which  he  addressed  to  Felix, 
Festus,  and  Agrippa.  He  could  easily  prove  the  falsehood  of  the 
charge  of  sacrilege  by  the  testimony  of  those  who  were  present  in 
the  temple ;  and  perhaps  the  refutation  of  this  more  definite  accusa- 
tion might  incline  his  judges  more  readily  to  attribute  the  vaguer 
charges  to  the  malice  of  his  opponents.  He  would  then  proceed 
to  show  that  far  from  disturbing  the  exercise  of  the  religio  liciia  of 
Judaism,  he  himself  adhered  to  that  religion,  rightly  understood. 
He  would  show  that  far  from  being  a  seditious  agitator  against  the 
state,  he  taught  his  converts  everywhere  to  honor  the  imperial 
government  and  submit  to  the  ordinances  of  the  magistrate  for 
conscience'  sake.  And,  though  he  w^ould  admit  the  charge  of 
belonging  to  the  sect  of  the  Nazarenes,  yet  he  would  remind  his 
opponents  that  they  themselves  acknowledged  the  division  of  their 
nation  into  various  sects,  which  were  equally  entitled  tn  the  pro- 


THE  apostle's  TRIAL  AND  ACQUITTAL.  OTD 

tection  of  the  law,  and  that  the  sect  of  the  Nazarenes  had  a  right 
to  the  same  toleration  which  was  extended  to  those  of  the  Phari- 
sees and  the  Sadducees. 

We  know  not  whether  he  entered  on  this  occasion  into  the 
peculiar  doctrines  of  that  "sect''  to  which  he  belonged — basing 
them,  as  he  ever  did,  on  the  resurrection  of  th.e  dead,  and  reason- 
ing of  righteousness,  temperance,  and  judgment  to  come.  If  so, 
he  had  one  auditor  at  least  who  had  more  need  to  tremble  than 
even  Felix.  But  doubtless  a  seared  conscience  and  a  universal 
frivolity  of  character  rendered  Nero  proof  against  emotions  which 
for  a  moment  shook  the  nerves  of  a  less  audacious  criminal. 

When  the  parties  on  both  sides  had  been  heard,  and  the  wit- 
nesses all  examined  and  cross-examined  (a  process  which  perhaps 
occupied  several  days),  the  judgment  of  the  court  was  taken.  Each 
of  the  assessors  gave  his  opinion  in  writing  to  the  emperor,  who 
never  discussed  the  judgment  with  his  assessors,  as  had  been  the 
practice  of  better  emperors,  but  after  reading  their  opinions  gave 
sentence  according  to  his  own  pleasure,  without  reference  to  the 
judgment  of  the  majority.  On  this  occasion  it  might  have  been 
expected  that  he  would  have  pronounced  the  condemnation  of  the 
accused,  for  the  influence  of  Poppaea  had  now  reached  its  culmi- 
nating point,  and  she  was,  as  we  have  said,  a  Jewish  proselyte. 
We  can  scarcely  doubt  that  the  emissaries  from  Palestine  would 
have  sought  access  to  so  powerful  a  protectress,  and  demanded  her 
aid  for  the  destruction  of  a  traitor  to  the  Jewish  faith ;  nor  would 
any  scruples  have  prevented  her  from  listening  to  their  request, 
backed,  as  it  probably  was,  according  to  the  Eoman  usage,  by  a 
bribe.  If  such  influence  was  exerted  upon  Nero,  it  might  have 
been  expected  easily  to  prevail.  But  we  know  not  all  the  compli- 
cated intrigues  of  the  imperial  court.  Perhaps  some  Christian 
freedman  of  Narcissus  may  have  counteracted,  through  the  inte- 
rest of  that  powerful  favorite,  the  devices  of  Paul's  antagonists, 
or  perhaps  Nero  may  have  been  capriciously  inclined  to  act  upon 
his  own  independent  view  of  the  law  and  justice  of  the  case,  or  to 
show  his  contempt  for  what  he  regarded  as  the  petty  squabbles  of  a 
superstitious  people,  by  "  driving  the  accusers  from  his  judgment- 
seat"  with  the  same  feelings  which  Gallio  had  shown  on  a  similar 
occasion. 

However  this  may  be,  the  trial  resulted  in  the  acquittal  of  Paul. 
He  was  pronounced  guiltless  of  the  charges  brought  against  him, 


^6  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

his  fetters  were  struck  off,  and  he  was  liberated  from  his  length  • 
ened  captivity.  And  now  at  last  he  was  free  to  realize  his  long- 
cherished  purpose  of  evangelizing  the  West.  But  the  immediate 
execution  of  this  design  was  for  the  present  postponed  in  crder 
that  he  might  first  revisit  some  of  his  earlier  converts,  who  again 
needed  his  presence. 

Immediately  on  his  liberation  it  may  reasonably  be  supposed 
that  he  fulfilled  the  intention  which  he  had  lately  expressed  (Phile. 
22  and  Phil.  ii.  24),  of  travelling  eastward  through  Macedonia,  and 
seeking  the  churches  of  Asia  Minor,  some  of  which,  as  yet,  had  not 
seen  his  face  in  the  flesh.  We  have  already  learnt  from  the  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians  how  much  his  influence  an4  authority  were  re- 
quired among  those  Asiatic  churches.  We  must  suppose  him, 
therefore,  to  have  gone  from  Eome  by  the  usual  route,  crossing  the 
Adriatic  from  Brundusium  to  Apollonia  or  Dyrrhachium,  and  pro- 
ceeding by  the  great  Egnatian  road  through  Macedonia ;  and  we 
can  imagine  the  joy  wherewith  he  was  welcomed  by  his  beloved 
children  at  Philij^pi  when  he  thus  gratified  the  expectation  which 
he  had  encouraged  them  to  form.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose, 
however,  that  he  lingered  in  Macedonia.  It  is  more  likely  that  he 
hastened  on  to  Ephesus,  and  made  that  city  once  more  his  centre 
of  operations.  If  he  effected  his  purpose,  he  now  for  the  first  time 
visited  Colosse,  Laodicea,  and  other  churches  in  that  region. 

Having  accomplished  the  objects  of  his  visit  to  Asia  Minor,  he 
was  at  length  enabled  (perhaps  in  the  year  following  that  of  his 
liberation)  to  undertake  his  long-meditated  journey  to  Spain.  By 
what  route  he  went  we  know  not ;  he  may  either  have  travelled  by 
way  of  Rome,  which  had  been  his  original  intention,  or  more  prob- 
ably, avoiding  the  dangers  which  at  this  period  (in  the  height  of 
the  Neronian  persecution)  would  have  beset  him  there,  he  may 
have  gone  by  sea.  There  was  constant  commercial  intercourse 
between  the  East  and  Massilia  (the  modern  Marseilles),  and  Mas- 
silia  was  in  daily  communication  with  the  Peninsula.  We  may 
suppose  him  to  have  reached  Spain  in  the  year  64,  and  to  have 
remained  there  about  two  years;  which  would  allow  him  time  to 
establish  the  germs  of  Christian  churches  among  the  Jewish  pros- 
elytes who  were  to  be  found  in  all  the  great  cities  from  Tarraco  to 
Oades  along  the  Spanish  coast. 

From  Spain,  Paul  seems  to  have  returned  in  A.  D.  66  to  Ephesus , 
and  here  he  found  that  the  predictions  which  he  had  long  ago 


PAUL  IN  ASIA  MINOR. 


687 


uttered  to  the  Ephesian  presbyters  were  already  receiving  their 
fulfilment.  Heretical  teachers  had  arisen  in  the  very  bosom  of  the 
Church,  and  were  leading  away  the  believers  after  themselves. 
Hymenaeus  and  Philetus  were  sowing  in  a  congenial  soil  the  seed 
w^hich  was  destined  in  another  century  to  bear  so  ripe  a  crop  of 
error.  The  East  and  West  were  infusing  their  several  elements 
of  poison  into  the  pure  cup  of  gospel  truth.  In  Asia  Minor,  as  at 
Alexandria,  Hellenic  philosophism  did  not  refuse  to  blend  with 
Oriental  theosophy ;  the  Jewish  superstitions  of  the  Cabbala  and 
the  wild  speculations  of  the  Persian  Magi  were  combined  with  the 
Greek  craving  for  an  enlightened  and  esoteric  religion.  The  out- 
w^ard  forms  of  superstition  were  ready  for  the  vulgar  multitude ; 
the  interpretation  was  confined  to  the  aristocracy  of  knowledge, 
the  self-styled  Gnostics  (1  Tim.  vi.  20) ;  and  we  see  the  tendencies 
at  work  among  the  latter  when  we  learn  that,  like  their  prototypes 
at  Corinth,  they  denied  the  future  resurrection  of  the  dead,  and 
taught  that  the  only  true  resurrection  was  that  which  took  place 
when  the  soul  awoke  from  the  death  of  ignorance  to  the  life  of 
knowledge.  We  recognize  already  the  germ  of  those  heresies 
which  convulsed  the  Church  in  the  succeeding  century ;  and  we 
may  imagine  the  grief  and  indignation  aroused  in  the  breast  of 
Paul  when  he  found  the  extent  of  the  evil  and  the  number  of 
Christian  converts  already  infected  by  the  spreading  plague. 

Nevertheless,  it  is  evident  from  the  Epistles  to  Timotheus  and 
Titus,  written  about  this  time,  that  he  was  prevented  by  other 
duties  from  staying  in  this  Oriental  region  so  long  as  his  presence 
was  required.  He  left  his  disciples  to  do  that  which,  had  circum- 
stances permitted,  he  would  have  done  himself.  He  was  plainly 
hurried  from  one  point  to  another.  Perhaps  also  he  had  lost  some 
of  his  former  energy.  This  might  well  be  the  case  if  we  consider 
all  he  had  endured  during  thirty  years  of  labor.  The  physical 
hardships  which  he  had  undergone  were  of  themselves  sufticient 
to  wear  out  the  most  robust  constitution,  and  we  know  that  his 
health  was  already  broken  many  years  before.  But,  in  addition  to 
these  bodily  trials,  the  moral  conflicts  which  he  continually  en- 
countered could  not  fail  to  tire  down  the  elasticity  of  his  spirit. 
The  hatred  manifested  by  so  large  and  powerful  a  section  even  of 
the  Christian  Church,  the  destruction  of  so  many  early  friendships, 
the  faithless  desertion  of  followers,  the  crowd  of  anxieties  which 
pressed  upon  him  daily,  and  "the  care  of  all  the  churches,^'  must 


688        LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

needs  have  preyed  upon  tlie  mental  energy  of  any  man,  but  espe- 
cially of  one  whose  temperament  was  so  ardent  and  impetuous. 
When  approaching  the  age  of  seventy  he  might  will  be  worn  out 
both  in  body  and  mind.  And  this  will  account  for  the  compara- 
tive want  of  vigor  and  energy  which  has  been  attributed  to  the 
Pastoral  Epistles,  if  there  be  any  such  deficiency,  and  may  per- 
haps also  be  in  part  the  cause  of  his  opposing  those  errors  by 
deputy  which  we  might  rather  have  expected  him  to  uproot  by  his 
own  personal  exertions. 

However  this  may  be,  he  seems  not  to  have  remained  for  any 
long  time  together  at  Ephesus,  but  to  have  been  called  away  from 
thence — first  to  Macedonia,  and  afterward  to  Crete;  and  immedi- 
ately on  his  return  from  thence  he  appears  finally  to  have  left 
Ephesus  for  Eome  by  way  of  Corinth.  But  here  we  are  antici- 
pating our  narrative ;  we  must  return  to  the  first  of  these  hurried 
journeys,  when  he  departed  from  Ephesus  to  Macedonia,  leaving 
the  care  of  the  Ephesian  Church  to  Timotheus,  and  charging  him 
especially  with  the  duty  of  counteracting  the  efforts  of  those 
heretical  teachers  whose  dangerous  character  we  have  described. 

When  he  arrived  in  Macedonia  he  found  that  his  absence  might 
possibly  be  prolonged  beyond  what  he  had  expected,  and  he  prob- 
ably felt  that  Timotheus  might  need  some  more  explicit  creden- 
tial from  himself  than  a  mere  verbal  commission  to  enable  him 
for  a  longer  period  to  exercise  that  apostolic  authority  over  the 
Ephesian  Church  wherewith  he  had  invested  him.  It  would  also 
be  desirable  that  Timotheus  should  be  able  in  his  struggle  with 
the  heretical  teachers  to  exhibit  documentary  proof  of  PauFs 
agreement  with  himself  and  condemnation  of  the  opposing  doc- 
trines. Such  seem  to  have  been  the  principal  motives  which  led 
Paul  to  despatch  from  Macedonia  that  which  is  known  as  'Hhe 
First  Epistle  to  Timothy,'^  in  which  are  contained  various  rules 
for  the  government  of  the  Ephesian  Church,  such  as  would  be 
received  with  submission  when  thus  seen  to  proceed  directly  from 
its  apostolic  founder,  while  they  would  perhaps  have  been  less 
readily  obeyed  if  seeming  to  be  the  spontaneous  injunctions  of  the 
youthful  Timotheus.  In  the  same  manner  it  abounds  with  impres- 
sive denunciations  against  the  false  teachers  at  Ephesus,  which 
might  command  the  assent  of  some  who  turned  a  deaf  ear  to  the 
remonstrances  of  the  apostolic  deputy.  There  are  also  exhorta- 
tions to  Timotheus  himself,  some  of  which  perhaps  were  rathe'' 


THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHEUS. 


689 


meant  to  bear  an  indirect  application  to  others  at  the  time,  as  they 
have  ever  since  furnished  a  treasury  of  practical  precepts  for  the 
Christian  Church ; 


THE  FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHEUS. 


1  Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ,  by  comraand  of  God  Salutation. 

2  our  Saviour  and  Christ  Jesus  our  hope,  to  Timotheus  my  true  son 
IN  FAITH.  Grace,  Mercy,  and  Peace,  from  God  our  Father  and 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord. 

3  As  I  desired  thee  to  remain  in  Ephesus,  when  I  was  Timotheus  ia 
setting  out  for  Macedonia,  that  thou  mightest  command  [ifj^  ^  commis- 

4  certain  persons  not  to  teach  falsely,  nor  to  pursue  fables  to^"oppose  ^the 
and  endless  genealogies,  which  furnish  ground  for  dis-  ^'"^^  teacUera. 
putation,  rather  than  for  the  exercising  of  the  stewardship  of  God  in 
faith. 

5  Now  the  end  of  tlie  commandment  is  love,  proceeding  from  a  pure 

6  heart,  and  good  conscience,  and  undissembled  faith.  Which  some 
have  missed,  and  have  turned  aside  to  vain  babbling,  desiring  to  be 

7  teachers  of  the  Law,  understanding  neither  what  they  say  nor  whereof 

8  they  affirm.    But  we  know  that  the  Law  is  good,  if  a  man  use  it 

9  lawfully  ;  knowing  this,  that  the  Law  is  not  enacted  for  a  righteous 
man,  but  for  the  lawless  and  disobedient,  for  the  impious  and  sinful, 

10  for  the  unholy  and  profane,  for  parricides  and  murderers,  for  forni- 
cators, sodomites,  slave-dealers,  liars,  perjurers,  and  whatsoever  else 

11  is  contrary  to  sound  doctrine.  Such  is  the  glorious  glad  tidings  of 
the  blessed  God,  which  was  committed  to  my  trust. 

12  And  I  thank  Him  who  has  strengthened  my  heart.  The  commis- 
Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  that  he  accounted  me  faithful,  of^PauL  ^^^^^^^ 

13  and  appointed  me  to  minister  unto  his  service,  who  was  before  a 
blasphemer  and  persecutor,  and  doer  of  outrage;  but  I  received 

14  mercy,  because  I  acted  ignorantly,  in  unbelief.  And  the  grace  of 
our  Lord  abounded  beyond  measure,  with  faith  and  love  which  is  in 

15  Christ  Jesus.    Faithful  is  the  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation, 

Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners     of  whom  I  am  first. 

16  But  for  this  cause  I  received  mercy,  that  in  me  first  Jesus  Christ 
mTght  show  forth  all  bis  long-suflering,  for  a  pattern  of  those  who 

17  should  hereafter  believe  on  him  unto  life  everlasting.  Now  to  the 
King  eternal,  innnortal,  invisible,  the  only  God,  be  honor  and  glory 
unto  the  ages  of  ages.  Amen. 

44 


690          LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


18  This  charge  I  commit  unto  thee,  son  Timotheus,  ac-  Timotheus  it 

1      ^  1      .  .11        en  joined  to  ful- 

cording  to  the  former  prophecies  concerning  thee ;  that  fii  his  comm  s- 
in  the  strength  thereof  thou  mayest  fight  the  good  fight, 

19  holding  faith  and  a  good  conscience,  which  some  have  cast  away,  and 

20  made  sliipwreck  concerning  the  faith.  Among  whom  are  Hyme- 
naeus  and  Alexander,  whom  I  delivered  over  unto  Satan  that  they 
might  be  taught  by  punishment  not  to  blaspheme. 

II. 

1  I  exhort,  therefore,  that  first  of  all,  supplications.  Directions  for 

.    ,  .  J  ^1       1      •    •         1  1     i'       public  worship, 

prayers,  intercessions  and  thanksgivings  be  made  for  and  the  behav- 

2  all  men ;  for  kings  and  all  that  are  in  authority,  that  womenthereat^ 
we  may  lead  a  quiet  and  peaceable  life  in  all  godliness  and  gravity. 

3  For  this  is  good  and  acceptable  in  the  sight  of  God  our  Saviour, 

4  who  wills  that  all  men  should  be  saved,  and  should  come  to  the 
6  knowledge  of  the  truth.    For  [over  all]  there  is  but  one  God,  and  one 

6  Mediator  between  God  and  men,  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  who  gave 

7  himself  a  ransom  for  all  men,  to  be  testified  in  due  time.  And  of 
this  testimony  I  was  appointed  herald  and  apostle  (I  speak  the  truth 

8  in  Christ,  I  lie  not),  a  teacher  of  the  Gentiles,  in  faith  and  truth.  I 
desire,  then,  that  in  every  place  the  men  should  offer  up  prayers, 
lifting  up  their  hands  in  holiness,  putting  away  anger  and  disputa- 

9  tion.  Likewise,  also,  that  the  women  should  come  in  seemly  apparel, 
adorned  with  modesty  and  self-restraint ;  not  in  braided  hair,  or  gold, 

10  or  pearls,  or  costly  garments,  but  (as  befits  women  professing  god- 

11  liness)  with  the  ornament  of  good  works.    Let  women  learn  iD 

12  silence,  with  entire  submission.    But  I  permit  not  a  woman  to  teach, 

13  nor  to  claim  authority  over  the  man,  but  to  keep  silence.  (For 

1 4  Adam  was  first  formed,  then  Eve.    And  Adam  was  not  deceived  ; 

15  but  the  woman  was  deceived,  and  became  a  transgressor.)  But 
women  will  be  saved  by  the  bearing  of  children  ;  if  they  continue  in 
faith  and  love  and  holiness,  with  self-restraint. 

TIL 

1  Faithful  is  the  saying,  "i/"a  man  seeks  the  office  of  a  Directions  for 

2  bishop,  he  desires  a  good  work^  A  bishop,  then,  must  ment  of^prea- 
be  free  from  reproach,  the  husband  of  one  wife,  sober, 

3  self-restrained,  orderly,  hospitable,  skilled  in  teaching;  not  given  to 

4  wine  or  brawls,  but  gentle,  peaceable,  and  liberal;  ruling  Ids  own 
household  well,  keei)ing  his  children  in  subjection  with  all  gravity 

5  — (but  if  a  man  knows  not  how  to  rule  his  own  household,  how  can 

6  he  take  charge  of  the  Church  of  God?) — not  a  novice,  lest  he  be 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHEUS. 


691 


blinded  with  pride  and  fall  into  the  condemnation  of  the  devil. 

7  Moreover,  he  ought  to  have  a  good  reputation  among  those  who  are 
without  the  Church,  lest  he  fall  into  reproach  and  into  a  snare  of 
the  devil. 

8  Likewise,  the  deacons  must  be  men  of  gravity,  not  Directions  for 
double-tongued,  not  given  to  much  wine,  not  greedy  of  deacons. 

9  of  gain,  holding  the  mystery  of  the  faith  in  a  pure  conscience.  And 

10  let  these  also  be  first  tried,  and  after  trial  be  made  deacons,  if  they 

11  are  found  irreproachable.    Their  wives,  likewise,  must  be  women  of 

12  gravity,  not  slanderous,  sober  and  faithful  in  all  things.  Let  the 
deacons  be  husbands  of  one  wife,  fitly  ruling  their  children  and  their 

13  own  households.  For  those  who  have  well  performed  the  office  of  a 
deacon,  gain  for  themselves  a  good  position,  and  great  boldness  in 
the  faith  of  Christ  Jesus. 

14  These  things  I  write  to  thee,  although  I  hope  to  Reason  for  writ- 
1^  come  to  thee  shortly ;  but  in  order  that  (if  I  should  be  tions  to  Timo- 

delayed)  thou  mayest  know  how  to  conduct  thyself  in 
the  house  of  God  (for  such  is  the  Church  of  the  living  God)  as  a 
16  pillar  and  mainstay  of  the  truth.  And,  without  contradiction,  great 
is  the  mystery  of  godliness — "  God  was  manifested  in  the  flesh,  justified 
in  the  Spirit;  beheld  by  angels,  preached  among  the  Gentiles;  believed 
on  in  the  world,  received  up  in  gloryJ^ 


IV. 

1  Kow  the  Spirit  declares  expressly,  that  in  after  False  teachers 
times  some  will  depart  from  the  faith,  giving  heed  to  the^rchlract'eli 

2  seducing  spirits,  and  teachings  of  da?mons,  speaking  mode  o7'?esi3t! 
lies  in  hypocrisy,  having  their  conscience  seared; 

3  hindering  marriage,  enjohung  abstinence  from  meats,  which  God  cre- 
ated to  be  received  with  thanksgiving  by  those  who  believe  and  have 

4  knotvledge  of  the  truth.  For  all  things  created  by  God  are  good, 
and  nothing  is  to  be  rejected,  if  it  be  received  with  thanksgiving. 

5  For  it  is  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God  and  prayer. 

6  In  thus  instructing  the  brethren,  thou  wilt  be  a  good  servant  of 
Jesus  Christ,  nourishing  thyself  with  the  words  of  the  faith  and  good 

7  doctrine  which  thou  hast  followed.    Eeject  the  fables  of  profane  and 

8  doting  teachers,  but  train  thyself  for  the  contests  of  godliness.  For 
the  training  of  the  body  is  profitable  for  a  little;  but  godliness  is 
profitable  for  all  things,  having  promise  of  the  present  life,  and  of  the 

9  life  to  come.  Faithful  is  the  saying,  and  worthy  of  all  acceptation, 
10  — "  For  to  this  end  we  endure  labor  and  reproach,  because  we  have  set  ov* 


692         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


hope  on  the  living  God,  who  is  the  Saviour  of  all  mankind,  specially  of 
the  faithfuV 

11  These  things  enjoin  and  teach;  let  no  man  despise  Duties  of  Timo- 

12  thy  youth,  but  make  thyself  a  pattern  of  the  faithful, 

13  in  word,  in  life,  in  love,  in  faith,  in  purity.    Until  I  come,  apply 

14  thyself  to  public  reading,  exhortation,  and  teaching.  Neglect  not  the 
gift  that  is  in  thee,  which  was  given  thee  by  prophecy  with  the  lay- 

15  ing  on  of  the  hands  of  the  presbytery.  Let  these  things  be  thy  care ; 
give  thyself  wholly  to  them  ;  that  thy  improvement  may  be  manifest 

16  to  all  men.  Give  heed  to  thyself  and  to  thy  teaching ;  continue 
steadfast  therein.  For  in  so  doing,  thou  shalt  save  both  thyself  and 
thy  hearers. 

V. 

1  Rebuke  not  an  aged  man,  but  exhort  him  as  thou  wouldest  a 

2  father ;  treat  young  men  as  brothers ;  the  aged  women  as  mothers ; 
the  young  as  sisters,  in  all  purity. 

3  Pay  due  regard  to  the  widows  who  are  friendless  in  widows  are  to 

4  their  widowhood.    But  if  any  widow  has  children  or    ^  ^^pp^^  ® 
grandchildren,  let  them  learn  to  show  their  godliness  first  towards 
their  own  household,  and  to  requite  their  parents ;  for  this  is  accept- 

5  able  in  the  sight  of  God.    The  widow  who  is  friendless  and  deso-  • 
late  in  her  widowhood,  sets  her  hope  on  God,  and  continues  in  sup- 

6  plications  and  prayers  night  and  day ;  but  she  who  lives  in  wanton- 

7  ness  is  dead  while  she  lives ;  and  hereof  do  thou  admonish  them, 

8  that  they  may  be  irreproachable.  But  if  any  man  provide  not  for 
his  own,  and  especially  for  his  kindred,  he  has  denied  the  faith,  and 
is  worse  than  an  unbeliever. 

9  A  widow,  to  be  placed  on  the  list,  must  be  not  less  Qualifications 
than  sixty  years  of  age,  having  been  the  wife  of  one  the  list. 

10  husband ;  she  must  be  well  reported  of  for  her  good  deeds,  as  one  who 
has  brought  up  children,  received  strangers  with  hospitality,  washed 
the  feet  of  Christ^s  people,  relieved  the  distressed,  and  diligently  fol- 

11  lowed  every  good  work.    But  younger  widows  reject;  for  when  they 

12  have  become  wanton  against  Christ,  they  desire  to  marry;  and 
t»hereby  incur  condemnation,  because  they  have  broken  their  former 

13  promise.  Moreover,  they  learn  to  be  idle,  wandering  about  from 
house  to  house ;  and  not  only  idle,  but  tattlers  also  and  busybodies, 

14  speaking  tilings  which  ought  not  to  be  spoken.  I  wish  therefore 
that  younger  widows  should  marry,  bear  children,  rule  their  house- 

15  holds,  and  give  no  occasion  to  the  adversary  for  reproach.  For 
already  some  of  them  have  gone  astray  after  Satan. 

16  If  there  are  widows  dej^endent  on  any  believer  (whether  man  of 


FIRST  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHEUS.  693 


woman),  let  those  on  wliom  they  depend  relieve  them,  and  let  not 
tlie  Church  be  burdened  with  them ;  that  it  may  relieve  the  widows 
who  are  destitute. 

17  Let  the  presbyters  who  perform  their  office  well  be  Government  of 

-  -         -  /.111  .  11     xi  the  presbyters. 

counted  worthy  of  a  twofold  honor,  especially  those 

18  who  labor  in  speaking  and  teaching.  For  the  Scripture  saith,  "TAow 
shall  not  muzzle  the  ox  that  treadeth  out  the  corUj'*  and  The  laborer  is 
vjorthy  of  his  hireJ* 

19  Against  a  presbyter  receive  no  accusation  except  on  the  testimony 

20  of  two  or  three  witnesses.    Rebuke  the  offenders  in  the  presence 

21  of  all,  that  others  also  may  fear.  I  adjure  thee,  before  God  and 
Christ  Jesus  and  the  chosen  angels,  that  thou  observe  these  things 
without  prejudice  against  any  man,  and  do  nothing  out  of  par- 
tiality. 

22  Lay  hands  hastily  on  no  man,  nor  make  thyself  a  Ordination, 
partaker  in  the  sins  committed  by  another.    Keep  thyself  pure. 

23  Drink  no  longer  water  only,  but  use  a  little  wine,  for  Particular  and 

^       r    ^  i    i      /.  i    T  general  cau- 

the  sake  of  thy  stomach,  and  thy  frequent  maladies.  tions. 

24  [In  thy  decisions  remember  that]  the  sins  of  some  men  are  mani- 
fest beforehand,  and  lead  the  w^ay  to  their  condemnation ;  but  the 

25  sins  of  others  are  not  seen  till  afterward.  Likewise,  also,  the  good 
deeds  of  some  men  are  conspicuous ;  and  those  which  they  conceal 
cannot  be  kept  liidden. 

VI. 

1  Let  tliose  who  are  under  the  yoke  as  bondsmen,  Duties  of  slaves, 
esteem  their  masters  worthy  of  all  honor,  lest  reproach  be  brought 

2  upon  the  name  of  God  and  his  doctrine.  And  let  those  whose 
masters  are  believers,  not  despise  them  because  they  are  brethren, 
but  serve  them  with  the  more  subjection,  because  they  who  claim 
the  benefit  are  believing  and  beloved.    Thus  teach  thou,  and  exhort. 

3  If  any  man  teach  falsely,  and  consent  not  to  the  False  teachers 
sound  words  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  to  the  covetousness. 

4  godly  doctrine,  he  is  blinded  with  pride,  and  understands  nothing, 
but  is  filled  with  a  sickly  appetite  for  disputations  and  contentions 
about  words,  whence  arise  envy,  strife,  reproaches,  evil  suspicions^ 

6  violent  collisions  of  men  whose  mind  is  corrupted,  and  who  are 
destitute  of  the  truth ;  who  think  that  godliness  is  a  gainful  trade. 

6,  7  But  godliness  with  contentment  is  truly  gainful ;  for  we  brought 
nothing  into  the  world,  and  it  is  certain  we  can  carry  nothing  out ; 

8,  9  but  having  food  and  shelter,  let  us  be  therewith  content.  They 
who  seek  for  riches  fall  into  temptations  and  snares,  and  many 
foolish  and  hurtful  desires,  which  drown  men  in  ruin  and  destruc- 


694 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


10  tion.  For  the  love  of  money  is  a  root  of  all  evils ;  and  some,  through 
coveting  it,  have  been  led  astray  from  the  faith,  and  pierced  them- 
selves through  with  many  sorrows. 

11  But  thou,  O  man  of  God,  flee  these  things;  and  fol-  Exhortatione to 
low  after  righteousness,  godliness,  faith,  love,  stead- 

12  fastness,  meekness.  Fight  the  good  fight  of  faith,  lay  hold  on 
eternal  life,  to  which  thou  wast  called,  and  didst  confess  the  good 

13  confession  before  many  witnesses.  I  charge  thee  in  the  presence  of 
God  who  gives  life  to  all  things,  and  Christ  Jesus  who  bore  testimony 

14  under  Pontius  Pilate  to  the  good  confession,  that  thou  keep  that  which 
thou  art  commanded,  spotlessly  and  irreproachably,  until  the  appear- 

15  ing  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  which  shall  in  due  time  be  made 

16  manifest  by  the  blessed  and  only  potentate,  the  King  of  kings  and 
Lord  of  lords ;  who  only  hath  immortality,  dwelling  in  liglit  unap- 
proachable ;  whom  no  man  hath  seen,  nor  can  see ;  to  whom  be  honor 
and  power  everlasting.  Amen. 

17  Charge  those  who  are  rich  in  this  present  world,  not  Duties  of  the 
to  be  high-minded,  nor  to  trust  in  uncertain  riches,  but 

18  in  God,  who  provides  all  things  richly  for  our  use.    Charge  them  to 

19  practise  benevolence,  to  be  rich  in  good  works,  to  be  bountiful  and 
generous,  and  thus  to  store  up  for  themselves  a  good  foundation  for 
the  time  to  come,  that  they  may  lay  hold  on  eternal  life. 

20  O  Timotheus,  guard  the  treasure  which  is  committed  t  i  m  o  t  h  e  u  « 

,  T         .11  n        Till*  1  again  reraiuded 

to  thy  trust,  and  avoid  the  proiane  babblings  and  an-  of  his  commifl- 

21  titheses  of  the  falsely-named     knowledge ; "  which  ''^°"* 
some  professinsr,  have  erred  concerninsj  the  faith.  ,    , , 

^  ^  Concluding 

Grace  be  with  thee.  beuediction. 

The  expectations  which  Paul  expressed  in  the  above  letter  of  a 
more  prolonged  absence  from  Ephesus  could  scarcely  have  been 
fulfilled,  for  soon  after  we  find  that  he  had  been  in  Crete  (which 
seems  to  imply  that  on  his  way  thither  he  had  passed  through 
Ephesus),  and  was  now  again  on  his  way  westward.  We  must 
suppose,  then,  that  he  returned  shortly  from  Macedonia  to  Ephe- 
sus, as  he  hoped,  though  doubtfully,  to  be  able  to  do  when  he 
wrote  to  Timotheus.  From  Ephesus,  as  we  have  just  said,  he 
soon  afterward  made  an  expedition  to  Crete.  It  can  scarcely  be 
supposed  that  the  Christian  churches  of  Crete  were  first  founded 
during  this  visit  of  Paul ;  on  the  contrary,  many  indications  in 
the  Epistle  to  Titus  show  that  they  had  already  lasted  for  a  con- 
siderable time.  But  they  were  troubled  by  false  teachers,  and 
probably  had  never  yet  been  properly  organized,  having  originated, 


EPISTLE  TO  TITUS. 


695 


perhaps,  in  the  private  efforts  of  individual  Christians,  who  would 
have  been  supplied  with  a  centre  of  operations  and  nucleus  of 
churches  by  the  numerous  colonies  of  Jews  established  in  the  isl- 
and. Paul  now  visited  them  in  company  with  Titus,  whom  he 
left  in  Crete  as  his  representative  on  his  departure.  He  himself 
was  unable  to  remain  long  enough  to  do  what  was  needful,  either 
in  silencing  error  or  in  selecting  fit  persons  as  presbyters  of  the 
numerous  scattered  churches,  which  would  manifestly  be  a  work 
of  time.  Probably  he  confined  his  efforts  to  a  few  of  the  principal 
places,  and  empowered  Titus  to  do  the  rest.  Thus,  Titus  was  left 
at  Crete  in  the  same  position  which  Timotheus  had  occupied  at 
Ephesus  during  Paul's  recent  absence;  and  there  would  conse- 
quently be  the  same  advantage  in  his  receiving  written  directions 
from  Paul  concerning  the  government  and  organization  of  the 
Church  which  we  have  before  mentioned  in  the  case  of  Timotheus. 
Accordingly,  shortly  after  leaving  Crete,  Paul  sent  a  letter  to  Ti- 
tus, the  outline  of  which  would  equally  serve  for  that  of  the  for- 
mer Epistle.  But  Paul's  letter  to  Titus  seems  to  have  been  still 
further  called  for  to  meet  some  strong  opposition  which  that  dis- 
ciple had  encountered  while  attempting  to  carry  out  his  master's 
directions.  This  may  be  inferred  from  the  very  severe  remarks 
against  the  Cretans  which  occur  in  the  Epistle,  and  from  the  state- 
ment at  its  commencement  that  the  very  object  which  its  writer 
had  in  view  in  leaving  Titus  in  Crete  was  that  he  might  appoint 
presbyters  in  the  Cretan  churches—an  indication  that  his  claim  to 
exercise  this  authority  had  been  disputed.  This  Epistle  seems  to 
have  been  despatched  from  Ephesus  at  the  moment  when  Paul 
was  on  the  eve  of  departure  on  a  westward  journey  which  was  to 
take  him  as  far  as  Nicopolis  (in  Epirus)  before  the  winter.  The 
following  is  a  translation  of  this  Epistle: 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  TITUS. 
I. 

1  Paul  a  bondsman  of  God,  and  an  apostle  of  salutation. 

J Esus  Christ— sent  forth  to  bring  God's  chosen  to  faith  and  to 
the  knowledge  of  the  truth  which  is  according  to  godliness  with 

2  hope  of  eternal  life,  which  God,  who  cannot  lie,  promised  before 
the  times  of  old;  (but  he  made  known  his  word  in  due  season, 

3  in  the  message  committed  to  my  trust  by  the  command  of  God 


696 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


our  Saviour), — to  Titus,  my  true  son  in  our  comthon  faith. 

4  Grace  and  peace  from  God  our  Father,  and  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
our  Saviour. 

5  This  was  the  [very]  cause  why  I  left  thee  in  Crete,  commission  of 

^  '    Thus  to  re^n- 

that  thou  mierhtest  further  correct  what  is  deficient,  late  the  Cretan 

°  ,  ^  churches. 

and  appoint  presbyters  in  every  city,  as  I  gave  thee 

6  commission.  No  man  must  be  appointed  a  presbyter  of^piSbytels!^'* 
but  he  who  is  without  reproach,  the  husband  of  one  wife,  having 
believing  children,  who  are  not  accused  of  riotous  living,  nor  disobe- 

7  dient;  for  a  bishop  must  be  free  from  reproach,  as  being  a  steward 
of  God ;  not  self-willed,  not  easily  provoked,  not  a  lover  of  wine, 

8  not  given  to  brawls,  not  greedy  of  gain  ;  but  hospitable  to  strangers, 

9  a  lover  of  good  men,  self-restrained,  just,  holy,  continent ;  holding 
fast  the  words  which  are  faithful  to  our  teaching,  that  he  may  be  able 
both  to  exhort  others  in  the  sound  doctrine,  and  to  rebuke  the  gain- 
sayers. 

10  For  there  are  many  disobedient  babblers  and  de-  {he^Vaisd 

11  ceivers,  specially  they   of  the  circumcision,  whose  teachers, 
mouths  need  bit  and  bridle ;  for  they  subvert  whole  houses,  by  teach- 

12  ing  evil,  for  the  love  of  shameful  gain.  It  was  said  by  one  of  them- 
selves, a  prophet  of  their  own, — 

*'  Always  liars  and  beasts  are  the  Cretans,  and  inwardly  sluggish." 

13  This  testimony  is  true.    Wherefore  rebuke  them  sharply,  that  they 

14  may  be  sound  in  faith,  and  may  no  more  give  heed  to  Jewish  fables. 

15  and  precepts  of  men  who  turn  away  from  the  truth.  To  the  pure  all 
things  are  pure  ;  but  to  the  polluted  and  unbelieving  nothing  is  pure, 

16  but  both  their  understanding  and  their  conscience  is  polluted.  They 
profess  to  know  God,  but  by  their  works  they  deny  him,  being  abom- 
inable and  disobedient,  and  worthless  for  any  good  work. 

II. 

1  But  do  thou  speak  conformably  to  the  sound  doc-  Tittirhow^he^is 

2  trine.    Exhort  the  aged  men  to  be  sober,  ffrave,  self-  toinstmct  those 

^  ^  7  o         7  of  diffe rent  ages 

restrained,  sound  in  faith,  in  love,  in  steadfastness.    Ex-  and  sexes. 

3  hort  the  aged  women,  likewise,  to  let  their  deportment  testify  of  holi- 
ness, to  Keep  themselves  from  slander  and  from  drunkenness,  and  to 

4  give  good  instruction  ;  that  they  may  teach  discretion  to  the  younger 
6  women,  leading  them  to  be  loving  wives  and  loving  mothers,  self- 
restrained,  chaste,  keepers  at  home,  amiable  and  obedient  to  their 

6  husbands,  lest  reproach  be  brought  upon  the  word  of  God.    In  like 

7  manner,  do  thou  exhort  the  young  men  to  self-restraint.  And 


EPISTLE  TO  TITUS. 


697 


show  tlivself  in  all  things  a  pattern  of  good  works ;  His  own  con- 

^         ^  ^  ,  duct. 

manifesting  in  thy  teaching  uncorruptncss,  gravity, 

8  soundness  of  doctrine  not  to  be  condemned,  that  our  adversaries  may 

9  be  shamed,  having  no  evil  to  say  against  ns.  Exhort  bondsmen  to 
obey  their  masters,  and  to  strive  to  please  them  in  all  Duties  of  slaves. 

10  things,  without  gainsaying;  not  purloining,  but  showing  all  good 
fidelity,  that  they  may  adorn  the  doctrine  of  God  our  ^^^^^oPch^^ 

11  Saviour  in  all  things.    For  the  grace  of  God  has  been  tianity. 

12  made  manifest,  bringing  salvation  to  all  mankind;  teaching  us  to 
deny  ungodliness,  and  earthly  lusts,  and  to  live  temperately,  justly, 

13  and  godly  in  this  present  world ;  looking  for  that  blessed  hope,  the 
appearing  of  the  glory  of  tlie  great  God,  and  our  Saviour  Jesus 

14  Christ ;  who  gave  himself  for  us,  that  he  might  redeem  us  from  all 
iniquity,  and  purify  us  unto  himself  as  "  a  peculiar  people,"  zealous 

15  of  good  works.    These  things  speak,  and  exhort  and  rebuke  with  all 
authority.    Let  no  man  despise  thee. 

III. 

1  Remind  them  to  render  submission  to  magistrates  Duty  towards 

,        ,      .  .  ,         -,  /.  government 

and  authorities,  to  obey  the  government,  to  perlorm  and  towards 

2  every  good  work  readily,  to  speak  evil  of  no  man,  to  generally, 
avoid  strife,  to  act  with  forbearance,  and  to  show  all  meekness,  to  all 

3  men.  For  we  ourselves  also  were  formerly  without  understanding, 
disobedient  and  led  astray,  enslaved  to  all  kinds  of  lusts  and  pleas- 
ures, living  in  malice  and  in  envy,  hateful  and  hating  one  another. 

4  But  when  God  our  Saviour  made  manifest  his  kindness  and  love  of 

5  men,  he  saved  us,  not  through  works  of  righteousness  which  we  had 
done,  but  according  to  his  own  mercy,  by  the  laver  of  regeneration, 

6  and  the  renewing  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  he  richly  poured  forth 

7  upon  us,  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour ;  that,  being  justified  by  his 
grace,  we  might  become  heirs,  through  hope  of  life  J^^^^  ^  e'^^^'^oTd 

8  eternal.    Faitiiful  is  the  savins,  and  these  thiui^s  I  de-  works  and  re- 

^       »  8i8t  the  false 

sire  thee  to  affirm,  "  Let  them  that  have  believed  in  God  teachers. 

9  be  carefvl  to  practise  good  works."  Tiiese  things  are  good  and  profit- 
able to  men;  but  avoid  foolish  disputations,  and  genealogies,  and 
strifes  and  contentions  concerning  the  Law,  for  they  are  profitless  and 

10,11  vain.  A  sectarian  after  two  admonitions,  reject,  knowing  that 
such  a  man  is  perverted,  and  by  his  sins  is  self-con'.iemned. 

12  When  I  send  Artemas  or  Tychicus  to  thee,  endeavor  Special  direc- 
to  come  to  me  to  Nicopolis ;  for  there  I  have  deter-  jiurney^  lo^m^- 

13  mined  to  winter.    Forward  Zenas  the  lawyer  and  Apol-  ^^p^^'*** 

14  los  on  their  journey  zealously,  that  they  may  want  for  nothing.  And 


698 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


let  our  people  also  learn  to  practise  good  works,  ministering  to  the 
necessities  of  others,  that  they  may  not  be  unfruitful. 
15     All  that  are  with  me  salute  thee.    Salute  those  who  salutations, 
love  us  in  faith. 

Grace  be  with  you  all.  Concluding  be- 

We  see  from  the  above  letter  that  Titus  was  desired  to  join  Paul 
at  Nicopolis,  where  the  apostle  designed  to  winter.  We  learn  from 
an  incidental  notice  elsewhere  that  the  route  he  pursued  was  from 
Ephesus  to  Miletus,  where  his  old  companion  Trophimus  remained 
behind  from  sickness,  and  thence  to  Corinth,  where  he  left  Eras- 
tus,  the  former  treasurer  of  that  city,  whom  perhaps  he  had  ex- 
pected or  wished  to  accompany  him  in  his  further  progress.  The 
position  of  Nicopolis  would  render  it  a  good  centre  for  operating 
upon  the  surrounding  province ;  and  thence  Paul  might  make  ex- 
cursions to  those  churches  of  Illyricum  which  he  perhaps  founded 
himself  at  an  earlier  period.  The  city  which  was  thus  chosen  as 
the  last  scene  of  the  apostle's  labors,  before  his  final  imprisonment, 
is  more  celebrated  for  its  origin  than  for  its  subsequent  history. 
It  was  founded  by  Augustus  as  a  permanent  memorial  of  the  vic- 
tory of  Actium,  and  stood  upon  the  site  of  the  camp  occupied  by 
his  land-forces  before  that  battle.  We  learn  from  the  accounts 
of  modern  travellers  that  the  remains  upon  the  spot  still  attest 
the  extent  and  importance  of  the  *^City  of  Victory:''  "A  long, 
lofty  wall  spans  a  desolate  plain ;  to  the  north  of  it  rises,  on  a  dis- 
tant hill,  the  shattered  scena  of  a  theatre;  and  to  the  west  the  ex- 
tended though  broken  line  of  an  aqueduct  connects  the  distant 
mountains,  from  which  it  tends,  with  the  main  subject  of  the  pic- 
ture, the  city  itself."  To  people  this  city,  Augustus  uprooted  the 
neighboring  mountaineers  from  their  native  homes,  dragging  them 
by  his  arbitrary  compulsion  "from  their  healthy  hills  to  this  low 
and  swampy  plain."  It  is  satisfactory  to  think  that  "in  lieu  of 
the  blessings  of  which  they  were  deprived,  the  Greek  colonists  of 
Nicopolis  were  consoled  with  one  greater  than  all  when  they  saw, 
heard,  and  talked  with  the  apostle  who  was  debtor  to  the  Greeks." 

It  seems  most  probable,  however,  that  Paul  was  not  permitted 
to  spend  the  whole  of  this  winter  in  security  at  Nicopolis.  The 
Christians  were  now  far  more  obnoxious  to  the  Roman  authorities 
than  formerly.  They  were  already  distinguished  from  the  Jews, 
and  could  no  longer  shelter  themselves  under  the  toleration  ex- 
tended to  the  Mosaic  religion.    So  eminent  a  leader  of  the  pro- 


THE  SECOND  JOURKEY  TO  ROME. 


699 


scribed  sect  was  sure  to  find  enemies  everywhere,  especially  among 
his  fellow-countrymen ;  and  there  is  nothing  improbable  in  sup- 
posing that  upon  the  testimony  of  some  informer  he  was  arrested 
by  the  duumvirs  of  Nicopolis  and  forwarded  to  Eome  for  trial. 
The  indications  which  we  gather  from  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timo- 
theus  render  it  probable  that  this  arrest  took  place  not  later  than 
midwinter,  and  the  authorities  may  have  thought  to  gratify  the 
emperor  by  forwarding  so  important  a  criminal  immediately  to 
Eome.  It  is  true  that  the  navigation  of  the  Mediterranean  was 
in  those  times  suspended  during  the  winter,  but  this  rule  would 
apply  only  to  longer  voyages,  and  not  to  the  short  passage  from 
Apollonia  to  Brundusium.  Hence,  it  is  not  unlikely  that  Paul 
may  have  arrived  at  Kome  some  time  before  spring. 

In  this  melancholy  journey  he  had  but  few  friends  to  cheer  him. 
Titus  had  reached  Nicopolis,  in  obedience  to  his  summons,  and 
there  were  others  also,  it  would  seem,  in  attendance  on  him,  but 
they  were  scattered  by  the  terror  of  his  arrest.  Demas  forsook  him 

for  love  of  this  present  world,''  and  departed  to  Thessalonica ; 
Crescens  went  to  Galatia  on  the  same  occasion.  We  are  unwilling 
to  suppose  that  Titus  could  have  yielded  to  such  unworthy  fears, 
and  may  be  allowed  to  hope  that  his  journey  to  the  neighboring 
Dalmatia  was  undertaken  by  the  desire  of  Paul.  Luke,  at  any 
rate,  remained  faithful,  accompanied  his  master  once  more  over 
the  wintry  sea,  and  shared  the  dangers  of  his  imprisonment  at 
Rome. 

This  imprisonment  was  evidently  more  severe  than  it  had  been 
five  years  before.  Then,  though  necessarily  fettered  to  his  military 
guard,  he  had  been  allowed  to  live  in  his  own  lodgings,  and  had 
been  suffered  to  preach  the  gospel  to  a  numerous  company  who 
came  to  hear  him.  Now  he  is  not  only  chained,  but  treated  "as 
a  malefactor.''  His  friends,  indeed,  are  still  suffered  to  visit  him 
in  his  confinement,  but  we  hear  nothing  of  his  preaching.  It  is 
dangerous  and  difficult  to  seek  his  prison — so  perilous  to  show  any 
public  sympathy  with  him  that  no  Christian  ventures  to  stand  by 
him  in  the  court  of  justice.  And  as  the  final  stage  of  his  trial 
approaches  he  looks  forward  to  death  as  his  certain  sentence. 

This  alteration  in  the  treatment  of  Paul  exactly  corresponds 
with  that  which  the  history  of  the  times  would  have  led  us  to  ex- 
pect. We  have  seen  that  his  liberation  took  place  early  in  A.  D. 
63  ;  he  was  therefore  far  distant  from  Rome  when  the  first  imperial 


700  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


persecution  of  Christianity  broke  out  in  consequence  of  the  great 
fire  in  the  summer  of  the  following  year.  Then  first,  it  appears, 
Christians  were  recognized  as  a  distinct  body,  separate  both  from 
Jews  and  heathens;  and  their  number  must  have  been  already  very 
great  at  Rome  to  account  for  the  public  notice  attracted  towards  a 
sect  whose  members  were  most  of  them  individually  so  obscure  in 
social  position.  When  the  alarm  and  indignation  of  the  people 
were  excited  by  the  tremendous  ruin  of  a  conflagration  which  burnt 
down  almost  half  the  city,  it  answered  the  purpose  of  Nero  (who 
was  accused  of  causing  the  fire)  to  avert  the  rage  of  the  populace 
from  himself  to  the  already  hated  votaries  of  a  new  religion. 
Tacitus  describes  the  success  of  this  expedient,  and  relates  the 
sufferings  of  the  Christian  martyrs,  who  were  put  to  death  with 
circumstances  of  the  most  aggravated  cruelty.  Some  were  cruci- 
fied ;  some  disguised  in  the  skins  of  beasts  and  hunted  to  death 
with  dogs;  some  were  wrapped  in  robes  impregnated  with  inflam- 
mable materials  and  set  on  fire  at  night,  that  they  might  serve  to 
illuminate  the  circus  of  the  Vatican  and  the  gardens  of  Nero, 
where  this  diabolical  monster  exhibited  the  agonies  of  his  vic- 
tims to  the  public,  and  gloated  over  them  himself,  mixing  among 
the  spectators  in  the  costume  of  a  charioteer.  Brutalized  as  the 
Romans  w^ere  by  the  perpetual  spectacle  of  human  combats  in  the 
amphitheatre,  and  hardened  by  popular  prejudice  against  the 
"  atheistical "  sect,  yet  the  tortures  of  the  victims  excited  even 
their  compassion.  ^'A  very  great  multitude,''  as  Tacitus  informs 
us,  perished  in  this  manner;  and  it  appears  from  his  statement 
that  the  mere  fact  of  professing  Christianity  was  accounted  suffi- 
cient to  justify  their  execution,  the  whole  body  of  Christians  being 
considered  as  involved  in  the  crime  of  firing  the  city.  This,  how- 
ever, was  in  the  first  excitement  which  followed  the  fire,  and  even 
then,  probably,  but  few  among  those  who  perished  w^ere  Roman 
citizens.  Since  that  time  some  years  had  passed,  and  now  a  decent 
respect  would  be  paid  to  the  forms  of  law  in  dealing  with  one  who, 
like  Paul,  possessed  the  privilege  of  citizenship.  Yet  we  can  quite 
understand  that  a  leader  of  so  abhorred  a  sect  would  be  subjected 
to  a  severe  imprisonment. 

We  have  no  means  of  knowing  the  precise  charge  now^  made 
against  the  apostle.  He  might  certainly  be  regarded  as  an  offender 
against  the  law  which  prohibited  the  propagation  of  a  new  and 
illicit  religion  [religio  nova  et  illicita)  among  the  citizens  of  Rome. 


THE  SECOND  ROMAN  TRIAL. 


701 


But  at  this  period  one  article  of  accusation  against  him  must  have 
been  the  more  serious  charge  of  having  instigated  the  I^oman 
Christians  to  their  supposed  act  of  incendiarism  before  his  last  de- 
parture from  the  capital.  It  appears  that  "  Alexander  the  brass- 
founder  "  (2  Tim.  iv.  14)  was  either  one  of  bis  accusers  or  at  least 
a  witness  against  him.  If  this  w^as  the  same  witb  the  Jewish  Alex- 
ander of  Ephesus  (Acts  xix.  33),  it  would  be  probable  that  his 
testimony  related  to  the  former  charge.  But  there  is  no  proof 
that  these  two  Alexanders  were  identical.  We  may  add  that  the 
employment  of  informer  [delator)  was  now  become  quite  a  profes- 
sion at  Rome,  and  that  there  would  be  no  lack  of  accusations 
against  an  unpopular  prisoner  as  soon  as  his  arrest  became  known. 

Probably  no  long  time  elapsed  after  Paul's  arrival  before  his 
cause  came  on  for  hearing.  The  accusers,  with  their  witnesses, 
would  be  already  on  the  spot ;  and  on  this  occasion  he  was  not  to 
be  tried  by  the  emperor  in  person,  so  that  another  cause  of  delay, 
which  was  often  interposed  by  the  carelessness  or  indolence  of  the 
emperor,  would  be  removed.  The  charge  now  alleged  against  him 
probably  fell  under  the  cognizance  of  the  city  prefect  [prcefectus 
urbi)y  whose  jurisdiction  daily  encroached  at  this  period  on  that  of 
the  ancient  magistracies.  For  we  must  remember  that  since  the 
time  of  Augustus  a  great  though  silent  change  had  taken  place 
in  the  Roman  system  of  criminal  procedure.  The  ancient  method, 
though  still  the  regular  and  legal  system,  was  rapidly  becoming 
obsolete  in  practice.  Under  the  republic  a  Roman  citizen  could 
theoretically  be  tried  on  a  criminal  charge  only  by  the  sovereign 
people,  but  the  judicial  power  of  the  people  was  delegated  by 
special  laws  to  certain  bodies  of  judges  superintended  by  the  sev- 
eral praetors.  Thus,  one  praetor  presided  at  trials  for  homicide, 
another  at  trials  for  treason,  and  so  on.  But  the  presiding  magis- 
trate did  not  give  the  sentence;  his  function  was  merely  to  secure 
the  legal  formality  of  the  proceedings.  The  judgment  was  pro- 
nounced by  the  judices,  a  large  body  of  judges  (or  rather  jurors) 
chosen  (generally  by  lot)  from  amongst  the  senators  or  knights, 
who  gave  their  vote  by  ballot  for  acquittal  or  condemnation.  But 
under  the  empire  this  ancient  system,  though  not  formally  abolished, 
was  gradually  superseded.  The  emperors  from  the  first  claimed 
supreme  judicial  authority,  both  civil  and  criminal.  And  this 
jurisdiction  was  exercised  not  only  by  themselves,  but  by  the  del- 
egates whom  they  appointed.    It  was  at  first  delegated  chiefly  to 


702  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

the  prefect  of  the  city;  and  though  causes  might,  up  to  the  begin- 
ning of  the  second  century,  be  tried  by  the  praetors  in  the  old  way, 
yet  this  became  more  and  more  unusual.  In  the  reign  of  Nero  it 
was  even  dangerous  for  an  accuser  to  prosecute  an  offender  in  the 
prfEtor's  instead  of  the  prefect's  court.  Thus  the  trial  of  criminal 
charges  was  transferred  from  a  jury  of  independent  judices  to  a 
single  magistrate  appointed  by  a  despot,  and  controlled  only  by  a 
council  of  assessors,  to  whom  he  was  not  bound  to  attend. 

Such  was  the  court  before  which  Paul  was  now  cited.  We  have 
an  account  of  the  first  hearing  of  the  cause  from  his  own  pen.  He 
writes  thus  to  Timotheus  immediately  after :  "When  I  was  first 
heard  in  my  defence,  no  man  stood  by  me,  but  all  forsook  me, — I 
pray  that  it  be  not  laid  to  their  charge. — Nevertheless,  the  Lord 
Jesus  stood  by  me,  and  strengthened  my  heart;  that  by  me  the  proc- 
lamation of  the  glad  tidings  might  be  accomplished  in  full  measure, 
and  that  all  the  Gentiles  might  hear;  and  I  was  delivered  out  of  the 
lion's  mouth."  We  see  from  this  statement  that  it  was  dangerous 
even  to  appear  in  public  as  the  friend  or  adviser  of  the  apostle. 
No  advocate  would  venture  to  plead  his  cause,  no  procurator  to  aid 
him  in  arranging  the  evidence,  no  patronus  (such  as  he  might  have 
found,  perhaps,  in  the  pow^erful  ^milian  house)  to  appear  as  his 
supporter,  and  to  deprecate,  according  to  ancient  usage,  the  sever- 
ity of  the  sentence.  But  he  had  a  more  powerful  Intercessor  and 
a  wiser  Advocate,  who  could  never  leave  him  nor  forsake  him. 
The  Lord  Jesus  was  always  near  him,  but  now  was  felt  almost 
visibly  present  in  the  hour  of  his  need. 

From  the  above  description  we  can  realize  in  some  measure  the 
external  features  of  his  last  trial.  He  evidently  intimates  that  he 
spoke  before  a  crowded  audience,  so  that  "all  the  Gentiles  might 
hear;"  and  this  corresponds  with  the  supposition  which  histor- 
ically we  should  be  led  to  make,  that  he  was  tried  in  one  of  those 
great  basilicas  which  stood  in  the  Forum.  Two  of  the  most  cele- 
brated of  these  edifices  were  called  the  Pauline  Basilicas,  from  the 
well-known  Lucius  ^^milius  Paulus,  who  had  built  one  of  them 
and  restored  the  other.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  greatest  man 
who  ever  bore  the  Pauline  name  was  tried  in  one  of  these.  From 
specimens  which  still  exist,  as  w^ell  as  from  the  descriptions  of  Vi- 
truvius,  we  have  an  accurate  knowledge  of  the  character  of  these 
halls  of  justice.  They  were  rectangular  buildings,  consisting  of  a 
central  nave  and  two  aisles,  separated  from  the  nave  by  rows  of 


REMANDED  TO  PRTSON. 


703 


columns.  At  one  end  of  the  nave  was  the  tribune,  in  the  centre 
of  which  was  placed  the  magistrate's  curule  chair  of  ivory  elevated 
on  a  platform  called  the  tribunal.  Here  also  sat  the  council  of 
assessors,  who  advised  the  prefect  upon  the  law,  though  they  had 
no  voice  in  the  judgment.  On  the  sides  of  the  tribune  were  seats 
for  distinguished  persons,  as  well  as  for  parties  engaged  in  the  pro- 
ceedings. Fronting  the  presiding  magistrate  stood  the  prisoner 
with,  his  accusers  and  his  advocates.  The  public  was  admitted  into 
the  remainder  of  the  nave  and  aisles  (which  was  railed  off  from 
the  portion  devoted  to  the  judicial  proceedings),  and  there  were 
also  galleries  along  the  whole  length  of  the  side  aisles — one  for 
men,  the  other  for  women.  The  aisles  were  roofed  over,  as  was  the 
tribune.  The  nave  was  originally  left  open  to  the  sky.  The  basil- 
icas were  buildings  of  great  size,  so  that  a  vast  multitude  of  spec- 
tators was  always  present  at  any  trial  which  excited  public  interest. 

Before  such  an  audience  it  was  that  Paul  was  now  called  to  speak 
in  his  defence.  His  earthly  friends  had  deserted  him,  but  his  heav- 
enly Friend  stood  by  him  He  was  strengthened  by  the  power  of 
Christ's  Spirit,  and  pleaded  the  cause  not  of  himself  only,  but  of 
the  gospel.  He  spoke  of  Jesus,  of  his  death  and  his  resurrection, 
so  that  all  the  heathen  multitude  might  hear.  At  the  same  time 
he  successfully  defended  himself  from  the  first  of  the  charges 
bro\ight  against  him,  which  perhaps  accused  him  of  conspiring 
with  the  incendiaries  of  Eome.  He  was  delivered  from  the  im.- 
mediate  peril,  and  saved  from  the  ignominious  and  painful  death 
which  might  have  been  his  doom  had  he  been  convicted  on  such  a 
charge. 

He  was  now  remanded  to  prison  to  wait  for  the  second  stage  of 
his  trial.  It  seems  that  he  himself  expected  this  not  to  come  on 
so  soon  as  it  really  did,  or,  at  any  rate,  he  did  not  think  the  final 
decision  would  be  given  till  the  following  winter,  w^hereas  it 
actually  took  place  about  midsummer.  Perhaps  he  judged  from 
the  long  delay  of  his  former  trial,  or  he  may  have  expected  (from 
the  issue  of  his  first  hearing)  to  be  again  acquitted  on  a  second 
charge,  and  to  be  convicted  on  a  third.  He  certainly  did  not  ex- 
pect a  final  acquittal,  but  felt  no  doubt  that  the  cause  would  ulti- 
mately result  in  his  condemnation.  We  are  not  left  to  conjecture 
the  feelings  with  which  he  awaited  this  consummation,  for  he  has 
himself  expressed  them  in  that  sublime  strain  of  triumphant  hope 
which  is  familiar  to  the  memory  of  every  Christian,  and  which 


704  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


has  nerved  the  hearts  of  a  thousand  martyrs :  "  I  am  now  ready  to 
be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand.  I  have 
fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept  the 
faith.  Henceforth  is  laid  up  for  me  the  crown  of  righteousness, 
which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  Judge,  shall  give  me  in  that  day." 
He  saw  before  him  at  a  little  distance  the  doom  of  an  unrighteous 
magistrate  and  the  sword  of  a  bloodstained  executioner,  but  he 
appealed  to  the  sentence  of  a  juster  Judge,  who  would  soon  change 
the  fetters  of  the  criminal  into  the  wreath  of  the  conqueror ;  he 
looked  beyond  the  transitory  present ;  the  tribunal  of  Nero  faded 
from  his  sight,  and  the  vista  was  closed  by  the  judgment-seat  of 
Christ. 

Sustained  by  such  a  blessed  and  glorious  hope — knowing,  as  he 
did,  that  nothing  in  heaven  or  in  earth  could  separate  him  from 
the  love  of  Christ — it  mattered  to  him  but  little  if  he  was  desti- 
tute of  earthly  sympathy.  Yet  still,  even  in  these  last  hours,  he 
clung  to  the  friendships  of  early  years ;  still  the  faithful  compan- 
ionship of  Luke  consoled  him  in  the  weary  hours  of  constrained 
inactivity,  which  to  a  temper  like  his  must  have  made  the  most 
painful  part  of  imprisonment.  Luke  was  the  only  one  of  his 
habitual  attendants  who  now  remained  to  minister  to  him ;  his 
other  companions,  as  we  have  seen,  had  left  him,  probably  before 
his  arrival  at  Eome.  But  one  friend  from  Asia,  Onesiphorus,  had 
diligently  sought  him  out  and  visited  him  in  his  prison,  undeterred 
by  the  fear  of  danger  or  of  shame.  And  there  were  others,  some 
of  them  high  in  station,  who  came  to  receive  from  the  chained 
malefactor  blessings  infinitely  greater  than  all  the  favors  of  the 
emperor  of  the  world.  Among  these  was  Linus,  afterward  a 
bishop  of  the  Eoman  Church ;  Pudens,  the  son  of  a  senator ;  and 
Claudia,  his  bride,  the  daughter  of  a  British  king.  But,  however 
he  may  have  valued  these  more  recent  friends,  their  society  could 
not  console  him  for  the  absence  of  one  far  dearer  to  him :  he  longed 
with  a  paternal  longing  to  see  once  more  the  face  of  Timotheus, 
his  beloved  son.  The  disciple  who  had  so  long  ministered  to  him 
with  filial  affection  might  still  (he  hoped)  arrive  in  time  to  receive 
his  parting  words  and  be  with  him  in  his  dying  hour.  But  Timo- 
theus was  far  distant  in  Asia  Minor,  exercising  apparently  the 
same  function  with  which  he  had  before  been  temporarily  invested. 
Thither  then  he  wrote  to  him,  desiring  him  to  come  with  all  speed 
to  Rome,  yet  feeling  how  uncertain  it  was  whether  he  might  not 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHEUS. 


705 


arrive  too  late.  He  was  haunted  also  by  another  fear,  far  more 
distressing.  Either  from  his  experience  of  the  desertion  of  other 
friends,  or  from  some  signs  of  timidity  which  Timotheus  himself 
had  shown,  he  doubted  whether  he  might  not  shrink  from  the 
perils  which  would  surround  him  in  the  city  of  Nero.  He  there- 
fore urges  on  him  very  emphatically  the  duty  of  boldness  in 
Christ's  cause,  of  steadfastness  under  persecution,  and  of  taking 
his  share  in  the  sufferings  of  the  saints.  And  lest  he  should  be 
prevented  from  giving  him  his  last  instructions  face  to  face,  he 
impresses  on  him  with  the  earnestness  of  a  dying  man  the  various 
duties  of  his  ecclesiastical  office,  and  especially  that  of  opposing 
the  heresies  which  now  threatened  to  destroy  the  very  essence  of 
Christianity.  But  no  summary  of  its  contents  can  give  any  notion 
of  the  pathetic  tenderness  and  deep  solemnity  of  this  Epistle : 


SECOND  EPISTLE  TO  TIMOTHEUS. 
I. 

1  Paul,  an  apostle  of  Jesus  Christ  by  the  will  of  salutation. 

God, — sent  forth  to  proclaim  the  promise  of  the  life  which  is  in 

2  Christ  Jesus, — to  Timotheus  my  beloved  son. 

Grace,  mercy,  and  peace  from  God  our  Father,  and  Christ  Jesus 
our  Lord. 

3  I  thank  God  (whom  I  worship,  as  did  my  forefathers,  Timotheus  is  re- 

.,1  •         \      T-  T        1  *  X'         i»   miinied  of  his 

With  a  pure  conscience  )  whenever  1  make  mention  of  past  history,  and 

thee,  as  I  do  continually,  in  my  prayers  night  and  day.  seve^a^nce  ^  an'd 

4  And  I  long  to  see  thee,  remembering  thy  [parting]  hope^f f  inunor- 
6  tears,  that  I  might  be  filled  with  joy.   For  I  liave  been  ^^^^'y- 

reminded  of  thy  undissembled  faith,  which  dwelt  first  in  thy  grand- 
mother Lois  and  thy  mother  Eunice,  and  (I  am  persuaded)  dwells 

6  in  thee  also.  Wherefore  I  call  thee  to  remembrance,  that  thou  muy- 
est  stir  up  the  gift  of  God,  which  is  in  thee  by  the  laying  on  of  my 

7  hands.    For  God  gave  us  not  a  spirit  of  cowardice,  but  a  spirit  of 

8  power  and  love  and  self-restraint.  Be  not  therefore  ashamed  of  the 
testimony  of  our  Lord,  nor  of  me  his  prisoner ;  but  share  the  afflic- 
tion of  tliem  who  publish  the  glad  tidings,  according  to  the  power  of 

9  God.  For  he  saved  us,  and  called  us  with  a  holy  calling,  not  deal- 
ing with  us  according  to  our  own  works,  but  according  to  his  own 
purpose  and  grace,  wliich  was  bestowed  upon  us  in  Christ  Jesus  be- 

10  fore  the  times  of  old,  but  is  now  made  manifest  by  the  appearing 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  who  has  put  an  end  to  deatli,  and  brougiil 
45 


706  TJFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


11  life  and  immortality  from  darkness  into  light ;  and  this  he  has  done 
by  the  glad  tidings,  whereunto  I  was  appointed  herald  and  apostle, 

12  and  teacher  of  the  Gentiles.  Which  also  is  the  cause  of  these  suf- 
ferings that  I  now  endure ;  nevertheless  I  am  not  ashamed  •  Cor  1 
know  in  whom  I  have  trusted,  and  I  am  persuaded  that  he  is  able  to 
guard  the  treasure  which  I  have  committed  to  him,  even  unto  that 
day. 

13  Hold  fast  the  pattern  of  sound  words  which  thou  hast  Exhortation  to 
heard  from  me,  in  the  faith  and  love  which  is  in  Christ  miUion  ^  faith- 

14  Jesus.     That  goodly  treasure  which  is  committed  to 
thy  charge,  guard  by  the  Holy  Spirit  who  dwelleth  in  us. 

15  Thou  already  knowest  that  I  was  abandoned  by  all  Conduct  of  cer- 
the  Asiatics,  among  whom  are  Phygellus  and  Hermo-  Christians  at 

16  genes.    The  Lord  give  mercy  to  the  house  of  Onesi- 

phorus;  for  he  often  refreshed  me,  and  was  not  ashamed  of  my 

17  chain ;  but  when  he  was  in  Kome,  sought  me  out  very  diligently 

18  and  found  me.  The  Lord  grant  unto  him  that  he  may  find  mercy 
from  the  Lord  in  that  day.  And  all  his  services  at  Ephesus,  thou 
knowest  better  than  I. 

II. 

1  Thou,  therefore,  my  son,  strengthen  thy  heart  with  DutyofTimo- 

2  the  grace  that  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  And  those  things  government!^'^^ 
which  thou  hast  heard  from  me  attested  by  many  witnesses,  deliver 
into  the  keeping  of  faithful  men,  who  shall  be  able  to  teach  others 
in  their  turn. 

3  Take  thy  share  in  suffering,  as  a  good  soldier  of  Jesus  He  is  exhorted 

4  Christ.  The  soldier  when  on  service  abstains  from  en-  from  suffering, 
tangling  himself  in  the  business  of  life,  that  he  may  please  his  com- 

5  mander.    And  again,  the  wrestler  does  not  win  the  crown  unless  he 

6  wrestles  lawfully.    The  husbandman  who  toils  must  share  the  fruits 

7  of  the  ground  before  the  idler.    Consider  what  I  say ;  for  the  Lord 

8  will  give  thee  understanding  in  all  things.  Remember  that  Jesus 
Christ,  of  the  seed  of  David,  is  raised  from  the  dead,  according  to  the 

9  glad  tidings  which  I  proclaim.  Wherein  I  suffer  afiliction  even 
unto  chains,  as  a  malefactor ;  nevertheless  the  word  of  God  is  bound 

10  by  no  chains.  Wherefore  I  endure  all  for  the  sake  of  the  chosen, 
that  they  also  may  obtain  the  salvation  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus, 

11  with  glory  everlasting.    Faithful  is  the  saying,    For  if  ive  have  died 

12  with  hirrif  we  shall  also  live  with  him;  if  we  suffer,  we  shall  also  reign  with 

13  him;  if  we  deny  him,  he  also  will  deny  us;  if  we  be  faithless,  yet  he 
ahideth  faithful;  he  cannot  deny  himself 


SECOND  EPISTI.E  TO  TIMOTHEUS. 


707 


14  Call  men  to  remembrance  of  these  things,  and  adjure  He  must  op- 
them  before  the  Lord  not  to  contend  about  words,  with  cheers  and 
no  profitable  end,  but  for  the  subversion  of  their  ities,  and  care- 

15  hearers.  Be  diligent  to  present  thyself  unto  God  as  his^Jwn 'purltj*! 
one  proved  trustworthy  by  trial,  a  workman  not  to  be 

16  ashamed,  declaring  the  word  of  truth  without  distortion.    But  avoid 

17  the  discussions  of  profane  babblers;  for  they  will  go  farther  and 

18  farther  in  ungodliness,  and  their  word  will  eat  like  a  cancer.  Among 
wliom  are  Hymenjeus  and  Philetus ;  who  concerning  the  truth  have 
erred,  for  they  say  that  the  resurrection  is  past  already,  and  over- 
throw the  faith  of  some. 

19  Nevertheless,  the  firm  foundation  of  God  stands  unshaken  having 
this  seal,  "  The  Lord  knew  them  that  were  hiSy^  and  "  Let  every  one  that 

20  nameth  the  name  of  the  Lord  depart  from  iniquityJ^  But  in  a  great 
house  there  are  not  only  vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  but  also  of  wood 

21  and  clay ;  and  some  for  honor,  others  for  dishonor.  If  a  man  there- 
fore purify  himself  from  these,  he  shall  be  a  vessel  for  honor,  sancti- 
fied and  fitted  for  the  Master's  use,  being  prepared  for  every  good 
work. 

22  Flee  the  lusts  of  youtli  ;  and  follow  righteousness,  faith,  love,  and 

23  peace  with  those  who  call  on  the  Lord  out  of  a  pure  heart ;  but  shun 
the  disputations  of  the  foolish  and  ignorant,  knowing  that  they  breed 

24  strife ;  and  the  bondsmen  of  the  Lord  Jesus  ought  not  to  strive,  but 

25  to  be  gentle  towards  all,  skilful  in  teaching,  patient  of  wrong,  in- 
structing opponents  with  meekness  ;  if  God  perchance  may  give  them 
repentance,  that  they  may  attain  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  and  may 

26  escape,  restored  to  soberness,  out  of  the  snare  of  the  devil,  by  whom 
they  have  been  taken  captive  at  his  will. 

III. 

1  Know  this,  that  in  the  last  days  evil  times  shall  Dangerous  er- 

2  come.    For  men  shall  be  selfish,  covetous,  false  boast-  d^Jysr^^^ 
ers,  haughty,  blasphemous,  disobedient  to  parents,  ungrateful,  un- 

3  holy,  without  natural  affection,  ruthless,  calumnious,  incontinent, 

4  merciless,  haters  of  the  good,  treacherous,  headlong  with  passion, 
blinded  with  pride,  lovers  of  pleasure  rather  than  lovers  of  God , 

5  having  an  outward  form  of  godliness,  but  renouncing  its  power. 

6  From  such  turn  away.    Of  these  are  they  who  creep  into  houses,  and 

7  lead  captive  silly  women,  laden  with  sin,  led  away  by  lusts  of  all 
kinds,  perpetually  learning,  yet  never  able  to  attain  the  knowledge 

8  of  the  truth.    And  as  lannes  and  lambres  resisted  Moses,  so  do 
these  men  resist  the  truth,  being  corrupt  in  mind,  and  worthless  in 


708         LIFE  AND  EPISTL£S  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


9  all  that  concerns  the  faith.  But  they  shall  not  advance  farther,  for 
their  folly  shall  be  made  openly  manifest  to  all,  as  was  that  of  lan- 
nes  and  lambres. 

10  But  thou  hast  been  the  follower  of  my  teaching  and  Exhortation  to 
behavior,  my  resolution,  faith,  patience,  love,  and  stead-  plurs  doctrine. 

11  fastness ;  my  persecutions  and  sufferings,  such  as  befell  me  at  Antioch, 
Iconium,  and  Lystra.    [Thou  hast  seen]  what  persecutions  I  en- 

12  dured;  and  out  of  them  all  the  Lord  delivered  me.  Yea,  and  all 
who  determine  to  live  a  godly  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  will  suffer  perse- 

13  cution.    But  wicked  men  and  impostors  will  advance  from  bad  to 

14  worse,  deceiving  and  being  deceived.  But  do  thou  continue  in  that 
which  was  taught  thee,  and  whereof  thou  wast  persuaded  ;  knowing 
who  were  thy  teachers,  and  remembering  that  from  a  child  thou  hast 

15  known  the  Holy  Scriptures,  which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto 

16  salvation,  by  the  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus.  All  Scripture  is 
inspired  by  God,  and  may  profitably  be  used  for  teaching,  for  con- 

17  futation,  for  correction,  and  for  righteous  discipline ;  that  the  man 
of  God  may  be  fully  prepared,  and  thoroughly  furnished  for  every 
good  work. 

IV. 

1  I  adjure  thee  before  God  and  Jesus  Christ,  who  is  solemn  charge 
about  to  judge  the  living  and  the  dead — I  adjure  thee  c^oSfmT^sion 

2  by  his  appearing  and  his  kingdom— proclaim  the  tid-  expectation  of 
ings,  be  urgent  in  season  and  out  of  season,  convince,  of  Paurs^leati? 
rebuke,  exhort,  \nih  all  forbearan(ie  and  perseverance 

3  in  teaching.  F or  a  time  will  come  when  they  will  not  endure  the 
sound  doctrine,  but  according  to  their  own  inclinations  they  will 
heap  up  for  themselves  teachers  upon  teachers,  to  please  their  itch- 

4  ing  ears.  And  they  will  turn  away  their  ears  from  the  truth,  and 
turn  aside  to  fables. 

5  But  thou  in  all  things  be  sober,  endure  affliction,  do  the  work  of 

6  an  evangelist,  accomplish  thy  ministration  in  full  measure.  For  I 
am  now  ready  to  be  offered,  and  the  time  of  my  departure  is  at  hand. 

7  I  have  fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my  course,  I  have  kept 
the  faith.    Henceforth  is  laid  up  for  me  the  crown  of  righteousness, 

8  which  the  Lord,  the  righteous  judge,  shall  give  me  in  that  day ;  and 
not  to  me  only,  but  to  all  who  love  his  appearing. 

9  Do  thy  utmost  to  come  to  me  sjjeedily ;  for  Demas;    Timotheus  is 

10  has  forsaken  me,  for  love  of  this  present  world,  and  has  conie  to  Rome 
departed  to  Thessalonica ;  Crescens  is  gone  to  Galatia,  ^P^^^^^y- 

11  Titus  to  Dalmatia  ;  Luke  alone  is  with  me.    Take  Mark  and  bring 


PAUL  CONDEMNED  TO  DEATH. 


709 


12  him  with  thee,  for  his  services  are  profitable  to  me ;  but  Tychicus  I 
have  sent  to  Ephesus. 

13  When  thou  comest,  bring  with  thee  the  ease  which  I  left  at  Troas 
with  Carpus,  and  the  books,  but  especially  the  parchments. 

14  Alexander  the  brass-founder  charged  me  with  much  Intelligence  of 
evil  in  his  declaration  ;  the  Lord  reward  him  according  p-iufs'tnar 

15  to  his  works.    Be  thou  also  on  thy  guard  against  him,  for  he  has 

16  been  a  great  opponent  of  my  arguments.    V/lien  I  was  first  heard 

17  in  my  defence  no  man  stood  by  me,  but  all  forsook  me  (I  pray  that 
it  be  not  laid  to  their  charge).  Nevertheless,  the  Lord  Jesus  stood 
by  me,  and  strengthened  my  heart,  that  by  me  the  proclamation  of 
the  glad  tidings  might  be  accomplished  in  full  measure,  and  that  all 
the  Gentiles  might  hear  ;  and  I  was  delivered  out  of  the  lion's  mouth. 

18  And  the  Lord  shall  deliver  me  from  every  evil,  and  shall  preserve 
me  unto  his  heavenly  kingdom.  To  him  be  glory  unto  the  ages  of 
ages.  Amen. 

19  Salute  Prisca  and  Aquila,  and  the  household  of  Salutations  and 

i        *  personal  mtel- 

OnesiphorUS.  ligence. 

20  Erastus  remained  at  Corinth ;  but  Trophimus  I  left  sick  at  Miletus. 

21  Do  thy  utmost  to  come  before  winter. 

There  salute  thee  Eubuius,  and  Pudens,  and  Linus,  and  Claudia, 
and  all  the  brethren. 

22  The  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be  with  thy  spirit.    Grace  be  concluding  bea- 

.  ,  edictions. 

with  you  all. 

We  know  not  whether  Timotheus  was  able  to  fulfil  these  last 
requests  of  the  dying  apostle ;  it  is  doubtful  whether  he  reached 
Rome  in  time  to  receive  his  parting  commands  and  cheer  his  latest 
earthly  sufferings.  The  only  intimation  which  seems  to  throw  any 
light  on  the  question  is  the  statement  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
that  Timotheus  had  been  liberated  from  imprisonment  in  Italy.  If, 
as  appears  not  improbable,  that  Epistle  was  written  shortly  after 
Paul's  death,  it  would  be  proved  not  only  that  the  disciple  fear- 
lessly obeyed  his  master's  summons,  but  that  he  actually  shared 
his  chains,  though  he  escaped  his  fate.  This  also  would  lead  us  to 
think  that  he  must  have  arrived  before  the  execution  of  Paul,  for 
otherwise  there  would  be  no  reason  to  account  for  his  being  him- 
self arrested  in  Rome,  since  had  he  come  too  late  he  would  natu- 
rally have  returned  to  Asia  at  once,  without  attracting  the  notice 
of  the  authorities. 

We  may  therefore  hope  that  Paul's  last  earthly  wish  was  ful- 
filled. Yet  if  Timotheus  did  indeed  arrive  before  the  closing  scene, 


710         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

there  could  have  been  but  a  very  brief  interval  between  his  coming 
and  his  master's  death.  For  the  letter  which  summoned  him  could 
not  have  been  despatched  from  Rome  till  the  end  of  winter,  and 
PauPs  martyrdom  took  place  in  the  middle  of  summer.  We  have 
seen  that  this  was  sooner  than  he  had  expected,  but  we  have  no 
record  of  the  final  stage  of  his  trial,  and  cannot  tell  the  cause  of  its 
speedy  conclusion.  We  only  know  that  it  resulted  in  a  sentence 
of  capital  punishment. 

The  privileges  of  Roman  citizenship  exempted  Paul  from  the 
ignominious  death  of  lingering  torture  which  had  been  lately  in- 
flicted on  so  many  of  his  brethren.  He  was  to  die  by  decapitation, 
and  he  was  led  out  to  execution  beyond  the  city  walls,  upon  the 
road  to  Ostia,  the  port  of  Rome.  As  he  issued  forth  from  the  gate 
his  eyes  must  have  rested  for  a  moment  on  that  sepulchral  pyramid 
which  stood  beside  the  road,  and  still  stands  unshattered  amid  the 
wreck  of  so  many  centuries  upon  the  same  spot.  That  spot  was 
then  only  the  burial-place  of  a  single  Roman  ;  it  is  now  the  burial- 
place  of  many  Britons.  The  mausoleum  of  Caius  Ckistius  rises 
conspicuously  amongst  humbler  graves,  and  marks  the  site  where 
papal  Rome  suffers  her  Protestant  sojourners  to  bury  their  dead. 
In  England  and  in  Germany,  in  Scandinavia  and  in  America,  there 
are  hearts  which  turn  to  that  lofty  cenotaph  as  the  sacred  point 
of  their  whole  horizon,  even  as  the  English  villager  turns  to  the 
gray  church-tower  which  overlooks  the  gravestones  of  his  kindred. 
Among  the  works  of  man  that  pyramid  is  the  only  surviving  wit- 
ness of  the  martyrdom  of  Paul ;  and  we  may  thus  regard  it  with 
yet  deeper  interest  as  a  monument  unconsciously  erected  by  a 
pagan  to  the  memory  of  a  martyr.  Nor  let  us  think  that  they 
who  lie  beneath  its  shadow  are  indeed  resting  (as  degenerate 
Italians  fancy)  in  unconsecrated  ground.  Rather  let  us  say  that 
a  spot  where  the  disciples  of  PauFs  faith  now  sleep  in  Christ,  so 
near  the  soil  once  watered  by  his  blood,  is  doubly  hallowed,  and 
that  their  resting-place  is  most  fitly  identified  with  the  last  earthly 
journey  and  the  dying  glance  of  their  own  patron  saint,  the  apostle 
of  the  Gentiles. 

As  the  martyr  and  his  executioners  passed  on,  their  way  was 
crowded  with  a  motley  multitude  of  goers  and  comers  between  the 
metropolis  and  its  harbor — merchants  hastening  to  superintend  the 
unloading  of  their  cargoes,  sailors  eager  to  squander  the  profits  of 
their  last  voyage  in  the  dissipations  of  the  capital,  oflicials  of  the 


LEGENDS  CONNECTED  WITH  PAUL's  DEATH.  711 


government  charged  with  the  administration  of  the  provinces  oi 
the  command  of  the  legions  on  the  Euphrates  or  the  Ehine,  Chal- 
daean  astrologers,  Phrygian  eunuchs,  dancing-girls  from  Syria  with 
their  painted  turbans,  mendicant  priests  from  Egypt  howling  for 
Osiris,  Greek  adventurers  eager  to  coin  their  national  cunning  into 
Roman  gold — representatives  of  the  avarice  and  ambition,  the  fraud 
and  lust,  the  superstition  and  intelligence,  of  the  imperial  world. 
Through  the  dust  and  tumult  of  that  busy  throng  the  small  troop 
of  soldiers  threaded  their  way  silently  under  the  bright  sky  of  an 
Italian  midsummer.  They  were  marching,  though  they  knew  it 
not,  in  a  procession  more  truly  triumphal  than  any  they  had  ever 
followed  in  the  train  of  general  or  emperor  along  the  Sacred  Way, 
Their  prisoner,  now  at  last  and  for  ever  delivered  from  his  captiv- 
ity, rejoiced  to  follow  his  Lord  "without  the  gate."  The  place  of 
execution  was  not  far  distant,  and  there  the  sword  of  the  head  man 
ended  his  long  course  of  sufferings  and  released  that  heroic  soul 
from  that  feeble  body.  Weeping  friends  took  up  his  corpse  and 
carried  it  for  burial  to  those  subterranean  labyrinths  where,  through 
many  ages  of  oppression,  the  persecuted  Church  found  refuge  for 
the  living  and  sepulchres  for  the  dead. 

Thus  died  the  apostle,  the  prophet,  and  the  martyr,  bequeathing 
to  the  Church,  in  her  government  and  her  discipline,  the  legacy 
of  his  apostolic  labors ;  leaving  his  prophetic  words  to  be  her 
living  oracles,  pouring  forth  his  blood  to  be  the  seed  of  a  thousand 
martyrdoms.  Thenceforth,  among  the  glorious  company  of  the 
apostles,  among  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets,  among  the 
noble  army  of  martyrs,  his  name  has  stood  pre-eminent.  And 
wheresoever  the  holy  Church  throughout  all  the  world  doth  ac- 
knowledge God,  there  Paul  of  Tarsus  is  revered  as  the  great 
teacher  of  a  universal  redemption  and  a  catholic  religion — the 
herald  of  glad  tidings  to  all  mankind. 


NOTE. 

On  Certain  Legends  connected  with  Paul's  Death. 

We  have  not  thought  it  right  to  interrupt  the  narrative  of  PauPs 
last  imprisonment  by  noticing  the  legends  of  the  Roman  martyr- 
ology  upon  the  subject,  nor  by  discussing  the  tradition  which 


712  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

makes  Peter  his  fellow-worker  at  Eome  and  the  companion  of  his 
imprisonment  and  martyrdom.  The  latter  tradition  seems  to  have 
grown  up  gradually  in  the  Church,  till  at  length  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury it  was  accredited  by  Eusebius  and  Jerome.  If  we  trace  it  to 
its  origin,  however,  it  appears  to  rest  on  but  slender  foundations. 
In  the  first  place,  we  have  an  undoubted  testimony  to  the  fact  that 
Peter  died  by  martyrdom  in  John^s  Gospel  (xxi.  18, 19).  The  same 
fact  is  attested  by  Clemens  Eomanus  (a  contemporary  authority) 
in  the  passage  which  we  have  so  often  referred  to.  But  in  neither 
place  is  it  said  that  Rome  was  the  scene  of  the  apostle's  labors 
or  death.  The  earliest  authority  for  this  is  Dionysius,  bishop  of 
Corinth  (about  A.  D.  170),  who  calls  "Peter  and  Paul"  the  '^found- 
ers of  the  Corinthian  and  Roman  churches^^  and  says  that  they  both 
taught  in  Rome  together,  and  suffered  martyrdom  "  about  the  same 
iime'^  {fcara  rbv  avrbv  KaipSv).  The  Roman  presbyter  Caius  (about 
A.  D.  200)  mentions  the  tradition  that  Peter  suffered  martyrdom 
in  the  Vatican  (which,  if  he  suffered  in  the  reign  of  Nero,  he  very 
probably  would  have  done).  The  same  tradition  is  confirm.ed  by 
Irenseus,  frequently  alluded  to  by  Tertullian,  accredited  (as  we 
have  before  mentioned)  by  Eusebius  and  Jerome,  and  followed  by 
Lactantius,  Orosius,  and  all  subsequent  writers  till  the  Reformation. 
This  apparent  w^eight  of  testimony,  however,  is  much  weakened 
by  our  knowledge  of  the  facility  with  w^hich  unhistoric  legends 
originate,  especially  when  they  fall  in  with  the  wishes  of  those 
among  whom  they  circulate;  and  it  was  a  natural  wish  of  the 
Roman  Church  to  represent  the  "  chief  of  the  apostles  "  as  having 
the  seat  of  his  government  and  the  site  of  his  martyrdom  in  the 
chief  city  of  the  world.  It  cannot  indeed  be  denied  that  Peter 
may  possibly  have  suffered  martyrdom  at  Rome,  but  the  form  which 
the  tradition  assumes  in  the  hands  of  Jerome — viz.  that  he  was 
bishop  of  Rome  for  twenty-five  years,  from  A.  D.  42  to  68 — may  be 
regarded  as  entirely  fabulous ;  for,  in  the  first  place,  it  contradicts 
the  agreement  made  at  the  council  of  Jerusalem,  that  Peter  should 
work  among  the  Jews  (Gal.  ii.  9;  compare  Rom.  i.  13,  where  the 
Roman  Christians  are  classed  among  Gentile  churches) ;  2dly,  it  is 
inconsistent  with  the  First  Epistle  of  Peter  (which  from  internal 
evidence  cannot  have  been  written  so  early  as  42  A.  D.),  where  we 
find  Peter  laboring  in  Mesopotamia;  3dly,  it  is  negatived  by  the 
silence  of  all  Paul's  Epistles  written  at  Rome. 

If  Jerome's  statement  of  Peter's  Roman  episcopate  is  unhis- 


LEGENDS  CONNECTED  WITH  PAUL's  DEATH.  713 

torical,  his  assertion  that  the  two  apostles  suffered  martyrdom  on 
the  same  day  may  be  safely  disregarded.  We  have  seen  that  upon 
this  tradition  was  grafted  a  legend  that  Peter  and  Paul  were  fellow- 
prisoners  in  the  Mamertine.  It  is  likewise  commemorated  by  a 
little  chapel  on  the  Ostian  road,  outside  the  gate  of  San  Paolo, 
which  marks  the  spot  where  the  apostles  separated  on  their  way  to 
death. 

Peter's  martyrdom  is  commemorated  at  Rome  not  only  by  the 
great  basilica  which  bears  his  name,  but  also  by  the  little  church 
of  Domine  quo  vadis  on  the  Appian  Way,  which  is  connected  with 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  legends  of  the  martyrology.  This  legend 
may  be  mentioned  in  advantageous  contrast  with  that  connected 
with  the  supposed  site  of  Paul's  death,  marked  by  the  church  of 
iS,  Paolo  alle  ire  fontane.  According  to  the  latter,  these  three  foun- 
tains sprang  up  miraculously  "  abscisso  Pauli  capite  triplici  saitu 
Bese  sustollente."  The  legend  goes  on  to  say  that  a  noble  matron 
named  Lucina  buried  the  body  of  Paul  on  her  own  land  beside 
the  Ostian  road. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 


"the  epistle  to  the  HEBREWS/' — ITS  INSPIRATION  NOT  AF- 
FECTED BY  THE  DOUBTS  CONCERNING  ITS  AUTHORSHIP. — ITS 
ORIGINAL  READERS.— CONFLICTING  TESTIMONY  OF  THE  PRIM- 
ITIVE CHURCH  CONCERNING  ITS  AUTHOR. — HIS  OBJECT  IN 
WRITING  IT. — TRANSLATION  OF  THE  EPISTLE. 

The  origin  and  history  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  was  a  subject 
of  controversy  even  in  the  second  century.  There  is  no  portion  of 
the  New  Testament  whose  authorship  is  so  disputed,  nor  any  of 
which  the  inspiration  is  more  indisputable.  The  early  Church 
could  not  determine  whether  it  was  written  by  Barnabas,  by  Luke, 
by  Clement,  or  by  Paul.  Since  the  Reformation  still  greater  diver- 
sity of  opinion  has  prevailed.  Luther  assigned  it  to  Apollos,  Calvin 
to  a  disciple  of  the  apostles.  The  Church  of  Rome  now  maintains 
by  its  infallibility  the  Pauline  authorship  of  the  Epistle,  which  in 
the  second,  third,  and  fourth  centuries  the  same  Church,  with  the 
same  infallibility,  denied.  But,  notwithstanding  these  doubts  con- 
cerning the  origin  of  this  canonical  book,  its  inspired  authority  is 
beyond  all  doubt.  It  is  certain  from  internal  evidence  that  it  was 
written  by  a  contemporary  of  the  apostles  and  before  the  destruc- 
tion of  Jerusalem,  that  its  writer  was  the  friend  of  Timotheus,  and 
that  he  was  the  teacher  of  one  of  the  apostolic  churches.  More- 
over, the  Epistle  was  received  by  the  Oriental  Church  as  canonical 
from  the  first.  Every  sound  reasoner  must  agree  with  Jerome  that 
it  matters  nothing  whether  it  were  written  by  Luke,  by  Barnabas, 
or  by  Paul,  since  it  is  allowed  to  be  the  production  of  the  apostolic 
age  and  has  been  read  in  the  public  service  of  the  Church  from 
the  earliest  times.  Those,  therefore,  who  conclude  with  Calvin 
that  it  was  not  written  by  Paul,  must  also  join  with  him  in  think- 
ing the  question  of  its  authorship  a  question  of  little  moment,  and 
in  "embracing  it  without  controversy  as  one  of  the  apostolical 
Epistles." 

But  when  we  call  it  an  Epistle^  we  must  observe  that  it  is  distin- 
7U 


THE  READEHS  OF  THE  EPISTLE. 


715 


guislied  by  one  remarkable  peculiarity  from  other  compositions 
-  which  bear  that  name.  In  ancient  no  less  than  in  modern  times 
it  was  an  essential  feature  of  an  epistle  that  it  should  be  distinctly 
addressed  by  the  writer  to  some  definite  individual  or  body  of  in- 
dividuals ;  and  a  composition  which  bore  on  its  surface  neither  the 
name  of  its  writer  nor  an  address  to  any  particular  readers  would 
then,  as  now,  have  been  called  rather  a  treatise  than  a  letter.  It 
was  this  peculiarity  in  the  portion  of  Scripture  now  before  us 
which  led  to  some  of  the  doubts  and  perplexities  concerning  it 
which  existed  in  the  earliest  times.  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  we 
cannot  consider  it  merely  as  a  treatise  or  discourse,  because  we  find 
certain  indications  of  an  epistolary  nature  which  show  that  it  was 
originally  addressed  not  to  the  world  in  general  nor  to  all  Chris- 
tians, nor  even  to  all  Jewish  Christians,  but  to  certain  individual 
readers  closely  and  personally  connected  with  the  writer. 

Let  us  first  examine  these  indications,  and  consider  how  far  they 
tend  to  ascertain  the  readers  for  whom  this  Epistle  was  originally 
designed. 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  held  as  certain  that  the  Epistle  was 
addressed  to  Hebrew  Christians.  Throughout  its  pages  there  is  not 
a  single  reference  to  any  other  class  of  converts.  Its  readers  are 
assumed  to  be  familiar  with  the  Levitical  worship,  the  temple- 
services,  and  all  the  institutions  of  the  Mosaic  ritual.  They  are  in 
danger  of  apostasy  to  Judaism,  yet  are  not  warned  (like  the  Gala- 
tians  and  others)  against  circumcision — plainly,  because  they  were 
already  circumcised.  They  are  called  to  view  in  Christianity  the 
completion  and  perfect  consummation  of  Judaism.  They  are 
called  to  behold  in  Christ  the  fulfilment  of  the  Law,  in  his  person 
the  antitype  of  the  priesthood,  in  his  offices  the  eternal  realization 
of  the  sacrificial  and  mediatorial  functions  of  the  Jewish  hierarcliy. 

Yet,  as  we  have  said  above,  this  work  is  not  a  treatise  addressed 
to  all  Jewish  Christians  throughout  the  world,  but  to  one  partic- 
ular Church,  concerning  which  we  learn  the  following  facts: 
First,  its  members  had  steadfastly  endured  persecution  and  the 
loss  of  property;  secondly,  they  had  shown  sympathy  to  their 
imprisoned  brethren  and  to  Christians  generally  (x.  32-34  and  vi. 
10);  thirdly,  they  were  now  in  danger  of  apostasy,  and  had  not 
yet  resisted  unto  blood  (xii.  3-4;  see  also  v.  11,  etc.,  v.  9,  etc.); 
fourthly,  their  Church  had  existed  for  a  considerable  length  of 
time  (v.  12)  and  some  of  its  chief  pastors  were  dead  (xiii.  7) ; 


716  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

fifthly,  their  prayers  are  demanded  for  the  restoration  to  them  of 
the  writer  of  the  Epistle,  who  was  therefore  personally  connected 
with  them  (xiii.  19) ;  sixthly,  they  were  acquainted  with  Timo- 
theus,  who  was  about  to  visit  them  (xiii.  23) ;  seventhly,  the  argu- 
ments addressed  to  them  presuppose  a  power  on  their  part  of 
appreciating  that  spiritualizing  and  allegorical  interpretation  of 
the  Old  Testament  which  distinguished  the  Alexandrian  school 
of  Jewish  theology;  eighthly,  they  must  have  been  familiar  with 
the  Scriptures  in  the  Septuagint  version,  because  every  one  of  the 
numerous  quotations  is  taken  from  that  version,  even  where  it 
differs  materially  from  the  Hebrew;  ninthly,  the  language  in 
which  they  are  addressed  is  Hellenistic  Greek,  and  not  Aramaic, 

It  has  been  concluded  by  the  majority  both  of  ancient  and  mod- 
ern critics  that  the  Church  addressed  was  that  of  Jerusalem,  or  at 
least  was  situate  in  Palestine.  In  favor  of  this  view  it  is  urged, 
first,  that  no  Church  out  of  Palestine  could  have  consisted  so 
exclusively  of  Jewish  converts.  To  this  it  may  be  replied  that 
the  Epistle,  though  addressed  only  to  Jewish  converts,  and  con- 
templating their  position  and  their  dangers  exclusively,  might  still 
have  been  sent  to  a  Church  which  contained  Gentile  converts  also. 
In  fact,  even  in  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  itself  there  must  have 
been  some  converts  from  among  the  Gentile  sojourners  who  lived 
in  that  city;  so  that  the  argument  proves  too  much.  Moreover, 
it  is  not  necessary  that  every  discourse  addressed  to  a  mixed  con- 
gregation should  discuss  the  position  of  every  individual  member. 
If  an  overwhelming  majority  belongs  to  a  particular  class,  the 
minority  is  often  passed  over  in  addresses  directed  to  the  whole 
body.  Again,  the  Epistle  may  have  been  intended  for  the  He- 
brew members  only  of  some  particular  Church  which  contained 
also  Gentile  members;  and  this  would  perhaps  explain  the  ab- 
sence of  the  usual  address  and  salutation  at  the  commencement. 
Secondly,  it  is  urged  that  none  but  Palestinian  Jews  would  have 
felt  the  attachment  to  the  Levitical  ritual  implied  in  the  readers 
of  this  Epistle.  But  we  do  not  see  why  the  same  attachment  may 
not  have  been  felt  in  every  great  community  of  Hebrews ;  nay,  we 
know  historically  that  no  Jews  were  more  devotedly  attached  to 
the  temple-worship  than  those  of  the  Dispersion,  who  were  only 
able  to  visit  the  temple  itself  at  distant  intervals,  but  who  still 
looked  to  it  as  the  central  point  of  their  religious  unity  and  of 
their  national  existence.  Thirdly,  it  is  alleged  that  many  pass  flgea 


PROBABLY  INTENDED  FOR  THE  ALEXANDRIANS.  717 

seem  to  imply  readers  wlio  Lad  the  temple-services  going  on  con- 
tinually under  their  eyes.  The  whole  of  the  ninth  and  tenth 
chapters  speak  of  the  Levitical  ritual  in  a  manner  which  natu- 
rally suggests  this  idea.  On  the  other  hand,  it  may  be  argued 
that  such  passages  imply  no  more  than  that  amount  of  familiarity 
which  might  be  presupposed  in  those  who  were  often  in  the  habit 
of  going  up  to  the  great  feasts  at  Jerusalem. 

Thus,  then,  w^e  cannot  see  that  the  Epistle  must  necessarily  have 
been  addressed  to  Jews  of  Palestine  because  addressed  to  Hebrews, 
And,  moreover,  if  we  examine  the  preceding  nine  conditions  which 
must  be  satisfied  by  its  readers,  we  shall  find  some  of  them  which 
could  scarcely  apply  to  the  Church  of  Jerusalem  or  any  other 
Church  in  Palestine.  Thus  we  have  seen  that  the  Palestinian 
Church  was  remarkable  for  its  poverty,  and  was  the  recipient  of 
the  bounty  of  other  churches,  whereas  those  addressed  here  are 
themselves  the  liberal  benefactors  of  others.  Again,  those  here 
addressed  have  not  yet  resisted  unto  bloody  whereas  the  Palestinian 
Church  had  produced  many  martyrs  in  several  persecutions.  More- 
over, the  Palestinian  Jews  would  hardly  be  addressed  in  a  style 
of  reasoning  adapted  to  minds  imbued  with  Alexandrian  culture. 
Finally,  a  letter  to  the  Church  of  Palestine  would  surely  have 
been  written  in  the  language  of  Palestine,  or  at  least,  when  the 
Scriptures  of  Hebraism  were  appealed  to,  they  would  not  have 
been  quoted  from  the  Septuagint  version  where  it  differs  frora  the 
Hebrew, 

These  considerations  (above  all,  the  last)  seem  to  negative  the 
hypothesis  that  this  Epistle  was  addressed  to  a  Church  situate  in 
the  Holy  Land ;  and  the  latter  portion  of  them  point  to  another 
Church,  for  which  we  may  more  plausibly  conceive  it  to  have 
been  intended — namely,  that  of  Alexandria.  Such  a  supposition 
would  at  once  account  for  the  Alexandrian  tone  of  thought  and 
reasoning  and  for  the  quotations  from  the  Septuagint;  while  the 
wealth  of  the  Alexandrian  Jews  would  explain  the  liberality  here 
commended,  and  the  immense  Hebrew  population  of  Alexandria 
would  render  it  natural  that  the  Epistle  should  contemplate  the 
Hebrew  Christians  alone  in  that  Church,  wherein  there  may  per- 
haps at  first  have  been  as  few  Gentile  converts  as  in  Jerusalem 
itself.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  this  is  only  an  hy- 
pothesis, offered  as  being  embarrassed  with  fewer  difficulties  than 
any  other  which  has  been  proposed. 


718         IJFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 

Such,  then,  being  the  utmost  which  we  can  ascertain  concerning 
the  readers  of  the  Epistle,  what  can  we  learn  of  its  writer  ?  Let 
us  first  examine  the  testimony  of  the  primitive  Church  on  this 
question.  It  is  well  summed  up  by  Jerome  in  the  following  pas- 
sage: **That  which  is  called  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  thought 
not  to  be  Paul's,  because  of  the  difference  of  style  and  language, 
but  is  ascribed  either  to  Barnabas  (according  to  Tertullian),  or  to 
Luke  the  evangelist  (according  to  some  authorities),  or  to  Clement 
(afterward  bishop  of  Rome),  who  is  said  to  have  arranged  and 
adorned  Paul's  sentiments  in  his  own  language;  or  at  least  it  is 
thought  that  Paul  abstained  from  the  inscription  of  his  name  at 
its  commencement  because  it  was  addressed  to  the  Hebrews,  among 
whom  he  was  unpopular."  Here,  then,  we  find  that  the  Epistle 
was  ascribed  to  four  different  writers — Barnabas,  Luke,  Clement, 
and  Paul.  With  regard  to  the  first,  Tertullian  expressly  says  that 
copies  of  the  Epistle  in  his  day  bore  the  inscription,  "  The  Epistle 
of  Barnabas  to  the  Hebrews.''  The  same  tradition  is  mentioned 
by  Philastrius.  The  opinion  that  either  Luke  or  Clement  was  the 
writer  is  mentioned  by  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Origen,  and  others, 
but  they  seem  not  to  have  considered  Luke  or  Clement  as  the  in- 
dependent authors  of  the  Epistle,  but  only  as  editors  of  the  senti- 
ments of  Paul.  Some  held  that  Luke  had  only  translated  the 
Pauline  original;  others,  that  he  or  Clement  had  systematized  the 
teaching  of  their  master  with  a  commentary  of  their  own.  Fourthly, 
Paul  was  held  to  be,  in  some  sense,  the  authoi^  of  the  Epistle  by  the 
Greek  ecclesiastical  writers  generally,  though  no  one,  so  far  as  we 
know,  maintained  that  he  had  written  it  in  its  present  form.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  Latin  Church  till  the  fourth  century  refused 
to  acknowledge  the  Epistle  as  Paul's  in  any  sense. 

Thus  there  were,  in  fact,  only  two  persons  whose  claim  to  the 
independent  authorship  of  the  Epistle  was  maintained  in  the  prim- 
itive Church — viz.  Barnabas  and  Paul.  Those  who  contend  that 
Barnabas  was  the  author  confirm  the  testimony  of  Tertullian  by 
the  following  arguments  from  internal  evidence :  First,  Barnabas 
was  a  Levite,  and  therefore  would  naturally  dwell  on  the  Levitical 
worship  which  forms  so  prominent  a  topic  of  this  Epistle.  Sec- 
ondly, Barnabas  was  a  native  of  Cyprus,  and  Cyprus  was  peculi- 
arly connected  with  Alexandria ;  so  that  a  Cyprian  Levite  would 
most  probably  receive  his  theological  education  at  Alexandria. 
This  would  agree  with  the  Alexandrian  character  of  the  argu- 


DISCUSSION  AS  TO  ITS  AUTHORSHIP. 


719 


mentation  of  this  Epistle.  Thirdly,  the  writer  of  the  Epistle  was 
a  friend  of  Timotheus  (see  above) ;  so  was  Barnabas  (cf.  Acts  xiii. 
and  xiv.  with  2  Tim.  iii.  11).  Fourthly,  the  Hebraic  appellation 
which  Barnabas  received  from  the  apostles — "  son  of  exhortation  " 
— shows  that  he  possessed  the  gift  necessary  for  writing  a  compo- 
sition distinguished  for  the  power  of  its  hortatory  admonitions. 

The  advocates  of  the  Pauline  authorship  urge,  in  addition  to  the 
external  testimony  which  we  have  before  mentioned,  the  following 
arguments  from  internal  evidence ;  First,  that  the  general  plan  of 
the  Epistle  is  similar  to  that  of  Paul's  other  writings ;  secondly, 
that  its  doctrinal  statements  are  identical  with  Paul's;  thirdly, 
that  there  are  many  points  of  similarity  between  its  phraseology 
and  diction  and  those  of  Paul.  On  the  other  hand,  the  opponents 
of  the  Pauline  origin  argue — first,  that  the  rhetorical  character 
of  the  composition  is  altogether  ujilike  Paul's  other  writings; 
secondly,  that  there  are  many  points  of  difference  in  the  phrase- 
ology and  diction  ;  thirdly,  that  the  quotations  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment are  not  made  in  the  same  form  as  Paul's ;  fourthly,  that  the 
writer  includes  himself  among  those  who  had  received  the  gospel 
from  the  original  disciples  of  the  Lord  Jeszis  (ii.  3),  whereas  Paul 
declares  that  the  gospel  was  not  taught  him  by  man,  but  by  the  reve- 
lation of  Jesus  Christ  (Gal.  i.  11,  12);  fifthly,  that  Paul's  Epistles 
always  begin  with  his  name,  and  always  specify  in  the  salutation 
the  persons  to  whom  they  are  addressed. 

Several  very  able  modern  critics  have  agreed  with  Luther  in 
assigning  the  authorship  of  this  Epistle  to  Apollos,  chiefly  because 
we  know  him  to  have  been  a  learned  Alexandrian  Jew,  and  be- 
cause he  fulfils  the  other  conditions  mentioned  above  as  required 
by  the  internal  evidence.  But  we  need  not  dwell  on  this  opinion, 
since  it  is  not  based  on  external  testimony,  and  since  Barnabas 
fulfils  the  requisite  conditions  almost  equally  well. 

Finally,  we  may  observe  that  notwithstanding  the  doubts  which 
we  have  recorded  we  need  not  scruple  to  speak  of  this  portion  of 
Scripture  by  its  canonical  designation  as  "The  Epistle  of  Paul  the 
Apostle  to  the  Hebrews."  We  have  seen  that  Jerome  expresses 
the  greatest  doubts  concerning  its  authorship,  and  that  Origen 
says  "the  writer  is  known  to  God  alone;"  the  same  doubts  are 
expressed  by  Eusebius  and  by  Augustine;  yet  all  these  great 
writers  refer  to  the  words  of  the  Epistle  as  the  words  of  FauL  In 
fact,  whether  written  by  Barnabas,  by  Luke,  by  Clement,  or  by 


720  IIFE  AND  EPISTLES   DF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


Apollos,  it  represented  the  views  and  was  impregnated  by  the 
influence  of  the  great  apostle,  whose  disciples  even  the  chief  of 
these  apostolic  men  might  well  be  called.  By  their  writings  no 
less  than  by  his  own  he  being  dead  yet  spake. 

We  have  seen  that  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  was  addressed  to 
Jewish  converts  who  were  tempted  to  apostatize  from  Christianity 
and  return  to  Judaism.  Its  primary  object  was  to  check  this  apos- 
tasy by  showing  them  the  true  end  and  meaning  of  the  Mosaic 
system  and  its  symbolical  and  transitory  character.  They  were 
taught  to  look  through  the  shadow  to  the  substance,  through  the 
type  to  the  antitype.  But  the  treatise,  though  first  called  forth  to 
meet  the  needs  of  Hebrew  converts,  was  not  designed  for  their 
instruction  only.  The  Spirit  of  God  has  chosen  this  occasion  to 
enlighten  the  universal  Church  concerning  the  design  of  the 
ancient  covenant  and  the  interpretation  of  the  Jewish  Scriptures. 
Nor  could  the  memory  of  Paul  be  enshrined  in  a  nobler  monument, 
nor  his  mission  on  earth  be  more  fitly  closed,  than  by  this  inspired 
record  of  the  true  subordination  of  Judaism  to  Christianity : 


THE  EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


1  God,  who  at  sundrv  times  and  in  divers  manners  ^f. 

'  *  vealed  himself 

2  spake  of  old  to  our  fathers  by  the  prophets,  hath  in  fij^aiiy  to  man 

^  ^     ^         '  m  the  person 

these  last  days  spoken  to  us  by  his  Son,  whom  he  ap-  of  his  Sou, 

3  pointed  heir  of  all  things,  by  whom  also  he  made  the  universe ;  who 
being  an  emanation  of  his  glory,  and  an  express  image  of  his  sub- 
stance, and  upholding  all  things  by  the  word  of  his  power,  when  he 
had  by  himself  made  purification  for  our  sins,  sat  down  on  the  right 

4  hand  of  the  Majesty  on  high  ;  being  made  so  much  greater  than  the 
angels,  as  he  hath  by  inheritance  obtained  a  more  excellent  name 
than  they. 

5  For  to  which  of  the  angels  said  he  at  any  time,  "  Thou  who  is  higher 
art  my  Son^  this  day  have  I  begoitm  thee;  "  and  again,  /  *  eangeis. 
will  be  to  him  a  father ^  and  he  shall  he  to  me  a  i>on^^f    But  when  he 

6  bringeth  back  the  First-bego'  ten  into  the  world,  he  saith,    And  let  all 

7  the  angels  of  God  worship  hiirij*  And  of  the  angels  he  saith,  "  Who 
maketh  his  angels  spirits,  and  his  ministers  flames  of  fire?^    But  unto 

8  the  Son  he  saith,  "  Thy  throne,  0  God,  is  for  ever  and  ever ;  a  sceptre 
of  righteousness  is  the  sceptre  of  thy  kingdom.    Thou  hast  loved  righteous- 

9  ness  and  hated  iniquity.    Therefore,  God,  even  thy  God,  hath  anointed 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


721 


10  thee  mih  the  oil  of  gladness  above  thy  fellows.'^  And  Thou,  Lordy  in  the 
beginning  didM  lay  the  foundation  of  the  earth,  and  the  heavens  are  the 

11  works  of  thine  hands.    They  shall  perish,  but  thou  remainest;  and  they 

12  all  shall  wax  old  as  doth  a  garment,  and  as  a  vesture  shalt  thou  fold  them 
up  and  they  shall  be  changed;  but  thou  art  the  same,  and  thy  years  shall 
not  faiV^ 

13  But  to  which  of  the  angels  hath  he  said  at  any  time,  "  Sit  thou  on 

14  my  right  hand  until  I  make  thy  enemies  thy  footstooV^  f  Are  they  not 
all  ministering  spirits,  sent  forth  to  execute  his  service,  for  the  sake 
of  those  who  shall  inherit  salvation  ? 

II. 

1  Therefore,  we  ought  to  give  the  more  earnest  heed  to  the  things 

2  which  we  have  heard,  lest  at  any  time  we  should  let  them  slip.  For  if 
the  word  declared  by  angels  was  steadfast,  and  every  transgression  and 

3  disobedience  received  a  due  requital,  how  shall  we  escape,  if  we 
neglect  so  great  salvation  ?  which  was  declared  at  first  by  the  Lord, 
and  was  established  unto  us  on  firm  foundations  by  those  who  heard 

4  him,  God  also  bearing  them  witness  both  with  signs  and  wonders  and 
divers  miracles,  and  with  gifts  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  which  he  dis- 
tributed according  to  his  own  will. 

5  For  not  unto  angels  hath  he  subjected  the  world  to  come,  whereof 

6  we  speak.  But  one  in  a  certain  place  testified,  saying,  "  What  is  man, 
that  thou  art  mindful  of  him,  or  the  Soil  of  man,  that  thou  regardest 

7  him  f  For  a  little  while  thou  hast  made  him  lo  wer  than  the  angels  ;  thou 
hast  crowned  him  with  glory  and  honor,  thou  hast  put  all  things  in  suh- 

8  jection  under  his  feet."  For  in  that  he  put  all  things  in  subject  ion" 
under  him,  he  left  nothing  that  should  not  be  put  under  him. 

But  now  we  see  not  yet  all  things  in  subjection  under     Tht^  hnmiiia- 

9  him.  But  we  behold  Jesus,  who  was  "/or  a  little  while  was  n"eedfuu 
mjade  lower  than  the  angels,"  crowned  through  the  suffer-  {,6^  consec^ifed 
ing  of  death  with  glory  and  honor ;  that  by  the  free  n'i^h^rielf 

10  gift  of  God  he  might  taste  death  for  all  men.    For  it 

became  Him  through  whom  are  all  things,  and  by  whom  are  all  things, 
in  bringing  many  sons  unto  glory,  to  consecrate  by  sufiPerings  the 
Captain  of  their  salvation. 

11  For  both  He  that  sanctifieth,  and  they  who  are  sanctified,  have  all 
on^  Father;  wherefore,  he  is  not  ashamed  to  call  them  brethren, 

12  saying,  "J  will  declare  thy  name  to  my  brethren,  in  the  midst  of  the 

13  congregation  will  I  sing  praises  unto  thee"    And  again,    I  will  put  my 

14  trust  in  him;  lo,  I  and  the  children  which  God  hath  given  me"  P'oras- 
much  then  as  "  the  children  "  are  partakers  of  flesh  and  blood,  he  also 

46 


722 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


himself  likewise  took  part  of  the  same,  that  by  death  he  might  destroy 

15  the  lord  of  death,  that  is,  the  devil ;  and  might  deliver  them  who 

16  through  fear  of  death  were  all  their  lifetime  subject  to  bondage.  For 
he  giveth  his  aid,  not  unto  angels,  but  unto  the  seed  of  Abraham. 

17  Wherefore,  it  behoved  him  in  all  things  to  be  made  like  unto  his 
brethren,  that  he  miglit  become  a  merciful  and  faithful  High  Priest 
in  the  things  of  God,  to  make  expiation  for  the  sins  of  the  people. 

18  For  whereas  he  hath  himself  been  tried  by  suffering,  he  is  able  to 
succor  them  that  are  in  trial. 

III. 

1  Wherefore,  holy  brethren,  partakers  of  a  heavenly  Christ  is  higher 
calling,  consider  the  Apostle  and  High  Priest  of  our 

2  confession,  Christ  Jesus ;  who  was  faithful  to  Him  that  appointed 

3  him,  as  Moses  also  was  ^\faithful  in  all  the  household  of  GodP  For 
greater  glory  is  due  to  him  than  unto  Moses,  inasmuch  as  the  founder 

4  of  the  household  is  honored  above  the  household.    For  every  house- 
hold hath  some  founder;  but  he  that  hath  founded  all  things  is 

5  God.    And  Moses  indeed  was  faithful  in  all  the  household  of  God " 
as  "a  servanV^  appointed  to  testify  the  words  that  should  be  spoken 

6  [unto  him],  but  Christ  as  "a  aSoti"  over  his  own  household. 

And  his  household  are  we,  if  we  hold  fast  our  confi-  Naming  a- 
dence,  and  the  rejoicing  of  our  hope,  firmly  unto  the  gaiust apostasy, 

7  end.    Wherefore,  as  the  Holy  Spirit  saith,  "  To-day  if  ye  will  hear  his 

8  voice,  harden  not  your  hearts  as  in  the  provocation,  in  the  day  of  tempta- 

9  tion  in  the  wilderness ;  when  your  fathers  tempted  me,  proved  me,  and 

10  saw  my  works  forty  years.  Wherefore  I  luas  grieved  with  that  generationy 
and  said,  They  do  always  err  in  their  hearts,  and  they  have  not  known 

11  my  ways.    So  I  sware  in  my  wrath,  They  shall  not  enter  into  my  rest  J* 

12  Take  heed,  brethren,  lest  there  be  in  any  of  you  an  evil  heart  of  un- 

13  belief,  in  departing  from  the  living  God.  But  exhort  one  another 
daily  while  it  is  called  To-day,  lest  any  of  you  be  hardened  through 

]  i  the  deceitfulness  of  sin.  For  we  are  made  partakers  of  Christ,  if  we 
liold  our  first  foundation  firmly  unto  the  end. 

15  When  it  is  said,  "  To-day,  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice,  harden  not  your 

16  hearts  as  in  the  provocation,^' — who  were  they  that,  though  they  had 
heard,  did  provoke?    Were  they  not  all  whom  Moses  brought  forth 

17  out  of  Egypt  ?  And  with  whom  was  he  grieved  forty  years  ?  Was 
it  not  with  them  that  had  sinned,  whose  carcasses  fell  in  the  wilder- 

18  ness  ?    And  to  whom  sware  he  that  they  should  not  enter  into  his 

19  rest,  but  to  them  that  were  disobedient?  And  we  see  that  they  could 
not  enter  in  [to  the  land  of  promise]  because  of  unbelief. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


723 


IV. 

1  Therefore  let  us  fear,  since  a  promise  still  remaineth  of  entering 
into  his  rest,  lest  any  of  you  should  be  found  to  come  short  of  it. 

2  For  we  have  received  glad  tidings  as  well  as  they ;  but  the  report 
which  they  heard  did  not  profit  them,  because  it  met  no  belief  in 

3  the  hearers.  For  we,  that  have  believed,  are  entering  into  the 
[promised]  rest.  And  thus  he  hath  said,  "6'o  I  sware  in  my  wrathj 
They  shall  not  enter  into  my  restJ*   Although  his  works  were  finished, 

4  ever  since  the  foundation  of  the  world  ;  for  he  hath  spoken  in  a  certain 

5  place  of  the  seventh  day  in  this  wise,  ^^And  God  did  rest  on  the 
seventh  day  from  all  his  works     and  in  this  place  again,  ^Uhey  shall 

6  NOT  enter  into  my  rest.^^  Since,  therefore,  it  still  remaineth  that  some 
must  enter  therein,  and  they  who  first  received  the  glad  tidings 

7  thereof  entered  not,  because  of  disobedience,  he  again  fixeth  a  cer- 
tain day, — "to-day" — declaring  in  David,  after  so  long  a  time  (as 
hath  been  said),  "  To-doy,  if  ye  will  hear  his  voice^  harden  not  your 

8  hearts"    For  if  Joshua  had  given  them  rest,  God  would  not  have 

9  spoken  afterward  of  another  day.    Therefore  there  still  remaineth 

10  a  sabbath-rest  for  the  people  of  God.  For  he  that  is  entered  into 
God's  rest,  must  himself  also  rest  from  his  labors,  as  God  did  from 

11  his.  Let  us  therefore  strive  to  enter  into  that  rest,  lest  any  man  fall 
after  the  same  example  of  disobedience. 

12  For  the  word  of  God  liveth  and  worketh,  and  is  for  God's  judg- 

,  .      .      .  ment  cannot  be 

sharper  than  any  two-edged  sword,  piercing  even  to  evaded. 

the  dividing  asunder  of  soul  and  spirit,  yea,  to  the  parts  thereof, 

13  and  judging  the  thouglils  and  imaginations  of  the  heart.  Neither 
is  there  any  creature  that  is  not  manifest  in  his  sight.  But  all  things 
are  naked  and  opened  unto  the  eyes  of  Him  with  whom  we  have  to 
do. 

14  Seeing,  then,  that  we  have  a  great  High  Priest,  who  Christ  is  a  nigh 

11  111  T  ir>.A    Priest  who  can 

ha!h  passed  through  the  heavens,  Jesus  the  Son  of  be  toiiched  with 

15  God,  let  us  hold  fast  our  confession.    For  we  have  not  infirmities. 

an  high  priest  that  cannot  be  touched  with  a  feeling  of  our  infirmi- 
ties, but  who  bore  in  all  things  the  likeness  of  our  trials,  yet  without 

16  sin.  Let  us  therefore  come  boldly  to  the  throne  of  grace,  that  we 
may  obtain  mercy,  and  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need. 

V. 

1  For  every  high  priest  taken  from  among  men  is  ordained  to  act 
on  behalf  of  men  in  the  things  of  God,  that  he  may  offer  gifts  and 

2  sacrifices  for  sins ;  and  is  able  to  bear  with  the  ignorant  and  erring, 

3  being  himself  also  encompassed  with  infirmity.    And  by  reason 


724  LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


thereof,  he  is  bound,  as  for  the  people,  so  also  for  himself,  to  make 

4  offering  for  sins.    And  no  man  taketh  this  honor  on  himself,  but  he 

5  that  is  called  by  God,  as  was  Aaron.  So  also  Christ  glorified  not 
himself,  to  be  made  an  high  priest;  but  he  that  said  unto  him, 
"  Thou  art  my  son,  to-day  have  I  begotten  theej^    As  he  saith  also  in 

6  another  place,  ^^Thou  art  a  'priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  Melchis' 

7  edec.^^  Who  in  the  days  of  his  flesh  offered  up  prayers  and  suppli- 
cations with  strong  crying  and  tears,  unto  Him  that  could  save  him 

8  from  death,  and  was  heard  because  he  feared  God ;  and  though  he 

9  was  a  Son,  yet  learned  he  obedience  by  suffering.  And  when  his 
consecration  was  accomplished,  he  became  the  author  of  eternal  sal- 

10  vation  to  all  them  that  obey  him ;  having  been  named  by  God  an 
high  priest  "  after  the  order  of  MelchisedecJ' 

11  Of  whom  I  have  many  things  to  sav,  and  hard  of  The  readers  are 

* .  reproached  for 

interpretation,  since  ye  have  grown  dull  m  understand-  their  decline  la 

12  ing.    For  when  ye  ought,  after  so  long  a  time,  to  be  derstanding^^ 
teachers,  ye  need  again  to  be  taught  yourselves  what  are  the  first 
principles  of  the  oracles  of  God ;  and  ye  have  come  to  need  milk, 

13  instead  of  meat.  For  every  one  that  feeds  on  milk  is  ignorant  of  tlie 

14  doctrine  of  righteousness,  for  he  is  a  babe ;  but  meat  is  for  men  full 
grown,  who,  through  habit,  have  their  senses  exercised  to  know  good 
from  evil. 

VI. 

1  Therefore  let  me  leave  the  rudiments  of  the  doctrine  of  Christ,  and 
go  on  to  the  fulness  of  its  teaching ;  not  laying  again  the  foundation, — 

2  of  repentance  from  dead  works,  and  faith  towards  God ; — baptism, 
instruction  and  laying  on  of  hands ; — and  resurrection  of  the  dead, 
and  judgment  everlasting. 

3,  4  And  this  I  will  do  if  God  permit.  For  it  is  impos-  warned  of  the 
sible  again  to  renew  unto  repentance  those  who  have  tasy^^'^ 

5  been  once  enlightened,  and  have  tasted  of  the  heavenly  gift,  and  been 
made  partakers  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  have  tasted  the  goodness  of 
the  word  of  God,  and  the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  and  afterward 

6  fall  away ;  seeing  they  crucify  to  themselves  the  Son  of  God  afresh 

7  and  put  him  to  an  open  shame.  For  the  earth  when  it  hath  drunk 
in  the  rain  that  falleth  oft  upon  it,  if  it  bear  herbs  profitable  to  those 

8  for  Tfhom  it  is  tilled,  partaketh  of  God's  blessing ;  but  if  it  bear 
thorns  and  thistles,  it  is  counted  worthless  and  is  nigh  unto  cursing,  and 

9  its  end  is  to  be  burned.  But,  beloved,  I  am  persuaded  and  reminded 
better  things  of  you,  and  things  that  accompany  salva-  to   p  e  r  s  e  v  e- 

10  tion,  though  I  thus  speak.    For  God  is  not  unrighteous 

to  forget  your  labor,  and  the  love  which  ye  laave  shown  to  his  name, 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


725 


11  in  the  services  ye  have  rendered  and  still  render  to  his  people.  But 
I  desire  earnestly  that  every  one  of  you  might  show  the  same  zeal, 

12  to  secure  the  full  possession  of  your  hope  unto  the  end ;  that  ye  be 
not  slothful,  but  follow  the  example  of  them  who  through  faith  and 

13  steadfast  endurance  inherit  the  promises.    For  God,  when  he  made 

14  promise  to  Abraham,  because  he  could  swear  by  no  greater,  sware 
by  himself,  saying,    Verily,  blessing  I  will  bless  thee,  and  multiplying 

15  I  will  multiply  thee;^^  and  so,  having  steadfastly  endured,  he  obtained 

16  the  promise.    For  men,  indeed,  swear  by  the  greater ;  and  their  oath 

17  establisheth  their  word,  so  that  they  cannot  gainsay  it.  Wherefore 
God,  willing  more  abundantly  to  show  unto  the  heirs  of  the  promise 
the  immutability  of  his  counsel,  set  an  oath  between  himself  and 

18  them ;  that  by  two  immutable  things,  wherein  it  is  impossible  for 
God  to  lie,  we  that  have  fled  [to  him]  for  refuge  might  have  a  strong 

19  encouragement  to  hold  fast  the  hope  set  before  us.  Which  hope  we 
have  as  an  anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure  and  steadfast,  and  entering 

20  within  the  veil ;  whither  Jesus,  our  forerunner,  is  for  us  entered, 
being  made  "an  High  Priest  for  ever  after  the  order  of  MelchisedecJ' 

VII. 

1  For  this  Melchisedec,  "king  of  Salem/^  "priest  of  the  rpi^g  priesthood 
most  high  God,''  who  met  Abraham  returning  from  the  g^^^     ^  v    E  e 

2  slaughter  of  the  kings,  and  blessed  him,  to  whom  also  ^eio.hJsedec)^i3 
Abraham  gave  "a  tenth  part  of  all'' — who  is  first,  by  distinj^ui shed 

P  r        J       )  y    J     fro^  ^l^g  Levit- 

3  interpretation,  King  of  Eighteousness,  and  secondly  icai  priesthood 

1  .  /.  o<  1  1  .  1     .     -r^  -r^  .        *^     by  its  eternal 

king  of  Salem,  which  is  King  of  Peace — without  duration  and 
father,  without  mother,  without  table  of  descent —  ^^^^^y- 
having  neither  beginning  of  days  nor  end  of  life,  but  made  like  unto 
the  Son  of  God — remaineth  a  priest  for  ever. 

4  Now  consider  how  great  this  man  was,  to  whom  even  Abraham 

5  the  patriarch  gave  a  tenth  of  the  choicest  spoil.  And  truly  those 
among  the  sons  of  Levi  who  receive  the  office  of  the  priesthood,  have 
a  commandment  to  take  tithes  according  to  the  Law  from  the  people, 
that  is,  from  their  brethren,  though  they  come  out  of  the  loins  of 

6  Abraham.  But  He,  whose  descent  is  not  counted  from  them,  taketh 
tithes  from  Abraham,  and  blesseth  the  possessor  of  the  promises. 

7  Now,  without  all  contradiction,  the  less  is  blessed  'tf  the  greater. 

8  And  here,  tithes  are  received  by  men  that  die ;  but  there,  by  Him  of 

9  whom  it  is  testified  that  he  liveth.    And  Levi  also,  the  receiver  of 

10  tithes,  had  paid  tithes  (so  to  speak)  by  Abraham ;  for  he  was  yet  in 
the  loins  of  his  father  when  Melchisedec  met  him. 

11  Now,  if  all  things  were  perfected  by  the  Levitical  priesthood  (since 


726 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


under  it  the  people  liath  received  the  Law),  what  further  need  was 
there  that  another  priest  should  rise    after  the  order  of  Melchisedec^* 

12  and  not  be  called  after  the  order  of  Aaron  "  ?  For  the  priesthood 
being  changed  there  is  made  of  necessity  a  change  also  of  the  Law. 

13  For  He  of  whom  these  things  are  spoken  belongeth  to  another  tribe, 

14  of  which  no  man  giveth  attendance  at  the  altar  ;  it  being  evident  that 
our  Lord  hath  arisen  out  of  Judah,  of  which  tribe  Moses  spake 

15  nothing  concerning  priestliood.    And  this  is  far  more  evident  when 

16  another  priest  ariseth  after  the  likeness  of  Melchisedec  ;  who  is  made 
not  under  the  Law  of  a  carnal  commandment,  but  with  the  power  of 

17  an  imperisliable  life ;  for  it  is  testified  of  him,  "  Thou  art  a  priest 

18  FOR  EVER  after  the  order  of  MelchisedecJ'  On  the  one  hand,  an  old 
commandment  is  annulled,  because  it  was  weak  and  profitless  (for  the 

19  Law  perfected  nothing) ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  a  better  hope  is 
brought  in,  whereby  we  draw  near  unto  God. 

20  And  inasmuch  as  this  priesthood  hath  the  confirmation  of  an 

21  oath — (for  those  priests  are  made  without  an  oath,  but  he  with  an 
oath,  by  Him  that  said  unto  him,  "  The  Lord  sware  and  will  not  repent^ 

22  T'hou  art  a  priest  for  ever^^) — insomuch  Jesus  is  surety  of  a  better 
covenant. 

23  And  they,  indeed,  are  many  priests  [one  succeeding  to  another's 

24  office],  because  death  hindereth  their  continuance.    But  he,  because 

25  he  remaineth  for  ever,  giveth  not  his  priesthood  to  another.  Where- 
fore also  he  is  able  to  save  them  to  the  uttermost  that  come  unto 
God  by  him,  seeing  he  ever  liveth  to  make  intercession  for  them. 

26  For  such  an  Lligh  Priest  became  us,  who  is  holy,  harmless,  unde- 

27  filed,  separate  from  sinners,  and  ascended  above  the  heavens.  Who 
needeth  not  daily,  as  those  high  priests,  to  offer  up  sacrifice,  first  for 
his  own  sins  and  then  for  the  people's ;  for  this  he  did  once,  when  he 
oflfered  up  himself.  For  the  Law  maketh  men  high  priests,  who  have 

28  infirmity ;  but  the  word  of  the  oath  which  was  since  the  Law,  makelh 
the  Son,  who  is  consecrated  for  evermore. 

vin. 

1  Now  of  the  things  which  we  have  spoken,  this  is  the  TheMosaicLRw, 
sum.  We  have  such  an  High  Priest,  who  hath  sat  Me\Vrch^yrami 
down  on  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of  the  Majesty 

il^  an  imperfect 

2  the  heavens ;  a  minister  of  the  sanctuary,  and  of  the  beftlTcovenant 
true  tabernacle,  which  the  Lord  pitched,  and  not  man.  atcfn(!!^enr^'of 

3  For  every  high  priest  is  ordained  to  offer  gifts  and  c^^^^^^^- 
sacrifices;  wherefore  this  High  Priest  also  must 'have  somewhat  to 

4  offer.    Now  if  he  were  on  earth,  he  would  not  be  a  priest  at  all, 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


727 


since  the  priests  are  they  that  make  the  offerings  according  to  the 

5  Law;  who  minister  to  that  which  is  a  figure  and  shadow  of  heavenly 
things,  as  Moses  is  admonished  hy  God,  when  he  is  about  to  make 
the  tabernacle;  for  "/S'ee,"  saith  he,  'Uhat  thou  make  all  things 

6  according  to  the  pattern  showed  thee  in  the  mount"  But  ndw  he 
hath  obtained  a  higher  ministry,  by  so  much  as  he  is  the  medi- 
ator of  a  better  covenant,  whereof  the  Law  is  given  under  better 
promises. 

7  For  if  that  first  covenant  were  faultless,  no  place  would  be  sought 

8  for  a  second ;  whereas  he  findeth  fault,  and  saith  unto  them,  Behold 
the  days  come^  saith  the  Lord,  when  I  will  accomplish  for  the  house  of 

9  Israel  and  for  the  house  of  Judah  a  new  covenant.  Not  according  to  the 
covenant  which  I  gave  unto  their  fathers,  in  the  day  when  I  took  them  by 
the  hand  to  lead  them  out  of  the  land  of  Egypt ;  because  they  continued 
not  in  my  covenant,  and  I  also  turned  my  face  from  theviij  saith  the  Lord. 

10  For  this  is  the  covenant  which  I  will  make  unto  the  house  of  Israel  after 
those  days,  saith  the  Lord:  I  will  give  my  laws  U7ito  their  mind,  and 
write  them  upon  their  hearts  ;  and  I  will  be  to  them  a  God,  and  they 

11  shall  be  to  me  a  people.  And  they  shall  not  teach  every  man  his  neighbor 
and  every  man  his  brother ^  saying,  Know  the  Lord ;  for  all  shall  know 

12  me,  from  the  least  unto  the  greatest.    For  I  will  be  merciful  unto  their 

13  unrighteousness,  and  their  sins  and  their  iniquities  will  1  remember  no 
moreJ^  In  that  he  saith  "  a  new  covenant,^^  he  hath  made  the  first  old ; 
and  that  which  is  old  and  stricken  in  years  is  ready  to  vanish  away. 

IX. 

1  Now  the  first  covenant  also  had  ordinances  of  worship,  and  its 

2  holy  place  was  in  this  world.  For  a  tabernacle  was  made  [in  two 
portions]  ;  the  first  (wherein  was  the  candlestick,  and  the  table,  and 

3  the  shewbread),  v/hich  is  called  the  sanctuary ;  and  behind  the  * 

4  second  veil,  the  tabernacle  called  the  holy  of  holies,  having  the 
golden  altar  of  incense,  and  the  ark  of  the  covenant  overlaid  round 
about  with  gold,  wherein  was  the  golden  pot  that  liad  the  manna,  and 

5  Aaron's  rod  that  budded,  and  the  tables  of  the  covenant ;  and  over  it 
the  cherubims  of  glory  shadowing  the  mercy-seat.    Whereof  we 

6  cannot  now  speak  particularly.  Now  these  things  being  thus 
ordered,  unto  the  first  tabernacle  the  priests  go  in  continually,  ac- 

7  complishing  the  offices  of  their  worship.  But  into  the  second  goeth 
the  high  priest  alone,  once  a  year,  not  without  blood,  wlich  he 

8  offereth  for  himself  and  for  the  errors  of  the  people.  Whereby  the 
Holy  Spirit  signifieth  that  the  way  into  the  holy  place  is  not  yet 

9  made  fulb^  manifest,  while  still  the  outer  tabernacle  standeth.  But 


728         TJCFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


it  is  a  figure  for  the  present  time,  under  which  gifts  and  sacrifices 
are  offered  that  cannot  perfect  the  purpose  of  the  worshipper,  ac- 

10  cording  to  the  conscience;  being  carnal  ordinances,  commanding 
meats  and  drinks,  and  diverse  washings,  imposed  until  a  time  of 
reformation. 

11  But  when  Christ  appeared,  as  High  Priest  of  the  good  things  to 
come,  he  passed  through  the  greater  and  more  perfect  tabernacle  not 

12  made  with  hands  (that  is,  not  of  man's  building),  and  entered,  not  by 
the  blood  of  goats  and  calves,  but  by  his  own  blood,  once  for  all  into 

13  the  holy  place,  having  obtained  an  everlasting  redemption.  For  if 
the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats,  and  the  ashes  of  an  heifer  sprinkling  the 

14  unclean,  sanctifieth  to  the  purification  of  the  flesh,  how  much  more 
shall  the  blood  of  Christ,  who  through  the  eternal  Spirit  offered  him- 
self without  spot  to  God,  purify  our  conscience  from  dead  worlds,  that 
we  may  worship  the  living  God ! 

15  And  for  this  cause  he  is  the  mediator  of  a  new  testament ;  that 
when  death  had  made  redemption  for  the  transgressions  under  the 
first  testament,  they  that  are  called  might  receive  the  promise  of  the 

16  eternal  inheritance.    For  where  a  testament  is,  the  death  of  the  tes- 

17  tator  must  be  declared  ;  because  a  testament  is  made  valid  by  death, 
for  it  hath  no  force  at  all  during  the  lifetime  of  the  testator. 

18  Wherefore  the  first  testament  also  hath  its  dedication  not  without 

19  blood.  For  when  Moses  had  spoken  to  all  the  people  every  precept 
according  to  the  Law,  he  took  the  blood  of  the  calves  and  goats,  with 
water  and  scarlet  wool  and  hyssop,  and  sprinkled  both  the  book  itself 

20  and  all  the  people,  saying,  "  This  is  the  blood  of  the  testament  which  God 

21  hath  enjoined  unto  you.^^  Moreover,  he  sprinkled  with  blood  the 
tabernacle  also,  and  all  the  vessels  of  the  ministry,  in  like  manner. 

22  And  according  to  the  Law,  almost  all  things  are  purified  with  blood, 

23  and  without  shedding  of  blood  is  no  remission.  It  was,  therefore, 
necessary  that  the  patterns  of  heavenly  things  should  thus  be  purified, 
but  the  heavenly  things  themselves  with  better  sacrifices  than  these. 

24  For  Christ  entered  not  into  the  sanctuary  made  with  hands,  which  is 
a  figure  of  the  true,  but  into  heaven  itself,  now  to  appear  in  the 

25  presence  of  God  for  us.  Nor  yet  that  he  should  offer  himself  often, 
as  the  high  priest  entereth  the  sanctuary  every  year  with  blood  of 

26  others  ;  for  then  must  he  often  have  suffered  since  the  foundation  of 
the  world ;  but  now  once,  in  the  end  of  the  ages,  hath  he  appeared, 

27  to  put  away  sin  by  the  sacrifice  of  himself.  And  as  it  is  appointed 
unto  men  once  to  die,  but  after  this  the  judgment,  so  Christ  was  once 

28  offered  to  bear  the  sins  of  many,^^  and  unto  them  that  look  for  hiw 
shall  he  <»ppear  a  second  time,  without  sin  unto  salvation. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


729 


X. 

1  For  the  Law  having  a  shadow  of  the  good  things  to  come,  and  not 
the  very  image  of  the  reality,  by  the  unchanging  sacrifices  which 
year  by  year  they  offer  continually,  can  never  perfect  the  purpose  of 

2  the  offerers.  For  then,  would  they  not  have  ceased  to  be  offered  ? 
because  the  worshippers,  once  purified,  would  have  had  no  more 

3  conscience  of  sins.    But  in  these  sacrifices  there  is  a  remembrance 

4  of  sins  made  every  year.    For  it  is  not  possible  that  the  blood  of 

5  bulls  and  goats  should  take  away  sins.  Wherefore,  when  he  cometh 
into  the  world,  he  saith,  "Sacrifice  and  offering  thou  wouldest  noty  but  a 

6  body  hast  thou  prepared  me.    In  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices  for  sin 

7  thou  hast  had  no  pleasure.    Then  said  7,  Lo,  I  come  {in  the  volume  of 

8  the  book  it  is  written  of  me)  to  do  thy  will,  0  God.  When  he  had  said 
before,  "Sacrifice  and  offering  and  burnt-offerings  and  sacrifices  for  sin 
thou  wouldest  not,  neither  hadst  pleasure  therein^'  (which  are  offered 

9  under  the  Law) ;  "Then^^  (saith  he),  "io,  I  come  to  do  thy  xoill,  0  GodJ^ 

10  He  taketh  away  the  first,  that  he  may  establish  the  second.  And  in 
that  "wilV^  we  are  sanctified,  by  the  offering  of  the  "bodxf^  of  Jesus 
Christ,  once  for  all. 

11  And  every  priest  standeth  daily  ministering,  and  offering  oftentimes 

12  the  same  sacrifices,  which  can  never  take  away  sins.  But  Ac,  after 
he  had  offered  one  sacrifice  for  sins,  for  ever  sat  down  on  the  right 

13  hand  of  God  ;  from  henceforth  expecting  "  till  his  enemies  be  made  his 

14  footstool."    For  by  one  offering  he  hath  perfected  for  ever  the  purifi- 

15  cation  of  them  whom  he  sanctifieth.    Whereof  the  Holy  Spirit  also 

16  is  a  witness  to  us.  For  after  he  had  said  before,  "This  is  the  covenant 
that  I  will  make  with  them  after  those  days,  saith  the  Lord:  I  will  give 

17  my  laws  upon  their  hearts,  and  write  them  upon  their  minds,^^  he 
saith  also,  "Their  sins  and  their  iniquities  will  I  remember  no  more." 

18  Now  where  remission  of  these  is,  there  is  no  more  offering  for  sin. 

19  Having,  therefore,  brethren,  boldness  to  enter  the  Eenewed  warn- 

20  holy  place  through  the  blood  of  Jesus,  by  a  new  and  apletasyr"^^"**' 
living  way  which  he  hath  opened  for  us,  passing  through  the  veil 

21  (that  is  to  say,  his  flesh) ;  and  having  an  High  Priest  o^er  the  house 

22  of  God;  let  us  draw  near  with  a  true  heart,  in  full  assurance  of 
faith ;  as  our  hearts  have  been  "sprinkled"  from  the  stain  of  an  evil 

23  conscience,  and  our  bodies  have  been  washed  with  pure  water.  Let 
us  hold  fast  the  confession  of  our  hope,  without  wavering,  for  faithful 

24  is  He  that  gave  the  promise.  And  let  us  consider  the  example  one 
of  another,  that  we  may  be  provoked  unto  love  and  to  good  works. 

25  Let  us  not  forsake  the  assembling  of  ourselves  together,  as  the  cus- 
tom of  some  is,  but  let  us  exhort  one  another ;  and  so  much  the  more, 


730         LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


26  as  ye  see  the  day  approaching.    For  if  we  sin  wilfully  after  we  have 

27  received  the  knowledge  of  the  truth,  there  remaineth  no  more  sacri- 
fice for  sins,  but  a  certain  fearful  looking-for  of  judgment,  and  "a 

28  wrathful  fire  that  shall  devour  the  adversaries.^^  He  that  hath  des- 
pised the  Law  of  Moses  dieth  without  mercy,  upon  the  testimony  of 

29  two  or  three  witnesses.  Of  how  much  sorer  punishment,  suppose  ye, 
shall  he  be  thought  worthy,  who  hath  trodden  under  foot  the  Son  of 
God,  and  hath  counted  the  blood  of  the  covenant,  wherewith  he  was 
sanctified,  an  unholy  thing,  and  hath  done  despite  unto  the  Spirit  of 

30  grace  I  For  we  know  Him  that  hath  said,  "  Vengeance  is  mine,  I  vdll 
repay,  saith  the  Lordf^  and  again,  "  The  Lord  shall  judge  his  peophJ' 

31  It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living  God. 

32  But  call  to  remembrance  the  former  days,  in  which,  and  exhortation 
after  ye  were  illuminated,  ye  endured  a  great  fight  of  be  conquered 

33  afflictions ;  for  not  only  were  ye  made  a  gazing-stock 

by  reproaches  and  tribulations,  but  ye  took  part  also  in  the  sufferings 

34  of  others  who  bore  the  like.  For  ye  showed  compassion  to  the 
prisoners,  and  took  joyfully  the  spoiling  of  your  goods,  knowing  that 

35  ye  have  in  heaven  a  better  and  an  enduring  substance.  Cast  not 
away,  therefore,  your  confidence,  which  hath  great  recompense  of 

36  reward.    For  ye  have  need  of  steadfastness,  that  after  ye  have  done 

37  the  will  of  God,  ye  might  receive  the  promise.    For  yet  a  little 

38  while  and  "He  that  cometh  shall  be  come,  and  shall  not  tarry.^^  Now 
"By  faith  shall  the  righteous  live;^^  and  "If  he  draw  back  through  fear^ 

39  my  soul  hath  no  'pleasure  in  himJ^  But  we  are  not  men  of  fear  unto 
perdition,  but  of  faith  unto  salvation. 

XI. 

1  Now  faith  is  the  substance  of  things  hoped  for,  the     Faith  defined 

2  evidence  of  thmgs  not  seen.    For  therein  the  eldei-s  pie  whic)i  en> 

.     .      ,  ,  ablea   men  to 

obtained  a  good  report.  prefer  things 

3  By  faith  we  understand  that  the  universe  is  framed  things  visible, 
by  the  word  of  God,  so  that  the  world  which  we  behold  springs  not 
from  things  that  can  be  seen. 

4  By  faith  Abel  offered  unto  God  a  more  excellent  sac-     its  operation 
rifice  than  Cain,  whereby  he  obtained  testimony  that  he  empTified.'^ 
was  righteous,  for  God  testified  unto  his  gifts ;  and  by  it  he  being  deu  1 
yet  speaketh. 

5  By  faith  Enoch  was  translated,  that  he  should  not  see  death,  and 
"  he  was  not  found,  because  God  translated  him  J'  For  before  his  trans- 
lation he  had  this  testimony,  that  "he  pleased-  God -hut  without 

6  faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  him ;  for  wiiosoever  cometh  untu  God 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


731 


must  Lave  faith  that  God  is,  and  that  he  rewardeth  them  that  dili- 
gently seek  him. 

7  By  faith  Noah,  being  warned  by  God  concerning  things  not  seen 
as  yet,  through  fear  of  God  prepared  an  ark,  to  the  saving  of  his 
house.  Whereby  he  condemned  the  world  and  became  heir  of  the 
righteousness  of  faith. 

8  By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  called,  obeyed  the  command  to 
go  forth  into  a  place  which  he  should  afterward  receive  for  an  inher- 

9  itance;  and  he  went  forth,  not  knowing  whither  he  went.  By  faith 
he  sojourned  in  the  land  of  promise  as  in  a  strange  country,  dwelling 
in  tents,  with  Isaac  and  Jacob,  the  heirs  with  him  of  the  same  prom- 

10  ise.  For  he  looked  for  the  city  which  hath  sure  foundations,  whose 
builder  and  maker  is  God. 

11  By  faith  also  Sarah  herself  received  power  to  conceive  seed,  even 
when  she  was  past  age,  because  she  judged  Him  faithful  who  had 

12  promised.  Therefore  sprang  there  of  one,  and  liim  as  good  as  dead, 
"  So  many  as  the  stars  of  the  sky  in  multitude/'  and  as  the  sand,  which 
is  by  the  seashore  innumerable. 

13  These  all  died  in  faith,  not  having  received  the  promises,  but  hav- 
ing seen  them  afar  off,  and  embraced  them,  and  confessed  that  they 

14  were  strangers  and  pilgrims  upon  earth.    For  they  that  say  such 

15  things,  declare  plainly  that  they  seek  a  country.  And  truly  if  they 
speak  of  that  country  from  whence  they  came  forth,  they  might  have 

16  opportunity  to  return ;  but  now  they  desire  a  better  country,  that  is, 
an  heavenly.  Wherefore  God  is  not  ashamed  to  be  called  their  God; 
for  he  hath  prepared  for  them  a  city. 

17  By  faith  Abraham,  when  he  was  tried,  offered  ut)  Isaac,  and  he 
that  had  believed  the  promises  offered  up  his  only-begotten  son, 

18, 19  though  it  was  said  unto  him,  "  In  Isaac  shall  thy  seed  be  called  ;  "  ac- 
counting that  God  was  able  to  raise  him  up,  even  from  the  dead ; 
from  whence  also  (in  a  figure)  he  received  him. 

20  By  faith  Isaac  blessed  Jacob  and  Esau,  concerning  things  to 

COME. 

21  By  faith  Jacob,  when  he  was  dying,  blessed  botli  tbe  sons  of 
Joseph  ;  and  "ife  worshipped,  leaning  upon  the  top  of  his  staff.^* 

22  By  faith  Joseph,  in  the  hour  of  his  death,  spake  of  the  de- 
parting of  the  children  of  Israel;  and  gave  commandment  concern- 
ing his  bones. 

23  By  faith  Moses  when  he  was  born  was  hid  three  montl^s  by  his 
parents,  because  "they  saw  that  the  child  was  goodly;''  and  they  were 

24  not  afraid  of  the  king's  commandment.  By  faith  Moses,  "when  he 
wa8  come  to  years^'  refused  to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter, 


732 


LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


25  choosing  rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God,  than  to 

26  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season ;  esteeming  the  reproach  of  Christ 
greater  riches  than  the  treasures  of  Egypt;  for  he  looked  beyond 

27  unto  the  reward.    By  faith  he  forsook  Egypt,  not  fearing  the  wrath 

28  of  the  king ;  for  he  endured,  as  seeing  Him  who  is  invisible.  By 
faith  he  hath  established  the  passover  and  the  sprinkling  of  blood, 
that  the  destroyer  of  the  first-born  might  not  touch  the  children  of 
Israel. 

29  By  faith  they  passed  through  the  Red  Sea  as  through  dry  land ; 
which  the  Egyptians  tried  to  pass,  and  were  swallowed  up. 

30  By  faith  the  walls  of  Jericho  fell  down,  after  they  were  compassed 
about  for  seven  days, 

31  By  faith  the  harlot  Rahab  perished  not  with  the  disobedient, 
because  she  had  received  the  spies  with  peace. 

32  And  what  shall  I  more  say?  for  the  time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of 
Gideon,  and  of  Barak,  of  Sampson  and  of  Jepthae,  of  David,  and 

33  Samuel,  and  the  prophets;  who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms, 
wrought  righteousness,  obtained  promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of 

34  lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of  the  sword, 
out  of  weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  turned  to 

35  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens.  Women  received  their  dead  raised 
to  life  again ;  and  others  were  tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance, 

36  that  they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrection.  Others  also  had  trials 
of  cruel  mockings  and  scourgings,  with  chains  also  and  imprison- 

37  ment.  They  were  stoned,  were  sawn  asunder,  were  tempted,  were 
slain  with  the  sword.    They  wandered  about  in  sheepskins  and  goat- 

38  skins,  being  destitute,  afflicted,  tormented.  They  wandered  in  deserts, 
and  in  mountains,  and  in  dens  and  caves  of  the  earth ;  of  whom  the 
world  is  not  worthy. 

39  And  these  all,  having  obtained  a  good  report  through  faith,  re- 

40  ceived  not  the  promise.  God  having  provided  some  better  thing  for 
us,  that  they,  without  us,  should  not  be  made  perfect. 

XII. 

1  Wherefore,  seeing  we  are  compassed  about  with  so  j^i^^te"*  s^S  c  h 
great  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  let  us  also  lay  aside  every  to^fjjjjj^^'j^^aua 
weight,  and  the  sin  which  clingeth  closely  round  us,  in  steadfast  en- 

^     '  .  ,  durance  of  euf- 

and  run  with  courage  the  race  that  is  set  before  us ;  fering. 

2  looking  onward  unto  Jesus,  the  forerunner  and  the  finisher  of  our 
faith ;  who  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before  him,  endured  the  cross, 
despising  the  shame,  and  is  set  down  at  the  right  hand  of  the  throne  of 

3  God.    Yea,  consider  Him  that  endured  such  contradiction  of  sinnei-s 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


733 


4  against  himself,  lest  ye  be  wearied  and  faint  in  your  minds.  Ye 

5  have  not  yet  resisted  unto  blood  in  your  conflict  against  sin ;  and 
ye  have  forgotten  the  exhortation  which  reasoneth  with  you  as  with 
sons,  saying,  "  My  sorij  despise  not  thou  the  chastening  of  the  Lordy  nor 

6  faint  when  thou  art  rebuked  of  him.    For  whom  the  Lord  loveth  he  chas- 

7  teneihj  and  scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth.^'    If  ye  endure  chas- 

8  tisement,  God  dealeth  with  you  as  with  sons ;  for  where  is  the  son 
that  is  not  chastened  by  his  father  ?  but  if  ye  be  without  chastise- 
ment, whereof  all  [God's  children]  have  been  partakers,  then  are  ye 

9  bastards  and  not  sons.  Moreover,  we  were  chastened  by  the  fathers 
of  our  flesh,  and  gave  them  reverence ;  shall  we  not  much  rather  sub- 

10  mit  ourselves  to  the  Father  of  our  spirits,  and  live  ?  For  they,  in- 
deed, for  a  few  days  chastened  us,  after  their  own  pleasure ;  but  he 

11  for  our  profit,  that  we  might  be  partakers  of  his  holiness.  Now  no 
chastisement  for  the  present  seemeth  to  be  joyous,  but  grievous ;  never- 
theless afterward,  unto  them  that  are  exercised  thereby,  it  yieldeth 
the  fruit  of  righteousness  in  peace. 

12  Wherefore  "  Lift  up  the  hands  which  hang  down  and  the  feeble  knees/* 

13  and  ^'make  even  paths  for  your  feet;^*  that  the  halting  limb  be  not 
lamed,  but  rather  healed. 

14  Follow  peace  with  all  men,  and  holiness,  without  warning  against 

15  which  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord.    And  look  dili-  ^^"^"'^^^'y- 
gently  lest  any  man  fall  short  of  the  grace  of  God ;  "  lest  any  root  of 

16  bitterness  springing  up  trouble  you/^  and  thereby  many  be  defiled ;  lest 
there  be  any  fornicator,  or  profane  person,  as  Esau,  who  for  a  single 

17  meal  sold  his  birthright ;  for  ye  know  that  afterward,  when  he  de- 
sired to  inherit  the  blessing,  he  was  rejected,  finding  no  room  for  re- 
pentance, though  he  sought  it  earnestly  with  tears. 

18  For  ye  are  not  come  to  a  mountain  that  may  be  , 

,  •'In  proportion 

touched  and  that  bumeth  with  fire,  nor  to    blackness  to  superi- 

orityofthe 

19  and  darkness  and  tempest,^  and    sound  of  trumpet,^''  and  jospei  over  the 

voice  of  words'* — the  hearers  whereof  entreated  that  the  'danger  of 
no  more  might  be  spoken  unto  them ;  for  they  could 

20  not  bear  that  which  was  commanded.    {^^  And  if  so  much  as  a  beast 

21  touch  the  mountain  it  shall  be  stoned ;  "  and  so  terrible  was  the  sight 

22  that  Moses  said  "  I  exceedingly  fear  and  quake  J') — But  ye  are  come 
unto  Mount  Sion,  and  to  the  city  of  the  living  God,  the  heavenly 

23  Jerusalem,  and  to  myriads  of  angels  in  full  assembly,  and  to  the  con- 
gregation of  the  first-born  whose  names  are  written  in  heaven,  and  to 

24  God  the  judge  of  all,  and  to  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  and 
to  Jesus  the  mediator  of  a  new  covenant,  and  to  the  blood  of  sprink- 
ling, which  speaketh  better  things  than  that  of  Abel. 


734        LIFE  AND  EPISTLES  OF  THE  APOSTLE  PAUL. 


25  See  that  ye  reject  not  Him  that  speaketh.  For  if  they  escaped  not, 
who  rejected  Him  that  spake  on  earth,  much  more  shall  not  we  es- 

26  cape,  if  we  turn  away  from  Him  that  speaketh  from  heaven.  Whose 
voice  then  shook  the  earth,  but  now  he  hath  promised,  saying,  "  Yet 

27  once  more  only  will  I  shake  not  the  earth  alone,  but  also  heaven  J'  And 
this  "  Yet  once  more  only  "  signifieth  the  removal  of  those  things  that 
are  shaken,  as  being  perishable,  that  the  things  unshaken  may  re- 

28  main  immovable.  Wherefore,  since  we  receive  a  kingdom  that 
cannot  be  shaken,  let  us  be  filled  with  thankfulness ;  whereby  we 

29  may  offer  acceptable  worship  unto  God,  with  reverence  and  godly 
fear.    For  "  our  God  is  a  consuming  fireJ* 

xni. 

1  Let  brotherly  love  continue.    Be  not  forgetful  to  en-  Exhortation  to 

2  tertain  strangers,  for  thereby  some  have  entertained  several  moral 

^      '  ,  duties,  especi- 

3  angels  unawares.    Remember  the  prisoners  as  though  aiiy  to  courage- 

1        1   1    •        •  1   1       m-       T        1    '  profession 

ye  shared  their  prison ;  and  the  afflicted,  as  being  your-  of  ^the^  faith 

4  selves  also  in  the  body.  Let  marriage  be  held  honora-  to  the  leaders 
ble  in  all  things,  and  let  the  marriage-bed  be  undefiled ; 

5  for  whoremongers  and  adulterers  God  will  judge.  Let  your  conduct 
be  free  from  covetousness,  and  be  content  with  what  ye  have ;  for  he 
hath  said,  "  I  will  never  leave  thee  nor  forsake  theeJ'  So  that  we  may 
boldly  say,  "  The  Lord  is  my  helper j  and  I  will  not  fear.  What  can 
man  do  unto  me  ?  " 

7  Eemember  them  that  were  your  leaders,  who  spoke  to  you  the 
word  of  God ;  look  upon  the  end  of  their  life,  and  follow  the  ex- 
ample of  their  faith. 
8,  9  Jesus  Christ  is  the  same  yesterday  and  to-day  and  for  ever.  Be 
not  carried  away  with  manifold  and  strange  doctrines.  For  it  is 
good  that  the  heart  be  established  by  grace ;  not  by  meats,  which 

10  profited  not  them  that  were  occupied  therein.  We  have  an  altar 
whereof  they  that  minister  unto  the  tabernacle  have  no  right  to  eat. 

11  For  the  bodies  of  those  beasts  whose  blood  the  high  priest  bringetli 

12  into  the  holy  place  are  burned  ^^ivithout  the  camp  J*  W^herefore  Jesus 
also,  that  he  might  sanctify  the  people  by  his  own  blood,  suffered 

13  without  the  gate.    Therefore  let  us  go  forth  unto  him   without  the 

14  camp/'  bearing  his  reproach.  For  here  we  have  no  continuing  city, 
but  we  seek  one  to  come. 

15  By  him,  therefore,  let  us  offer  unto  God  continually  a  sacrifice  of 
praise,  that  is,  ^^the  fruit  of  our  lips''  making  confession  unto  his 

16  name.  And  be  not  unmindful  of  benevolence  and  liberality;  for 
Buch  are  the  sacrifices  which  are  acceptable  unto  God. 


EPISTLE  TO  THE  HEBREWS. 


735 


17  Kender  unto  them  that  are  your  leaders  obedience  and  submis- 
sion ;  for  thej  on  their  part  watch  for  the  good  of  your  souls,  as 
those  that  must  give  account ;  that  they  may  keep  their  watch 
with  joy  and  not  with  lamentation ;  for  that  would  be  unprofitable 
for  you. 

18  Pray  for  me ;  for  I  trust  that  I  have  a  good  con-  The  writer  asks 

1     •  .        '        n  1  1.  .  1    1        their  pravers, 

science,  desiring  in  all  my  conduct  to  live  rightly,  gives  them  his 

19  But  I  the  rather  beseech  you  to  do  this,  that  I  may  be  municates  in- 

,  ^  ^,  formation  from 

restored  to  you  the  sooner.  ituiy. 

20  Kow  the  God  of  peace,  who  raised  up  from  the  dead  the  great 
Shepherd  of  the  sheep,^'  even  our  Lord  Jesus,  through  the  blood  of 

21  an  everlasting  covenant, — make  you  perfect  in  every  good  work  to 
do  his  will,  working  in  you  that  which  is  well  pleasing  in  his  sight, 
by  Jesus  Christ.    To  whom  be  glory  for  ever.  Amen. 

22  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  to  bear  w^ith  these  words  of  exhortation  ; 
for  I  have  written  shortly. 

23  Know  that  our  brother  Timotheus  is  set  at  liberty  ;  and  with  him, 
if  he  come  speedily,  I  will  see  you. 

24  Salute  all  them  that  are  your  leaders,  and  all  Christ's  people. 

25  They  of  Italy  salute  you.    Grace  be  with  you  all.  Ameu. 


APPENDIX. 


ON  THE  DATE  OF  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES. 

Before  we  can  fix  the  time  at  which  these  Epistles  were  written 
we  must  take  the  following  data  into  account: 

1.  The  three  Epistles  were  nearly  contemporaneous  with  one 
another.  This  is  proved  by  their  resembling  each  other  in  lan- 
guage, matter,  and  style  of  composition,  and  in  the  state  of  the 
Christian  Church  which  they  describe,  and  by  their  differing  in  all 
these  three  points  from  all  other  Epistles  of  Paul.  Of  course  the 
full  force  of  this  argument  cannot  be  appreciated  by  those  who 
have  not  carefully  studied  these  Epistles,  but  it  is  now  almost 
universally  admitted  by  all  who  have  done  so,  both  by  the  de- 
fenders and  impugners  of  the  authenticity  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles. 
Hence,  if  we  fix  the  date  of  one  of  the  three,  we  fix  approximately 
the  date  of  all. 

2.  They  were  written  after  Paul  became  acquainted  with  ApoUos^ 
and  therefore  after  Paulas  first  visit  to  Ephesus,  (See  Acts  xviii.  24 
and  Tit.  iii.  13.) 

3.  Hence  they  could  not  have  been  written  till  after  the  conclu- 
sion of  that  portion  of  his  life  which  is  related  in  the  Acts,  because 
there  is  no  part  of  his  history  between  his  first  visit  to  Ephesus 
and  his  Eoman  imprisonment  which  satisfies  the  historical  con- 
ditions implied  in  the  statements  of  any  one  of  these  Epistles. 
Various  attempts  have  been  made,  with  different  degrees  of  inge- 
nuity, to  place  the  Epistles  to  Timothy  and  Titus  at  different 
points  in  this  interval  of  time,  but  all  have  failed  even  to  satisfy 
the  conditions  required  for  placing  any  single  Epistle  correctly. 
And  no  one  has  ever  attempted  to  place  all  three  together  at  any 
period  of  PauFs  life  before  the  end  of  his  first  Roman  imprison- 

47  737 


738 


APPENDIX. 


ment,  yet  this  contemporaneousness  of  the  three  Epistles  is,  as  we 
have  seen,  a  necessary  condition  of  the  problem. 

4.  The  Pastoral  Epistles  were  written  not  merely  after  PauPs  first 
Roman  imprisonment,  but  considerably  after  it.  This  is  evident 
from  the  marked  difference  in  their  style  from  the  Epistle  to  the 
Philippians,  which  was  the  last  written  during  that  imprisonment. 
So  great  a  change  of  style  (a  change  not  merely  in  the  use  of  single 
words,  but  in  phrases,  in  modes  of  thought,  and  in  method  of 
composition)  must  require  an  interval  of  certainly  not  less  than 
four  or  five  years  to  account  for  it.  And  even  that  interval  might 
seem  too  short  unless  accompanied  by  circumstances  which  should 
further  explain  the  alteration.  Yet  five  years  of  exhausting  labor, 
great  physical  and  moral  sufferings,  and  bitter  experience  of  human 
nature  might  suffice  to  account  for  the  change. 

5.  The  development  of  church  organization  implied  in  the  Pas- 
toral Epistles  leads  to  the  same  conclusion  as  to  the  lateness  of 
their  date.  The  detailed  rules  for  the  choice  of  presbyters  and 
deacons,  implying  numerous  candidates  for  these  offices,  the  ex- 
clusion of  new  converts  {veh<pvTOL)  from  the  presbyterate,  the  regular 
catalogue  of  church  widows,  are  all  examples  of  this. 

6.  The  heresies  condemned  in  all  three  Epistles  are  likewise  of 
a  nature  which  forbids  the  supposition  of  an  early  date.  They  are 
of  the  same  class  as  those  attacked  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians, 
but  appear  under  a  more  matured  form.  They  are  apparently  the 
same  heresies  which  we  find  condemned  in  other  portions  of  Scrip- 
ture written  in  the  latter  part  of  the  apostolic  age — as,  for  example, 
the  Epistles  of  Peter  and  Jude.  We  trace  distinctly  the  beginnings 
of  the  Gnostic  heresy,  which  broke  out  with  such  destructive  power 
in  the  second  century,  and  of  which  we  have  already  seen  the 
germ  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 

7.  The  preceding  conditions  might  lead  us  to  place  the  Pastoral 
Epistles  at  any  point  after  A. D.  66  (see  Condition  4,  above) — i,€. 
in  the  last  thirty-three  years  of  the  first  century.  But  we  have  a 
limit  assigned  us  in  this  direction  by  a  fact  mentioned  in  the  Epis- 
tles to  Timothy — viz.  that  Timotheus  was  still  a  young  man  (1 
Tim.  iv.  12;  2  Tim.  ii.  22)  when  they  were  written.  We  must  of 
course  understand  this  statement  relatively  to  the  circumstances 
under  which  it  is  used:  Timotheus  was  young  for  the  authority 
entrusted  to  him;  he  was  young  to  exercise  supreme  jurisdiction 
over  all  the  presbyters  (many  of  them  old  men)  of  the  churches 


DATE  OF  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES. 


739 


of  Asia.  According  even  to  modern  notions  (and  much  more  ac- 
cording to  the  feelings  of  antiquity  on  the  subject),  he  would  still 
have  been  very  young  for  such  a  position  at  the  age  of  thirty-five. 
Now,  Timotheus  was  a  youth  still  living  with  his  parents  when 
Paul  first  took  him  in  A.D.  51  (Acts  xvi.  1-3)  as  his  companion. 
From  the  way  in  which  he  is  then  mentioned  (Acts  xvi.  1-3 ; 
compare  2  Tim.  i.  4),  we  cannot  imagine  him  to  have  been  more 
than  seventeen  or  eighteen  at  the  most.  Nor,  again,  could  he  be 
much  younger  than  this,  considering  the  part  he  soon  afterward 
took  in  the  conversion  of  Macedonia  (2  Cor.  i.  19).  Hence  we 
may  suppose  him  to  have  been  eighteen  years  old  in  a.d.  51. 
Consequently,  in  68  (the  last  year  of  Nero)  he  would  be  thirty-five 
years  old. 

8.  If  we  are  to  believe  the  universal  tradition  of  the  early 
Church,  PauFs  martyrdom  occurred  in  the  reign  of  Nero.  Hence 
we  have  another  limit  for  the  date  of  the  Pastoral  Epistles — viz. 
that  it  could  not  have  been  later  than  A.  D.  68,  and  this  agrees 
very  well  with  the  preceding  datum. 

It  will  be  observed  tliat  all  the  above  conditions  are  satisfied  by 
the  hypothesis  adopted  in  Chap.  XXVII.,  that  the  Pastoral  Epis- 
tles were  written,  the  first  two  just  before,  and  the  last  during, 
PauPs  final  imprisonment  at  Rome.  Before  examining  the  details 
which  fix  the  order  of  these  Epistles  amongst  themselves,  we  shall 
briefly  consider  the  arguments  of  those  who  during  the  present 
century  have  denied  the  genuineness  of  these  Epistles  altogether. 
These  objections,  wliich  were  first  suggested  by  Schleiermacher 
(who  rejected  First  Timothy  only),  have  been  recently  supported 
by  Baur  (with  his  usual  unfairness  and  want  of  exegetical  dis- 
crimination) and  (much  more  ably  and  candidly)  by  De  Wette. 
The  chief  causes  assigned  by  these  writers  for  rejecting  the  Epis- 
tles are  as  follows: 

Objection.  Answer. 

1.  The  Pastoral  Epistles  cannot,  on  1.  This  objection  rests  on  the  ar- 
historical  grounds,  be  placed  in  any  bitrary  assumption,  which  we  have 
portion  of  Paul's  life  before  the  end  already  attempted  to  refute  in  Chap, 
of  his  first  Roman  imprisonment,  XXVII.,  that  Paul  was  not  liberated 
from  which  he  was  never  liberated.  from  his  first  imprisonment. 

2.  The  language  is  unlike  that  of  2.  The  change  of  style  is  admitted, 
Paul's  other  Epistles.  but  it  may  be  accounted  for  by  change 

of  circumstances  and  tapse  of  time. 


740 


APPENDIX. 


Objection, 


3.  The  mode  of  composition,  the 
frequent  introduction  of  hortatory 
commonplaces,  and  the  want  of  con- 
nection are  un-Pauline. 


4.  The  Epistles  are  without  a  defi- 
nite object,  or  do  not  keep  that  ob- 
ject consistently  in  view. 


5.  More  importance  is  attached  to 
external  morality  and  to  "  soundness  " 
of  dogmatic  teaching  than  in  Paul's 
other  Epistles. 

6.  More  importance  is  given  to  the 
hierarchical  element  of  the  Church 
than  in  Paul's  other  Epistles. 


Afiswer, 

New  words  very  soon  are  employed 
when  new  ideas  arise  to  require  them. 
The  growth  of  new  heresies,  the  de- 
velopment of  church  organization,  the 
rapid  alteration  of  circumstances  in  a 
great  moral  revolution,  may  fully  ac- 
count for  the  use  of  new  terms  or  for 
the  employment  of  old  terms  in  a  new 
sense.  Moreover,  the  language  of 
letters  to  individual  friends  might  be 
expected  to  differ  somewhat  from  that 
of  public  letters  to  churches. 

3.  The  change  in  these  respects 
(such  as  it  is)  is  exactly  what  we 
might  expect  to  be  caused  by  advan- 
cing age,  the  diminution  of  physical 
vigor,  and  the  partial  failure  of  that 
inexhaustible  energy  which  had  sup- 
ported a  feeble  bodily  frame  through 
years  of  such  varied  trials. 

4.  This  objection  we  have  suffi- 
ciently answered  in  the  preliminary 
remarks  prefixed  to  the  translation  of 
the  several  Epistles.  "We  may  add 
that  De  Wette  fixes  very  arbitrarily  on 
some  one  point  which  he  maintains 
to  be  the  '^object"  of  each  Epistle, 
and  then  complains  that  the  point  so 
selected  is  not  properly  kept  in  view. 
On  such  a  ground  we  might  equally 
reject  the  most  undoubtedly  genuine 
Epistles. 

5.  This  change  is  exactly  what  we 
should  expect  when  the  foundations 
of  Christian  doctrine  and  Christian 
morality  were  attacked  by  heretics. 

6.  This,  again,  is  what  we  should 
have  anticipated  in  Epistles  written 
towards  the  close  of  the  apostolic  age, 
especially  when  addressed  to  an  ec- 
clesiastical officer.  We  know  that  in 
the  succeeding  period  the  Church  was 
(humanly  speaking)  saved  from  de- 
struction by  its  admirable  organiza- 


DATE  OF  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES. 


741 


Objection,  Answer, 

tion,  without  which  it  would  have 
fallen  to  pieces  under  the  disintegra- 
ting influences  which  were  at  work 
within  it.  When  these  influences  first 
began  to  be  powerful  it  was  evidently 
requisite  to  strengthen  the  organiza- 
tion by  which  they  were  to  be  opposed. 
Moreover,  as  the  time  approached 
when  the  apostles  themselves  were  to 
be  withdrawn,  it  was  necessary  to 
take  measures  that  the  element  of 
order  which  their  government  had 
hitherto  supplied  should  not  be  lost  to 
the  Church. 

7.  The  organization  of  the  Church  7.  There  is  nothing  in  the  church 
described  is  too  mature  for  the  date  organization  which  might  not  have 
assigned;  especially,  the  exclusion  of  been  expected  at  the  period  of  68  A.  d. 
veo^vToi  (1  Tim.  iii.  6)  from  the  pres-  in  churches  which  had  existed  fifteen 
byterate  shows  a  long  existence  of  the  years,  or  perhaps  more.  The  Trpeo-jSure- 
Church.  poi  and  fita/corot  are  distinct  orders  as 

early  as  the  Epistle  to  the  Philippians. 
The  ordaining  of  npeapvTepot  in  every 
city  was  a  step  always  taken  by  Paul 
immediately  on  the  foundation  of  a 
Church  (Acts  xiv.  23).  On  the  other 
hand,  there  are  some  points  in  the 
church  organization  described  which 
seem  clearly  to  negative  the  hypothe- 
sis of  a  date  later  than  the  apostolic 
age ;  especially  the  use  of  npetrBvTepoi 
and  eniarKono^  a^  synonymous. 

8.  The  institution  of  an  order  of  8.  The  institution  of  such  an  order 
vndowhood  (1  Tim.  v.  9)  is  not  proba-  (so  far  as  it  is  at  all  implied  in  this 
ble  at  so  early  a  period.  Epistle)  is  nothing  more  than  what 

might  be  expected  to  arise  immedi- 
ately from  the  establishment  of  a  class 
of  widows  supported  by  the  Church 
(as  described  Acts  vi.  1),  such  as  ex- 
isted from  the  very  earliest  period  of 
the  Church.  Baur  (by  a  mere  arbi- 
trary hypothesis)  supposes  that  the 
tcidoios  of  our  Epistle  were  the  same 
with  the  order  of  virgins  (ras  napee- 
vovf  TOLj  Xeyofitvai  x^P^^)  ^8*  Smyrn.  c.  13) 


742 


APPENDIX. 


Objection, 


9.  Timotheus  could  not  have  been 
considered  young  after  Paul's  first  im- 
prisonment. 

10.  The  somewhat  depreciatory 
tone  in  which  Timotheus  is  addressed 
does  not  agree  with  what  we  know  of 
Paul's  great  value  for  him. 


11.  The  Gnostic  heresy  is  plainly 
attacked  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  yet 
it  did  not  exist  till  towards  the  close 
of  the  first  century.  (Baur  adds  that 
the  peculiar  heresy  of  Mavcion  is  dis- 
tinctly attacked  in  First  Timothy,  but 
this  is  allowed  by  De  Wette  to  be  a 
mistake.) 


12.  The  heretics  are  vaguely  de- 
scribed as  future,  yet  occasionally  as 
present,  the  present  and  future  seem- 
ing to  be  blended  together. 


13.  Passages  from  the  other  Pauline 
Epistles  are  interpolated  into  these. 


Answer, 

which  existed  in  the  time  of  Igna- 
tius; whereas  this  very  passage  is  a 
proof  of  the  earlier  date  of  our  Epistle, 
because  the  xnpai  of  First  Timothy  are 
especially  to  be  selected  from  among 
those  who  had  boi-ne  children,  so  that 
no  virgin  would  have  been  admissible. 
9.  This  is  fully  answered  above. 


10.  We  must  remember  that  Paul 
had  witnessed  the  desertion  of  many 
of  his  disciples  and  friends  (2  Tim.  iv. 
10),  and  it  seems  probable  that  Timo- 
theus himself  had  shown  some  reluc- 
tance to  encounter  the  great  danger 
to  which  a  visit  to  Rome  at  the  close 
of  Nero's  reign  would  have  exposed 
every  Christian.  On  the  other  hand, 
what  motive  could  have  induced  a 
forger  to  represent  Timotheus  in  this 
manner? 

11.  It  is  not  the  Gnostic  heresy  in 
its  full  development  which  is  attacked 
in  these  Epistles,  but  the  incipient 
form  of  that  heresy.  We  see  the  germ 
of  it  so  early  as  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Colopsians.  And  even  in  the  Epistles 
to  Corinth  there  was  a  party  which 
prided  itself  in  yvwo-ts  (1  Cor.  viii.  1), 
and  seems  to  have  been  (in  its  denial 
of  the  resurrection,  etc.)  very  similar 
to  the  earl}*  Gnostics,  and  at  least  to 
have  contained  the  germ  of  the  Gen- 
tile element  of  that  heresy. 

12.  This  suits  very  well  with  the 
fact  that  the  Gnostic  heresy  had  as 
yet  only  appeared  in  its  incipient 
form.  Worse  was  still  to  come.  More- 
over, the  same  phenomenon  occurs 
in  the  description  of  the  fivarripiov  rrji 
apofitaq  (2  Thess.  ii.). 

13.  A  writer  very  naturally  ex- 
presses the  same  thoughts  in  the  same 


DATE  OF  THE  PASTOKAL  EPISTLES. 


743 


Objection.  Answer, 

way  by  an  unconscious  self-repetition. 
So  we  have  seen  in  the  Golossians  and 
Ephesians,  and  in  the  Romans  and 
Galatians. 

Having  thus  considered  the  objections  which  have  been  made 
against  the  genuineness  of  these  Epistles,  we  may  add  to  this  nega- 
tive view  of  the  case  the  positive  reasons  which  may  be  given  for 
believing  them  genuine : 

1.  The  external  evidence  of  their  reception  by  the  universal 
Church  is  conclusive.  They  are  distinctly  quoted  by  Irenaeus,  and 
some  of  their  peculiar  expressions  are  employed  in  the  same  sense 
by  Clement,  PauFs  disciple.  They  are  included  in  the  Canon  of 
Muratori  and  in  the  Peschito,  and  are  reckoned  by  Eusebius  among 
the  canonical  Scriptures  universally  acknowledged.  Their  authen- 
ticity was  never  disputed  in  the  early  Church  except  by  Marcion ; 
and  that  single  exception  counts  for  nothing,  because  it  is  well 
known  that  he  rejected  other  portions  of  Scripture,  not  on  grounds 
of  critical  evidence,  but  because  he  was  dissatisfied  with  their 
contents. 

2.  The  opponents  of  the  genuineness  of  these  Epistles  have 
never  been  able  to  suggest  any  sufficient  motive  for  their  forgery. 
Had  they  been  forged  with  a  view  to  refute  the  later  form  of  the 
Gnostic  heresy,  this  design  would  have  been  more  clearly  apparent. 
As  it  is,  the  Epistles  to  the  Colossians  and  Corinthians  might  have 
been  quoted  against  Marcion  or  Valentinus  with  as  much  effect  as 
the  Pastoral  Epistles. 

3.  Their  very  early  date  is  proved,  as  we  have  before  remarked, 
by  the  synonymous  use  of  the  words  TrpeajSvrepog  and  kiriGKOTroQ, 

4.  Their  early  date  also  appears  by  the  expectation  of  our  Lord's 
immediate  coming  (1  Tim.  vi.  14),  which  was  not  entertained  be- 
yond the  close  of  the  apostolic  age.    (See  2  Pet.  iii.  4.) 

5.  Their  genuineness  seems  proved  by  the  manner  in  which 
Timotheus  is  addressed.  How  can  we  imagine  a  forger  of  a  subse- 
quent age  speaking  in  so  disparaging  a  tone  of  so  eminent  a  saint? 

6.  In  the  Epistle  to  Titus  four  persons  are  mentioned  (Artemas, 
Tychicus,  Zenas,  Apollos);  in  1  Tim.  two  are  mentioned  (Hyme- 
n.xus  and  Alexander);  in  2  Tim.  sixteen  are  mentioned  (Erastus, 
Trophimus,  Demas,  Crescens,  Titus,  Mark,  Tychicus,  Carpus,  Onesi- 
phorus,  Prisca,  Aquila,  Luke,  Eubulus,  Claudia,  Pudens,  Linus). 


744 


APPENDIX. 


Now,  supposing  these  Epistles  forged  at  the  time  De  Wette  tsa/.- 
poses — viz.  about  90  A.  D. — is  it  not  certain  that  some  of  these 
numerous  persons  must  have  been  still  alive?  Or,  at  any  rate, 
many  of  their  friends  must  have  been  living.  How,  then,  could 
the  forgery  by  possibility  escape  detection?  If  it  be  said  that 
some  of  the  names  occur  only  in  the  Pastoral  Epistles,  and  may 
have  been  imaginary,  that  does  not  diminish  the  difficulty;  for 
would  it  not  have  much  surprised  the  Church  to  find  a  number  of 
persons  mentioned  in  an  Epistle  of  Paul  from  Eome  whose  very 
names  had  never  been  heard  of? 

7.  De  Wette  himself  discards  Baur's  hypothesis  that  they  were 
written  in  the  middle  of  the  second  century,  and  acknowledges 
that  they  cannot  have  been  written  later  than  about  the  close  of 
the  first  century — i,  e.  about  A.  D.  80  or  90.  Now,  surely,  it  must 
be  acknowledged  that  if  they  could  not  have  been  later  than  80  or 
90,  they  may  well  have  been  as  early  as  A.  D.  70  or  68.  And  this  is 
all  which  is  required  to  establish  their  genuineness. 

Taking  this  point,  therefore,  as  established,  we  come  now  to 
consider  the  order  of  the  three  Epistles  among  themselves: 

1.  FiEST  Timothy.  In  this  we  find  Paul  had  left  Ephesus  for 
Macedonia  (1  Tim.  i.  3),  and  had  left  Timothy  at  Ephesus  to 
counteract  the  erroneous  teaching  of  the  heretics  (iii.  4),  and  he 
hoped  soon  to  return  to  Ephesus  (iii.  14). 

2.  Titus.  Here  we  find  that  Paul  had  lately  left  Crete  (i.  5), 
and  that  he  was  now  about  to  proceed  (iii.  12)  to  Nicopolis  in  Epi- 
rus,  where  he  meant  to  spend  the  approaching  winter.  Whereas 
in  First  Timothy  he  meant  soon  to  be  back  at  Ephesus,  and  he 
was  afterward  at  Miletus  and  Corinth  between  First  and  Second 
Timothy  (otherwise  2  Tim.  iv.  20  would  be  unintelligible).  Hence, 
Titus  must  have  been  written  later  than  First  Timothy. 

3.  Secoi^d  Timothy.  We  have  seen  that  this  Epistle  could  not 
(from  the  internal  evidence  of  its  style  and  close  resemblance  to 
the  other  Pastorals)  have  been  written  in  the  first  Roman  imprison- 
ment. The  same  conclusion  may  be  drawn  also  on  historical 
grounds,  as  Huther  has  well  shown  (p.  23),  where  he  proves  that  it 
could  neither  have  been  written  before  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians 
nor  after  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians,  during  that  imprisonment. 
The  internal  evidence  from  style  and  matter,  however,  is  so  conclu- 
sive that  it  is  needless  to  do  more  than  allude  to  this  quasi  external 
evidence.    In  this  Epistle  we  find  Paul  a  prisoner  in  Rome  (i.  17); 


DATE  OF  THE  PASTORAL  EPISTLES. 


745 


he  has  lately  been  at  Corinth  (iv.  20),  and  since  he  left  Timothy 
(at  Ephesus)  he  has  been  at  Miletus  (iv.  20).  Also  he  has  been, 
not  long  before,  at  Troas  (iv.  13). 

The  facts  thus  mentioned  can  be  best  explained  by  supposing — 
(1)  That  after  writing  First  Timothy  from  Macedonia,  Paul  did, 
as  he  intended,  return  to  Ephesus  by  way  of  Troas,  where  he  left 
the  books,  etc.  mentioned  2  Tim.  iv.  13  with  Carpus ;  (2)  that  from 
Ephesus  he  made  a  short  expedition  to  Crete  and  back,  and  on  his 
return  wrote  to  Titus ;  (3)  that  immediately  after  despatching  this 
letter  he  went  by  Milettts  to  Corinth,  and  thence  to  Nicopolis, 
whence  he  proceeded  to  Eome. 


746 


APPENDIX. 


CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


Biography  of  Paul. 

Contemporary  Events. 

36 

(?)  Paul's  conversion. 

37 

38 

(?)  At  Damascus. 

(?)  Flight  from  Damascus  to  Jerusalem, 
and  thence  to  Tarsus. 

Death  of  Tiberius  and  accession  of 
Caligula  (March  16). 

39 
40 
41 
42 
43 

(?) 
(?) 
(?) 
(?) 
(?)  , 

During  these  years  Paul  preaches 
in  Syria  and  Cilicia,  making 
Tarsus  his  head-quarters,  and 
^     probably  undergoes  most  of  the 
sufferings  mentioned  at  2  Cor. 
xi.  24-26 — viz.  two  of  the  Ro- 
man and  the  five  Jewish  scourg- 
ings  and  three  shipwrecks. 

Death  of  Caligula,  and  accession  of 
Claudius  (Jan,  25).  Judsea  and  Sa- 
maria given  to  Herod  Agrippa  I. 

Invasion  of  Britain  by  Aulus  Plautius. 

44 

45 

He  is  brought  from  Tarsus  to  Antioch 
(Acts  xi.  26),  and  stays  there  a  year 
before  the  famnie. 

He  visits  Jerusalem  with  Barnabas  to 
relieve  the  famine. 

Death  of  Herod  Agrippa  I.  (Acts  xii). 

[See  note  A  below]. 
Cuspius  Fadus  (as  procurator)  succeeds 

to  the  government  of  Judaea. 

46 
47 

At  Antioch. 
At  Antioch. 

Tiberius  Alexander  made  procurator 
of  Judsea  (about  this  time). 

48 

49 
50 

His  "First  Missionary  Journey  **  from 

Antioch  to 
Cyprus,  Antioch  in  Pisidia,  Iconium, 

Lystra,  Derbe, 
and  back  through  the  same  places  to 

Antioch. 

Paul  and  Barnabas  attend  the  **  Council 
of  Jerusalem.'' 

Agrippa  n.  (Acts  XXV.)  made  king  of 
Chalcis. 

Cumanus  made  procurator  of  Judsea 

(about  this  time). 
Caractacus  captured  by  the  Romans 

in  Britain ; 
Cogidunus  (father  of  Claudia  [?],  2 

Tim.  iv.  21)  assists  the  Romans  in 

Britain. 

51 

His  "  Second  Missionary  Journey/* 
from  Antioch  to 
Cilicia,  Lycaonia, 
Galatia, 

55 

Troas,  ^ 

Philippi,Thessalonica,  Beroea, 
Athens,  and 

Corinth — Writes  1  Thess. 

Claudius  expels  the  Jews  from  Rome 
(Acts  xviii.  2). 

CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


747 


A.D. 

Biography  of  Paul. 

Contemporary  Events. 

53 
54 

At  Corinth. — Writes  2  Thess. 

(Spring)*^H6    leaves    Conntlij  snd 

reaches 

(Sumrner)  —  Jenisalein  at  Pentecost^ 
and  thence  goes  to  Antioch. 

(Autumn) — His  **  Third  Missionary 
Journey."    He  goes  to  Ephesus. 

The  tetrarchy  of  Trachonitis  given  to 

Agrippa  II. 
Felix  made  procuiator  of  Judaea. 

Nero  (October  13). 

55 

At  Ephesus. 

56 

At  Ephesus. 

57 

(Spring) — He  writes  1  Cor. 
(Summer) — Leaves  Ephesus  for  Mace- 
donia. 

(Autumn)— Where  he  -writes  2  Cor., 

and  thence 
(Winter) — To   Corinth,    where  ke 

ivrites  GcilcLticitts. 

58 

(Spring)  fJe   ivrites  Rofntms,  and 

leaves  Corinth,  going  by  Philippi 

and  Miletus 
(Summer) — To  Jerusalem  (Pentecost), 

where  he  is  arrested    and  sent  to 

Caesarea. 

59 

At  CiESAREA. 

Nero  murders  Agrippina. 

60 

(Autumn) — Sent  to  Rome  by  Festus, 

(about  August). 
(Winter) — Shipwrecked  at  Malta. 

Felix  is  recalled  and  succeeded  by 
Festus  [see  note  C  below.] 

61 

62 

63 

(Spring) — Pie  arrives  at  Rome. 

At  Rome,           C  PJiilctftoTty 
( S  pri  n  g ) — Writes  <  Co  loss  in  nsy 
i  Ephesians. 

'  (Spring) — He  is  acquitted,  and  goes  to 
Macedonia  (Phil.  ii.  24),  and  Asia 
Minor  (Philem.  xxii). 

Embassy  from  Jerusalem  to  Rome,  to 
petition  about  the  wall  [see  note  C]. 

Albinus  succeeds  Festus  as  procurator. 

Nero  marries  Poppsea. 

Octavia  executed. 

Pailas  put  to  death. 

Poppaea's  daughter  Claudia  bom. 

64 

(?)  He  goes  to  Spain.    [For  this  and 
subsequent  statements  see  Chap.  27.] 

Great  fire  at  Rome  (July  19),  followed 
by  persecution  of  Roman  Christians. 

65 
6<5 

(?)  In  Spain. 

(Summer) — From  Spain  (?)  to  Asia 
Minor  (1  Tim.  i.  3). 

Gessius  Florus  procurator  of  Judasa. 
The  Jewish  war  begins. 

«? 

(Summer) — Writes  1  Tim.  from  Ma- 
cedonia. 

(Autumn) — Writes  Titus (rom  Ephesus. 
(Winter) — At  Nicopolis. 

68 

(Spring)— In  prison  at  Rome.  Writes 
2  7'i?ft. 

(Summer) — Executed  (May  or  June). 

Death  of  Nero  in  the  middle  of  June. 

748 


APPENDIX. 


Note  (A). — Date  of  the  Famine  in  Acts  xi.  28. 

We  find  in  Acts  xi.  28  that  Agabus  prophesied  the  occurrence 
of  a  famine,  and  that  his  prophecy  was  fulfilled  in  the  reign  of 
Claudius;  also  that  the  Christians  of  Antioch  resolved  (aypiaav)  to 
send  relief  to  their  poor  brethren  in  Judsea,  and  that  this  resolu- 
tion was  carried  into  efiect  by  the  hands  of  Barnabas  and  Saul. 
After  relating  this,  Luke  digresses  from  his  narrative  to  describe 
the  then  state  (/car'  eKelvov  t6v  xp^^ov)  of  the  Church  at  Jerusalem 
immediately  before  and  after  the  death  of  Herod  Agrippa  (which 
is  fully  described  Acts  xii.  1-24).  He  then  resumes  the  narrative 
which  he  had  interrupted,  and  tells  us  how  Barnabas  and  Saul 
returned  to  Antioch  after  fulfilling  their  commission  to  Jerusalem 
(Acts  xii.  25). 

From  this  it  would  appear  that  Barnabas  and  Saul  went  up  to 
Jerusalem  to  relieve  the  sufferers  by  famine  soon  after  the  death  of 
Herod  Agrippa  I, 

Now,  Josephus  enables  us  to  fix  Agrippa's  death  very  accurately, 
for  he  tells  us  [Ant  xix.  9,  2)  that  at  the  time  of  his  death  he  had 
reigned  three  full  years  over  the  whole  of  Judsea ;  and  also  [Ant, 
xix.  5,  1)  that  early  in  the  first  year  of  Claudius  (41  A.  D.)  the 
sovereignty  of  Juda3a  was  conferred  on  him.  Hence  his  death 
was  in  A.  D.  44. 

The  famine  appears  to  have  begun  in  the  year  after  his  death,  for 
(1)  Josephus  speaks  of  it  as  having  occurred  during  the  govern- 
ment of  Cuspius  Fadus  and  Tiberius  Alexander  [Ant,  xx.  5,  2). 
Now,  Cuspius  Fadus  was  sent  as  procurator  from  Kome  on  the 
death  of  Agrippa  I.,  and  was  succeeded  by  Tiberius  Alexander ; 
and  both  their  procuratorships  together  only  lasted  from  A.  D.  45 
to  A.  D.  50,  when  Cumanus  succeeded.  (2)  We  find  from  Josephus 
{Ant,  XX.  2,  6 ;  compare  xx.  5,  2)  that  about  the  time  of  the  begin- 
ning of  Fadus's  government  Helena,  queen  of  Adiabene,  a  Jewish 
proselyte,  sent  corn  to  the  relief  of  the  Jews  in  the  famine.  (3)  At 
the  time  of  Herod  Agrippa's  death  it  would  seem  from  Acts  xii. 
20  that  the  famine  could  not  have  begun,  for  the  motive  of  the 
Phoenicians  in  making  peace  was  that  their  country  was  supplied 
with  food  from  Judaea — a  motive  which  could  not  have  acted  while 
Judaea  itself  was  perishing  of  famine. 


NOTES  ON  THE  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE. 


749 


Hence  we  conclude  that  the  journey  of  Barnabas  and  Saul  to 
Jerusalem  with  alms  took  place  in  A.  D.  45. 

Note  (B). 

We  have  remarked  that  the  interval  of  fourteen  years  (Gal.  ii.  1) 
between  the  flight  from  Damascus  and  the  council  of  Jerusalem 
might  be  supposed  to  be  either  fourteen  full  years,  or  thirteen,  or 
even  twelve  years,  Judaically  reckoned.  It  must  not  be  imagined 
that  the  Jews  arbitrarily  called  the  same  interval  of  time  fourteen, 
thirteen,  or  twelve  years,  but  the  denomination  of  the  ioterval  de- 
pended on  the  time  when  it  began  and  ended,  as  follows :  If  it 
began  on  September  1st,  A.  d.  38,  and  ended  October  1st,  A.  D.  50, 
it  would  be  called  fourteen  years,  though  really  only  12  years  and 
one  month,  because  it  begali  before  the  1st  of  Tisri,  and  ended 
after  the  1st  of  Tisri ;  and  as  the  Jewish  civil  year  began  on  the 
1st  of  Tisri,  the  interval  was  contained  in  fourteen  different  civil 
years.  On  the  other  hand,  if  it  began  October  1st,  A.  D.  38,  and 
ended  September  1st,  A.  d.  50,  it  would  only  be  called  twelve  years, 
although  really  only  two  months  less  than  the  former  interval, 
which  was  called  fourteen  years.  Hence,  as  we  do  not  know  the 
'month  of  the  flight  from  Damascus  nor  of  the  council  of  Jerusalem, 
we  are  at  liberty  to  suppose  that  the  interval  between  them  was 
only  a  few  weeks  more  than  twelve  years,  and  therefore  to  suppose 
the  flight  in  A.  d.  38  and  the  council  in  A.  d.  50. 

Note  (0). — On  the  Date  of  the  Eecall  of  Felix. 

We  have  seen  that  Paul  arrived  in  Eome  in  spring  after  winter- 
ing at  Malta,  and  that  he  sailed  from  Judiea  at  the  beginning  of 
the  preceding  autumn^  and  was  at  Fair  Havens  in  Crete  in  October, 
soon  after  the  "  fast,''  which  was  on  the  10th  of  Tisri  (Acts  xxvii. 
9).  He  was  sent  to  Rome  by  Festus  upon  his  appeal  to  Caesar,  and 
his  heariug  before  Festus  had  taken  place  about  a  fortnight  (see 
Acts  xxiv.  27  to  xxv.  1)  after  the  arrival  of  Festus  in  the  prov- 
ince. Hence  the  arrival  of  Festus  (and  consequently  the  depart- 
ure of  Felix)  took  place  in  the  summer  preceding  PauFs  voyage. 

This  is  confirmed  by  Acts  xxiv.  27,  which  tells  us  that  Paul  had 
been  in  prison  two  complete  years  [(keria  nlrjpDdeLorjQ)  at  the  time 


750 


APPENDIX. 


of  Felix's  departure,  for  he  was  imprisoned  at  a  Pentecost ;  there- 
fore Felix's  departure  was  just  after  a  Pentecost. 

We  know,  then,  the  season  of  Felix's  recall — ^viz.  the  summer — 
and  we  must  determine  the  date  of  the  year. 

[a.)  At  the  beginning  of  Paul's  imprisonment  at  Csesarea  (i.  e. 
two  years  before  Felix's  recall)  Felix  had  been  already  (Acts 
xxiv.  10)  "/or  many  years  procurator  of  Judoea^^  {ek  'n-o7i?Mv  etcov  dvra 
KpLTTjv  Tu  edveiTovTo).  " Mauy  years"  could  not  be  less  than  five 
years;  therefore  Felix  had  governed  Judaea  at  least  (5-r2  =  )  7 
years  at  the  time  of  his  recall.  Now,  Felix  was  appointed  pro- 
curator in  the  beginning  of  the  thirteenth  year  of  Claudius 
(Joseph,  Ant  xx.  7,  1,  doSeKarov  erog  rj^rj  TTeTzTiTjpioKCdi:) ;  that  is,  early 
in  the  year  A.  D.  53.  Therefore,  Felix's  recall  could  not  have 
occured  before  A.  D.  (53  +  7  = )  60. 

(/?.)  But  we  can  also  show  that  it  could  not  have  occured  after 
A.  D.  60  by  the  following  arguments : 

1.  Felix  was  followed  to  Eome  by  Jewish  ambassadors,  who 
impeached  him  of  misgovernment.  He  was  saved  from  punish- 
ment by  the  intercession  of  his  brother  Pallas  at  a  time  when 
Pallas  was  in  special  favor  with  Nero  [Joseph,  Ant,  xv.  8,  9).  Now, 
Pallas  was  put  to  death  by  Nero  in  the  year  A.  D.  62 ;  and  it  is 
improbable  that  at  any  part  of  that  or  the  preceding  year  he 
should  have  had  much  influence  with  Nero.  Hence  Felix's 
recall  was  certainly  not  after  A.  D.  62,  and  probably  not  after  A.  D. 
60. 

2.  Burrus  was  living  [Joseph,  Ant,  quoted  by  Wieseler,  p.  83)  at 
the  time  when  Felix's  Jewish  accusers  were  at  Eome.  Now, 
Burrus  died  not  later  than  February,  A.  D.  62.  And  the  Jewish 
ambassadors  could  not  have  reached  Eome  during  the  season  of 
the  Mare  Clausum,  Therefore  they  (and  consequently  Felix)  must 
have  come  to  Eome  not  after  the  autumn  of  A.  D.  61. 

3.  Paul,  on  arriving  at  Eome,  was  delivered  (Acts  xxviii.  16) 
GTparoTreddpx^,  not  rolg  arpaTopedapxdLQ ;  hence  there  was  a  single 

prefect  in  command  of  the  praetorians  at  that  time.  But  this  was 
not  the  case  after  the  death  of  Burrus,  when  Eufus  and  Tigellinus 
were  made  joint  prefects.  Hence  (as  above)  Paul  could  not  have 
arrived  in  Eome  before  A.  D.  61,  and  therefore  Felix's  recall 
(which  was  in  the  year  before  Paul's  arrival  at  Eome)  could  not 
have  been  after  A.  D.  60. 


NOTES  ON  THE  CHRONOLOGICAL  TABLE.  751 

Therefore,  Felix's  recall  has  been  proved  to  be  neither  after  A.  D. 
60  nor  before  A.  D.  60 ;  consequently  it  was  in  A.  d.  60. 

(y.)  This  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  the  following  considera- 
tions : 

1.  Festus  died  in  Judoea,  and  was  succeeded  by  Albinus;  we 
are  not  informed  of  the  duration  of  Festus's  government,  but  we 
have  proved  (a)  that  it  did  not  begin  before  A.  D.  60,  and  we  knov/ 
that  Albinus  was  in  office  in  Judaea  in  the  autumn  of  A.  d.  62  (at 
the  Feast  of  Tabernacles),  and  perhaps  considerably  before  that 
time.  (See  Wieseler,  p.  89.)  Hence  Festus's  arrival  (and  Felix's 
recall)  must  have  been  either  in  60  or  61.  Now,  if  we  suppose  it 
in  61,  we  must  crowd  into  a  space  of  fifteen  months  the  following 
events:  (a)  Festus  represses  disturbances,  (b)  Agrippa  II.  builds 
his  palace  overlooking  the  temple,  (c)  The  Jews  build  their  wall, 
intercepting  his  view,  {d)  They  send  a  deputation  to  Eome  to 
obtain  leave  to  keep  their  wall,  (e)  They  gain  their  suit  at  Rome 
by  the  intercession  of  Poppsea.  (/)  They  return  to  Jerusalem, 
leaving  the  high  priest  Ishmael  as  hostage  at  Rome,  (g)  Agrippa 
on  their  return  nominates  a  new  high  priest  (Joseph),  the  length 
of  whose  tenure  of  office  we  are  not  told,  {h)  Joseph  is  succeeded 
in  the  high  priesthood  by  Ananus,  who  holds  the  office  three 
months,  and  is  displaced  just  before  the  arrival  of  Albinus.  This 
succession  of  events  could  not  have  occurred  between  the  summer 
of  A.  D.  61  and  the  autumn  of  A.  D.  62,  because  the  double  voyage 
of  the  Jewish  embassy,  with  their  residence  in  Rome,  would  alone 
have  occupied  twelve  months.  Hence  we  conclude  that  from  the 
arrival  of  Festus  to  that  of  Albinus  was  a  period  of  not  less  than 
two  years,  and  consequently  that  Festus  arrived  A.  D.  60. 

2.  The  procurators  of  Judaea  were  generally  changed  when  the 
propraetors  of  Syria  were  changed.  (See  Wieseler,  p.  97.)  Now, 
Quadratus  was  succeeded  by  Corbulo  in  Syria  A.  D.  60 ;  hence  we 
might  naturally  expect  Felix  to  be  recalled  in  that  year. 

3.  Paul  was  indalgenthj  treated  (Acts  xxviii.  31)  at  Rome  for  two 
years  after  his  arrival  there.  Now,  he  certainly  would  not  have 
been  treated  indulgently  after  the  Roman  fire  in  (July,  64). 
Hence  his  arrival  was  at  least  not  after  (64  — 2  = )  A.  D.  62.  Conse- 
quently, Felix's  recall  was  certainly  not  after  61. 

4.  After  Nero's  accession  (October  13,  A.  d.  54)  Joscphus  men- 
tions the  following  consecutive  events  as  having  occurred  in 
Judaea:   (a)  Capture  of  the  great  bandit  Eleazar  by  Felix^ 


752 


APPENDIX. 


{b)  Eise  of  the  Sicarii,  (c)  Murder  of  Jonathan  unpunished. 
(d)  Many  pretenders  to  inspiration  or  Messiahship  lead  followers 
into  the  wilderness,  {e)  These  are  dispersed  by  the  Roman  troops. 
(/)  An  Egyptian  rebel  at  the  head  of  a  body  of  Sicarii  excites 
the  most  dangerous  of  all  these  insurrections;  his  followers  are 
defeated,  but  he  himself  escapes.  This  series  of  events  could  not 
well  have  occupied  less  than  three  years,  and  we  should  therefore 
lix  the  insurrection  of  the  Egyptian  not  before  A.  D.  67.  Now, 
when  Paul  was  arrested  in  the  temple  he  was  at  first  mistaken  for 
this  rebel  Egyptian,  who  is  mentioned  as  6  AvyvnToig  6  irpb  tovtcov 
Tcov  ^rjEpQv  avaararGGag  (Acts  xxi.  38) — an  expression  which  would 
very  naturally  be  used  if  the  Egyptian's  insurrection  had  occurred 
in  the  preceding  year.  This  would  again  agree  with  supposing 
the  date  of  Paul's  arrest  to  be  A.  D.  58,  and  therefore  Felix's  recall 
A.  D.  60. 

5.  Paul  (Acts  xviii.  2)  finds  Aquila  and  Priscilla  just  arrived 
at  Corinth  from  Eome,  whence  they  were  banished  by  a  decree 
of  the  emperor  Claudius.  We  do  not  know  the  date  of  this 
decree,  but  it  could  not,  at  the  latest,  have  been  later  than  A.  D.  54, 
in  which  year  Claudius  died.  Now,  the  Acts  gives  us  distinct 
information  that  between  this  first  arrival  at  Corinth  and  Paul's 
arrest  at  Jerusalem  there  were  the  following  intervals  of  time — 
viz. :  from  arriving  at  Corinth  to  reaching  Antioch,  If  years ; 
from  reaching  Ephesus  to  leaving  Ephesus,  2 J  years ;  from  leaving 
Ephesus  to  reaching  Jerusalem,  1  year.  (See  Acts  xviii.,  xix.,  and 
XX.)  These  make  together  5^  years;  but  to  this  must  be  added 
the  time  spent  at  Antioch  and  between  Antioch  and  Ephesus, 
which  is  not  mentioned,  but  which  may  reasonably  be  estimated 
at  i  year.  Thus  we  have  5 J  years  for  the  total  interval.  There- 
fore, the  arrest  of  Paul  at  Jerusalem  was  probably  not  later  than 
(54+5J  = )  A.  D.  59,  and  may  have  been  earlier;  which  agrees  with 
the  result  independently  arrived  at,  that  it  was  actually  in  A.  D. 
58. 

It  is  impossible  for  any  candid  mind  to  go  through  such  investi- 
gations as  these  without  seeing  how  strongly  they  confirm  (by 
innumerable  coincidences)  the  historical  accuracy  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles. 


Of  im 

v^'mmrrv  OF  pjj?*""? 


INDEX. 


A. 

AcAMAS,  promontory  of,  145. 

Achaia,  265;  harbors  of,  339;  pro- 
vince of,  under  the  Romans,  341. 

Acre,  St.  Jean  d',  535. 

Acrocorinthus,  the,  339;  its  import- 
ance, 339;  views  from  its  summit, 
339. 

Acropolis,  the,  291. 
Acts  of  the  Apostles,  125. 
-^gina,  island  of,  285. 
Afium-Karahissar,  232. 
Agabus  the  prophet,  122,  536. 
Agora,  the,  of  Athens,  291. 
Agricola,  25. 

Agrippa,  Herod,  grandson  of  Herod 
the  Great,  119;  his  death,  123. 

Agrippa  II.,  566. 

Aizani,  236,  237. 

Ak-Sher,  232. 

Alban,  Mount,  625. 

Alcibiades,  character  of,  300;  forti- 
fications of,  at  Cos,  533. 

Alexander  the  coppersmith,  436,  437. 

Alexander  the  Great,  19 ;  at  Pam- 
phylia,  153. 

Alexandria,  eminence  of,  591. 

Alexandria  Troas,  238 :  harbor  of,  240. 

Ali  Pasha,  governor  of  Bagdad,  208. 

Alraalee,  in  Lycia,  152. 

Almsgiving  amongst  the  Jews,  71. 

"Altar  of  the  Twelve  Gods"  at 
Athens,  291;  "to  the  Unknown 
God,"  299. 

Amphipolis,  266. 

Amphitheatres  in  Asia  Minor,  516. 
Araplias,  514. 

Arayntas,  king  of  Galatia,  33,  165. 
Ananias,  93. 

Ancyra,  description  of,  233. 
Andrea,  Cape  St.,  131. 
Andriacc,  597. 

Androclus,  founder  of  Ephesus,  428. 
Andronicus,  "  kinsman  "  of  Paul,  573. 
Anemuriura,  cliffs  of,  145. 
Annaeus  Novatus.    See  Gallio. 


Antioch,  117;  Jewish  Christians  in, 
113  ;  description  and  history  of  the 
city,  117,  et  seq. ;  earthquake  and 
famine  in,  121;  a  revelation  at, 
126. 

Antioch  in  Pisidia,  152;  identified 
with  the  modern  town  oi  Jalobatch, 
153;  its  foundation,  154;  called 
Csesarea  by  Augustus,  154. 

Antiochus  Soter,  214. 

Antigonia  Troas.  See  Alexandria 
Troas. 

Antinomianism,  Corinthian,  380. 
Antinomians,  400. 

Antipas,  son  of  Herod  the  Great,  36. 
Anti pater,  35. 
Anti])atris,  231. 
Antonia,  the  fortress,  217. 
Antonine  Itinerary,  265. 
Antoninus  Pius,  306. 
Anxur,  622. 
Apelies,  513. 

Apollo  Patrons,  temple  of,  306. 
Apollonia  identified  by  Mr.  Arundell, 
152. 

Apollonia  on  the  Adriatic,  description 
of,  267. 

Apollos,  369,  385  ;  followers  of,  400. 
Apostles,  Acts  of  the,  125 ;  their  ofiice 

in  the  primitive  Church,  355. 
Apostles  and  elders,  letter  of  the,  to 

the  Christians  of  Antioch,  193. 
Apostolic  Church,  the,  70. 
Appian  Way,  621. 
Appii  Forum,  624. 

Appendix:  I.  On  the  Date  of  the 
Pastoral  Epistles,  737;  II.  Chrono- 
logical Table,  746. 

Aquila,  31»,  320,  342. 

Aquila,  the  translator  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament into  Greek,  319. 

Arabia,  the  word,  96. 

Aram,  43. 

Aramaean  Jews,  43. 
Araunah,  threshing-floor  of,  548. 
Archelaus,  son  of  Herod,  36 ;  his  ban- 
ishment, 59. 


48 


753 


754 


INDEX. 


Archelaus,  king  of  Cappadocia,  215. 
Archippus,  392. 

Areopagus,  287,  291 ;  description  of 
the,  310. 

Aretas,  king  of  Petra,  83. 

Arethusa,  Pass  of,  267. 

Argaeus,  Mount,  165. 

Argo,  the  ship,  340. 

Aricia,  town  of,  625. 

Aristarchus,  593. 

Aristobulus,  513. 

Aristotle,  295. 

Artemio,  131. 

Artemisian  festival,  435. 

/Irtemision,  the  Greek  month,  435. 

A-sia,  the  word  as  used  by  the  ancients, 
540,  et  seq. 

Asia  Minor,  robbers  in,  148;  "water- 
floods"  of,  149;  caravans  in,  150; 
table-lands  of,  152;  political  divis- 
ions of,  206. 

Asiarchs,  the  435. 

Aspendus,  146. 

"Assemblies  of  the  Wise,"  64. 
Assize-towns  of  the  Romans,  84. 
Assos,  238 ;  notice  of,  522. 
Asycritus,  513. 

Athenian  religion,  notice  of  the,  298. 
Athenodorus,  104. 

Athens,  compared  with  Corinth,  316; 
scenery  around,  287 ;  description 
of  the  city  of,  291,  et  seq.;  its 
"carefulness  in  religion,"  298;  pa- 
ganism of,  compared  with  Chris- 
tianity, 314. 

Athos,  Mount,  241,  243,  264,  284. 

Attaleia,  Bay  of,  145;  toAvn  of,  147; 
history  and  description  of,  174. 

Attalus  Philadelphus,  147. 

Attalus  III.,  king  of  Pergamus,  210. 

Attica,  description  of,  287. 

"Augustan  Band,"  the,  36. 

Augustine  on  the  names  "Saulus" 
and  "Paulus,"  139. 

Aulon,  Pass  of,  207. 

Avernus,  Lacus,  290. 

Axius  River,  264. 

B. 

Balse,  290. 

Balaamites.    See  Nicolaitans. 

Barjesus  the  sorcerer,  136. 

Barnabas  at  Antioch,  106 ;  accom- 
panies Paul  to  Jerusalem  with  con- 
tribution-money in  time  of  famine, 
122 ;  becomes  one  of  the  teachers 
at  Antioch,  125 ;  departs  for  Cyprus, 


127 ;  arrives  at  Seleucia,  129 ;  at  Sa- 
lamis,  129;  at  Paphos,  130  ;  brought 
before  Sergius  Paulus,  132 ;  visits 
Pamphylia,  144;  arrives  at  Perga, 
147 ;  at  the  table-land  of  Asia  Mi- 
nor, 152;  reaches  Antioch  in  Pisi- 
dia,  156;  accompanies  Paul  to  the 
synagogue  there,  156;  expelled 
from  the  city,  161;  journeys  to- 
wards Lycaonia,  161 ;  reaches  Ico- 
nium,  162;  flies  from  a  conspiracy 
of  the  Iconians  to  destroy  him, 
164;  reaches  Lystra,  165;  goes  to 
Derl3e,  172;  turns  back  and  revisits 
Lystra,  Iconium,  and  Antioch,  173 ; 
reaches  Perga,  174;  accompanies 
Paul  to  Jerusalem,  184;  arrives 
there,  186 ;  his  address  to  the  Chris- 
tian conference  at  Jerusalem,  188; 
returns  to  Antioch,  192 ;  quarrels 
with  and  separates  from  Paul,  218  : 
his  subsequent  life,  219. 
Basil,  306. 

Basilicas,  the  Pauline,  702. 

Baris,  651. 

Benjamin,  lot  of,  58. 

Berenice,  34,  215,  581. 

Bercea,  description  of,  281. 

Bethsaida,  city  of,  60. 

Bethesda,  Pool  of,  552. 

Bin-bir-Kilisseh,  165. 

Bishop,  office   of,  in  the  primitive 

Church,  360. 
Bithynia,  description  of,  210. 
Bovillse,  626. 

Buldur,  marble  road  at,  157;  Lake  of, 
152. 

Burrus,  the  praetorian  prefect,  299. 

o. 

Cabbala,  the,  44. 
Capua,  623. 
Caesar,  J.,  136. 

C^sarea,  35,  36, 112 ;  its  theatre,  123  j 

description  of  the  city,  571. 
Caius  or  Gaius,  329. 
Caligula,  84,  108. 
Campagna  of  Rome,  626. 
Campanian  Way,  622. 
Candace,  Queen,  29. 
Cappadocia,  description  of,  215. 
Caprese,  island  of,  617. 
Casilinum,  623. 
Casius,  Mount,  130. 
Catarrhactcs  River,  145. 
Cayster  River,  390. 
Caystrian  meadows,  428. 


INDEX. 


755 


Cenchreae,  288  ;  notice  of,  345. 
Cephisus  River,  289,  295,  318. 
Ceramicus,  the,  at  Athens,  295. 
Ceres,  temple  of,  at  Athens,  291. 
Cerinthus,  his  doctrines,  379. 
Cerenitis,  Lake,  266. 
Cestrus  River,  145. 

Charity  amongst  the  early  Christians, 
124. 

Chiefs  of  Asia,''  436. 

Chios,  390,  523. 

Chittim,  142. 

Chloe,  family  of,  433. 

Chrestus,  318. 

Chrysorrhoas  River,  89. 

Chrysostom,  John,  234. 

Christianity  and  Judaism,  39,  40. 

Christianity,  dissemination  of,  in  An- 
tioch  in  Pisidia,  160 ;  compared 
with  Greek  philosophy,  303 ;  its 
foundation  in  Achaia,  388  ;  in  Rome, 
founder  of,  not  known,  488. 
Christians,"  the  name  when  first 
used,  115;  extract  from  William  of 
Tyre  respecting,  116. 

Church,  the  apostolic,  70 ;  charity  of 
its  members,  71 ;  first  aspect  of  the, 
71  ;  formation  of  the  first,  of  united 
Jews  and  Gentiles,  160  ;  controversy 
in  the,  177 ;  great  conference  of  the 
apostles  and  elders  of  the,  at  Jeru- 
salem, 187,'  its  decrees,  189;  foun- 
dation of  the,  in  Macedonia,  249  ; 
constitution  of  the  primitive,  354, 
355,  et  seq. ;  ordinances  of  the,  359  ; 
festivals  of  the,  362 ;  divisions  of 
the,  363 ;  heresies  in  the,  363,  364. 

Church  of  Philippi,  401  ;  veneration 
of,  for  Paul,  401  ;  its  liberality  to 
the  apostle,  444,  464. 

Church  of  Tyre,  534. 

Church,  the  Roman,  633. 

Cibyra,  "the  Birmingham  of  Asia 
Minor,"  152. 

Cicero,  24 ;  as  governor  of  Cilicia,  33 ; 
at  Athens,  296. 

Cilicia,  24;  Rough  Cilicia,  30;  Flat 
Cilicia^  31;  as  a  Roman  province, 
32;  under  Cicero,  33;  description 
of,  216. 

"Cilician  Gates,"  the,  173. 

'^Cilicium"  tents,  53,  152. 

Cimon,  statue  of,  291. 

Ciraon  of  Athens,  his  victory  over  the 
Persians  at  Plateea  and  Salamis, 
146. 

Citheeron,  hills  of,  286. 


Claudia,  704. 

Claudius  Lysias,  220;  letter  of,  to 

Felix,  232. 
Claudius  the  emperor,  456,  457;  his 

edict  banishing  the  J ews  from  Rome, 

645. 

Cnidus,  notice  of,  529,  598. 

Colossians,  Epistle  to  the,  644. 

Colossus  at  Rhodes,  the,  529. 

Colonna,  Cape,  286,  287. 

Colony,  constitution  of  a  Roman,  246. 

Commerce,  Roman,  590. 

Conference,  great,  of  the  apostles  and 
elders  at  Jerusalem,  187. 

Constantia,  132. 

Consular  Way,  622. 

Contributions  for  poor  Jewish  Chris- 
tians, 461,  487. 

Converts  in  the  household  of  Nero, 
675. 

Coracesium,  cliffs  of,  145. 

Coressus  Mountains,  428. 

Corinth,  288,  316,  317,  339;  its  early 
history,  339 ;  under  the  Romans, 
340 ;  its  destruction  by  Mummius, 
341 ;  re-establishment  of  the  import- 
ance of  the  city  under  Julius  Caesar, 
342 ;  tumult  at,  344. 

Corinthian  Church,  state  of,  in  time 
of  Paul,  486 ;  its  subsequent  cha- 
racter, 486,  399. 

Corinthians,  First  Epistle  to  the,  445  ; 
Second,  447. 

Corinthians,  licentiousness  of  the,  397. 

Cornelius,  105,  115;  conversion  of, 
111,  112. 

Corn-vessels  of  Egypt,  391. 

Cos,  island  of,  527. 

Council-house  of  Athens,  293. 

Cragus,  Mount,  196. 

Crassus,  136. 

Crescens,  698. 

Crispus,  ruler  of  the  synagogue," 
329. 

Croesus  and  the  "  Ephesian  Letters," 

392. 
Cumse,  619. 
Cusj)ius  Fadus,  556. 
Cydnus,  the  river,  32,  54. 
Cyprus,  27,  113,  114,  127;  as  a  Ro-- 

man  province,  132,  133;  history  of, 

142. 

D. 

Dalmatia,  121. 

Damaris,  the  female  convert  at  Ath- 
ens, 314. 


756 


INDEX. 


Damascus,  84;  roads  from,  to  Jerusa- 
lem, 85  ;  history  of,  87. 
Daphne,  120. 

Deiotarus,  king  of  Galatia,  199. 
Delos,  slave-trade  of,  30. 
Demas,  639. 

Demetrius  and  the  silversmiths,  86. 
Deuioniao  slave,  the,  at  Philippi,  252. 
Demoniacs,  the,  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, 251. 
Demosthenes,  statue  of,  291. 
Deuius,  the,  of  Thessalonica,  277. 
Denarius,  silver,  12. 
Derbe,  city  of,  165,  172,  222,  225. 
"  DeviP'  and    daemon,"  251. 
Dicgearchia,  619. 

Diana,  temple  of,  at  Perga,  146 ;  statue 

of,  by  Praxiteles,  294. 
Diana  of  Ephesus,  worship  of,  392; 

temple  of  Ephesus,  429 ;  worship 

of,  531. 
Dinocrates,  19. 

Dionysius,  the  convert  at  Athens,  314. 
Dium,  283. 

Drepanum,  promontory  of,  145. 
Drusiila,  wife  of  Eelix,  575. 

B. 

Easter,  521. 

Ebionites,  the,  380. 

Egnatia,  Via,  265. 

Egyptian  corn-vessels,  591. 

Elder,  the  name,  356. 

Elogium,  18. 

Elymas  Barjesus,  136. 

Epaenetus,^^  the  first-fruits  of  Achaia," 
328,  513. 

Epaphras,  392,  640,  644. 

Epaphroditus,  668,  670,  676. 

"  Ephesian  Letters,""  392. 

Ephesian  magic,  392. 

Ephesians,  Epistle  to  the,  652 ;  paral- 
lelism between  it  and  the  Epistle 
to  the  Colossians,  659. 

Ephesus,  its  geographical  position, 
390  ;  description  of,  427 ;  its  nat- 
ural advantages,  428 ;  foundation 
of  the  city,  428  ;  its  present  appear- 
ance, 428:  its  celebrated  temple, 
430  :  political  constitution  of,  433 ; 
tumult  in  the  city,  437,  438 ;  speech 
of  the  town-clerk,  438. 

Ephraim,  hills  of,  563. 

Epi^^tles  of  Paui :  First  Epistle  to 
the  Thessalonians,  321 ;  Second 
Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians,  331  ; 
First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 


402 ;  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinth- 
ians, 447  ;  Epistle  to  the  Galatians, 
128 ;  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  143 ; 
Epistle  to  Philemon,  313,-  to  the 
Colossians,  317;  to  the  Ephesians, 
328  ;  to  the  Philippians,  347 ;  First 
Epistle  to  Timotheus,  589;  Second 
to  Timotheus,  705 ;  Epistle  to  the 
Hebrews,  714. 

Epistles,  Pastoral,  on  the  date  of  the, 
737. 

EpipolsB,  616. 

Epictetus,  philosophy  of,  306. 

Epicureans,  their  philosophy,  303. 

Epicurus,  garden  of,  296. 

Epon3^mi,  the,  292. 

Erastus,  395,  514. 

Erectheium,  the,  295. 

Essenes,  the,  42. 

Eski-Karahissar,  232. 

Etesian  winds,  589. 

Euboea,  island  of,  614. 

Eunice,  mother  of  Timotheus,  172. 

Euodia,  670. 

Euroclydon,  the,  603. 

Eurymedon  River,  145,  146. 

Eutychus  restored  to  life  by  Paul,  617. 

Exorcists,  Jewish,  394. 

Eyerdir,  Lake  of,  152. 

F. 

Fair  Havens,  590. 
Famagousta,  131 . 

Felix,  568 ;  summoned  to  Rome,  577. 
Fellows,  Sir  C,  on  places  in  Lycia 

and  Asia  Minor  visited  by  Paul, 

288,  et  seq. 
Festivals  of  the  primitive  Church, 

362. 
Festus,  579. 
Formiie,  623. 
Fundi,  plain  of,  621. 
Furies,  sanctuary  of  the,  292. 

a. 

Gaggitas  River,  249. 

Gaius  or  Caius,  278,  513. 

Galatia,  description  of,  212;  founda- 
tion of,  214. 

Galatians,  Epistle  to  the,  475:  note 
on  the  chronology  of  the,  197. 

Galen,  135. 

Gallesus,  precipices  of,  428. 

Galli,  the,  of  Galatia,  234. 

Gallio,  originally  called  Annseus  No- 

vatus,  proconsul  of  Achaia,  342. 
Gamaliel,  61. 


INDEX. 


757 


Games  of  Asia  and  Ephesus,  435. 

Gate  of  St.  Stephen,  77. 

Gauls,  settlement  of  the,  in  Asia,  212. 

Gazith,  or  the  "  Stone  Chamber,"  74. 

Gentiles  at  the  synagogue  of  Antioch 
in  Pisidia,  159 ;  addressed  by  Paul, 
159;  their  reception  of  the  word  of 
God,  160;  religiously  and  socially 
separated  from  the  Jews,  178. 

Gibea,  58. 

Gilboa,  Mount,  58. 

Gnosticism,  371,  et  seq. 

Gophna,  563. 

Gospel  first  preached  in  Europe,  249. 
"  Grecians,"  44. 

Greek  tongue,  25 ;  a  theological  lan- 
guage, 25 ;  its  universal  spread 
among  the  educated  classes,  25. 

Greeks,  the,  18  ;  social  condition  of,  21. 

Grego,  Cape,  130. 

Gregory  Nazianzene,  306. 

Grotius  on  the  names  "Saulus"  and 
"  Paulus,"  139. 

H. 

Haemus,  Mount,  227. 
Haliacmon  River,  339. 
Hannibal  in  the  fleet  of  Antiochus, 
16^. 

Ilarmodius  and  Aristogeiton,  statues 
of,  392. 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to  the,  its  author- 
ship, 725,  727  ;  its  readers,  725  ;  its 
object,  728 ;  text  of  Epistle,  728. 

Helena,  mother  of  King  Izates,  121. 

Hellenist  Jews,  43. 

Heresies  in  the  primitive  Church,  368, 
369 ;  in  the  later  apostolic  Church, 
378. 

Hermas,  573. 

Hermes,  573. 

Hermon,  Mount,  86. 

Herraus  River,  237. 

Herod  Agrippa  I.,  36,  109. 

Herod  Agrippa  II.,  566. 

Herod  Antipas,  83. 

Herodion,  513. 

Herod,  king  of  Chalcis,  568. 

Herod  the  Great,  35 ;  interview  with 
Augustus,  35 ;  death  of,  59. 

Horoflians,  the,  42. 

Herod's  theatre  and  amphitheatre, 
516. 

Ilerostratus,  429. 
Hillel,  Jewish  school  of,  61,  62. 
Hospitality,  Christian,  207,  208. 
Hymottus,  Mount,  287. 


I. 

Iconium  (modern  Konieh),  162;  its 

history,  162. 
Ilissus  River,  289. 
Imbros,  island  of,  286. 
Illyricum,  265;  Greek,  468;  Roman, 

121. 

Informers  at  Rome,  700. 
Isauria,  30. 
Isaurian  robbers,  148. 
Isthmian  Games,  515. 
Isthmus,  notice  of  the,  658. 
"  Italian  Band,"  the,  36. 
^'Italian  Cohort,"  the,  of  Cornelius, 
113. 

Italy,  misery  of,  during  Rome^s  splen- 
dor, 24. 

Izates,  king  of  Adiabene,  29,  121. 
J. 

Jacob's  Well,  86. 
James,  122. 

James  the  Just,  189;  his  address  to 
the  conference  of  Christians  at  Je- 
rusalem, 189,  209. 

Jason,  269 ;  513. 

Jebel-el-Akrab,  130. 

Jerusalem,  state  of,  under  the  Ro- 
mans, 60 ;  conference  at,  between 
the  Christians  and  the  Pharisaic 
Christians,  187. 

Jewish  exorcists,  394. 

Jewish  mode  of  teaching,  63. 

Jewish  names,  history  of,  138. 

Jewish  spiritual  pride  and  exclusive 
bigotry,  159. 

Jews,  language  spoken  by,  at  the 
period  of  the  apostles,  12 ;  relig- 
ious civilization  of  the,  13;  influ- 
ence of,  on  the  heathen  world,  17 ; 
their  dispersion,  26;  colony  of,  in 
Babylonia,  26  ;  in  Lydia  and  Phry- 
gia,  27  ;  in  Africa,  27 ;  in  Alexan- 
dria, 27 ;  in  Europe,  28  ;  in  Rome, 
28 ;  their  proselytes,  28 ;  forcibly 
incorporated  with  aliens,  29;  Jews 
in  Arabia,  29 ;  in  the  east  of  the 
Mediterranean,  29;  Jewish  sects, 
40;  Jews  not  unfrequcntly  Roman 
citizens,  52  ;  state  of  the  Jews  after 
the  death  of  Herod,  61 ;  mode  of 
teaching  amongst,  63 ;  almsgiving 
amongst,  70,  71 :  numerous  in  Sal- 
amis,  131  ;  insurrection  of,  at  Sal- 
amis,  131 ;  synagogue  of,  at  Anti- 
och in  Pisidia,  155 ;  their  spiritual 


/68 


INDEX. 


pride  and  exclusive  bigotry,  159; 
intrigues  of  Judaizers  at  Antioch, 
183 ;  their  influential  position  at 
Thessalonica,  271 ;  colony  of,  at 
Beroea,  281;  in  Athens,  298;  in 
great  numbers  in  Athens,  317; 
banished  from  Rome  b^^  command 
of  the  emperor  Claudius,  317; 
colonies  of,  in  Asia  Minor,  318, 
319;  their  charges  againt  Paul  at 
Corinth,  343 ;  Jews  at  Ephesus, 
347  ;  their  irritation  at  the  progress 
of  Christianity,  517;  their  conspir- 
acy to  take  the  life  of  Paul  in  the 
isthmus,  175;  their  hatred  of  the 
Rom.an  soldiers  at  Jerusalem,  219  ; 
their  indignation  at  the  appear- 
ance of  Paul  in  the  temple,  213; 
slaughter  of  Jews  in  the  streets 
of  Caesarea,  239 ;  Jews  in  Rome, 
303. 

John  at  Ephesus,  440. 
John  the  Baptist,  385 ;  disciples  of, 
385. 

John,  122;  bis  meeting  with  Paul, 
191. 

John,  "whose  surname  was  Mark," 
124,  145;  leaves  Paul  and  Barna- 
bas and  returns  to  Jerusalem,  147, 
193,  194. 

Jonathan  the  high  priest,  568. 

Joppa,  33. 

Joses,  the  Levite  of  Cyprus,  114. 

Judaizers  generally,  266. 

Judaea,  history  of,  234 ;  geographical 
position  of,  15;  notices  of,  29;  po- 
litical changes  in,  35 ;  state  of,  59. 

Judas,  192,  194. 

Julia.  169. 

Julias,  city  of,  60. 

Julius,  the  centurion,  570. 

Junias,  "kinsman"  of  Paul,  513. 

Justus,  328. 

K. 

Kara-dagh,  or  Black  Mountain,  129. 
Kara-dagh,  view  of,  225. 
"  Keys,  the,"  131. 
Kiutayo.    See  CotysQum. 
Konieh.    8ee  Iconium. 

L. 

Ladik,  232. 

Laodicea,  Church  of,  323. 
Lasaea,  267. 
Latmus,  Mount,  191. 
Lebanon,  30. 


Lectum,  Cape,  521. 
Legions,  Roman,  237. 
Lcmnos,  242. 

Leonor,  the  Gaulish  chieftain,  213. 
Libertines,  synagogue  of  the,  71. 
Limyra,  Grreek  tablets  at,  151. 
Linus,  704. 
Liris  River,  623. 

Lois,  grandmother  of  Timotheus,  172, 

Longinus,  governor  of  Syria,  553. 

"  Long  Walls  "  of  Athens,  289. 

Lucius  of  Gyrene,  125. 

Lucrine  Lake,  oyster-beds  of,  618. 

Luke,  his  meeting  with  Paul,  Silas, 
and  Timotheus  at  Alexandria 
Troas,  241;  they  sail  from  Troas, 
242 ;  arrive  at  Samothrace,  243 ; 
reach  Philippi,  245  ;  left  behind  at 
Philippi,  261;  visited  by  Paul  at 
Philippi,  176;  they  both  sail  from 
Philippi  and  arrive  at  Troas,  178 ; 
leaves  Troas  and  arrives  at  Assos, 
181;  at  Miletus,  187;  at  Patara, 
196  ;  at  Tyre,  198  ;  at  Caesarea,  202 ; 
at  Jerusalem,  207 ;  writes  his  Gos- 
pel, 244;  accompanies  Paul  from 
Caesarea  to  Rome,  285 ;  remains 
with  him  till  the  death  of  Paul, 
594-710. 

Lutar,  the  Gaulish  chieftain,  213. 
Lycabettus,  287. 
Lyceum,  the,  295. 
Lydia,  172. 

Lydia,  her  profession  of  faith  and 

baptism,  249. 
Lycaonia,  242. 

Lystra,  city  of,  165 :  visited  by  Paul, 
166. 

M. 

Macedonia  Prima,  264;  Secunda, 
264. 

Macedonians,  liberality  of  the,  463. 
Masander,  valley  of  the,  154. 
Magicians,  Oriental,  136. 
Malea,  Cape,  339. 

Manaen,  foster-brother  of  Herc^d  An- 

tipas,  125,  126. 
Marathon,  286. 
Marius,  136. 

Mark,  John.    See  John  Mark. 

Martyn,  Henry,  234. 

Mary,  169. 

Massicus  Hills,  623. 

Megabyzi,  or  priests  of  Diana,  80. 

Melissae,  or  priestesses  of  Diana,  81. 

Melita,  282,  284. 


INDEX. 


759 


Mercurius  Propylaeus,  294. 
Mesogoea,  region  of  the,  287. 
Messogis,  74. 

Milestone,  the  Golden,  622. 
Miletus,  390. 

Minerva  Promachus,  288,  291;  statue 
of,  295. 

Minerva  Hjgieia,  statue  of,  294. 
Minturnae,  294. 

Mithridates,  king  of  Pontus,  215. 
Mitylene,  notice  of,  521. 
**Mnason  of  Cyprus,"  114,  537. 
Mummius,  341. 
Munychia,  height  of  the,  289. 
Muratori's  Canon,  G79. 
Museum  of  Athens,  the,  287. 
Mycale,  523. 
Myra,  597. 

Mysia,  description  of,  326. 

N. 

Narcissus,  513. 

Navigation  of  the  ancients,  586,  et  seq. 
"  Nazarenes,"  116. 

Nazarites,  the,  346 ;   the  four,  543 ; 

vow  of,  546. 
Neapolis,  or  Nablous,  85. 
Neapolis  of  Macedonia,  244. 
Nec6/copo5,  432. 
Nereus,  513. 

Nero,  his  marriage  with  Poppaea,  669. 
Nero,  683. 

Neptune,  his  statue  at  Athens,  291. 
Nestor,  tutor  of  Tiberius,  105. 
"  Nicholas  of  Antioch,"  29. 
Nicholas,  264. 

Nicolaitans  or  Balaamites,  379. 
Nicomedes  III.,  king  of  Bithynia, 
211. 

Nicopolis  in  Epirus,  698. 
Nicosia,  131. 

Note  on  certain  legends  connected 
with  Paul's  death,  711 ;  on  the  her- 
esies of  the  latter  apostolic  age, 
378;  on  the  parallelism  between 
the  Epistles  to  the  Colossians  and 
the  Ephesians,  660. 

Nymphs  of  the  Demus,  293. 

o. 

Oleander,  the,  in  the  Levant,  150. 
Olivos,  Mount  of,  551. 
Olympas,  513. 
Olympus,  Mount,  264. 
Onesimus  the  siave  640. 
Onesiphorus,  703 
Onkelos,  63. 


Orontes,  valley  of  the,  30 ;  the  river, 

101;  description  of  the,  128. 
Ortygia,  616. 

Overseer,  office  of,  in  the  primitive 
Church,  356. 

P. 

Pactyas,  Mount,  428. 

"  Painted  Porch,''  the,  630. 

Palatine,  the,  666. 

Pallas,  death  of,  670. 

Pamphylia,  145 ;  Sea  of,  145. 

Pamphylia,  description  of,  211. 

Panggeus,  Mount,  244. 

Paphos,  132;  New,  history  of,  143, 

et  seq  ;  Old,  143. 
Parnes,  hills  of,  287. 
Paroreia,  in  Phrygia,  153. 
Parthenon,  the,  at  Athens,  295. 
Patara,  harbor  of,  531. 
Patrobas,  513. 

Paul,  a  Pharisee,  42 ;  language  of  his 
infancy,  13;  his  childhood  at  Tar- 
sus, 44;  his  descent  from  Benjamin, 
50;  his  early  education,  42-49; 
period  of  his  birth,  51 ;  his  station 
in  life,  53 ;  his  boyhood,  55 ;  sent 
to  Jerusalem,  57 ;  his  study  there, 
67;  his  early  manhood,  68;  his 
taste  for  Greek  literature,  70;  his 
presence  at  the  death  of  Stephen, 
77;  his  persecution  of  the  Chris- 
tians, 80  ;  his  journey  to  Damascus, 
84;  importance  of  his  conversion, 
90 ;  vision  of  Jesus  Christ,  91 ;  his 
call,  92;  his  blindness,  93;  his  re- 
covery of  sight,  95 ;  his  baptism, 
95  ;  his  journey  into  Arabia  Petraea, 
96;  his  return  to  Damascus,  99; 
conspiracy  to  assassinate  him,  100; 
his  escape,  100  ;  his  return  to  Jeru- 
salem, 101 ;  his  meeting  with  the 
apostles,  102  ;  he  withdraws  to  Syr- 
ia and  Cilicia,  104;  travels  with 
Barnabas  to  Antioch,  115;  carries 
the  contribution-money  from  An- 
tioch to  Jerusalem  in  time  of  fa- 
mine, 122  ;  departs  for  Cyprus,  127; 
arrives  at  Seleucia,  130  ;  at  Salamis, 
130;  at  Paphos,  132;  his  denun- 
ciation of  Elymas  Barjesus,  137; 
his  name  changed  to  Paul,  137; 
visits  Pamphylia,  144;  arrives  at 
Perga,  146  ;  journeys  to  the  table- 
land of  Asia  Minor,  152;  reaches 
Antioch  in  Pisidia,  156;  his  addresa 


760 


INDEX. 


to  the  Jews  in  the  synagogue  there, 
157;  impression  made  on  his  hear- 
ers, 159;  scene  on  the  following 
sabbath,  159 ;  expelled  from  the 
synagogue,  159;  turns  from  the 
Jews  and  preaches  to  the  Gentiles, 
159 ;  journeys  toward  Lycaonia, 
161 ;  arrives  at  Iconium,  162 ;  es- 
capes from  a  conspiracy  to  crush 
him,  164;  reaches  Lystra,  165;  his 
miracle  there,  167 ;  worship  offered 
to  him,  168 ;  his  address  to  the 
Lystrians,  169  ;  stoned  in  the  city, 
171 ;  recovers  from  apparent  death, 
172  ;  travels  to  Derbe,  172  ;  revisits 
Lystra,  Iconium,  and  Antioch,  173; 
reaches  Perga,  174;  travels  to  Je- 
rusalem, 184;  his  companions  on 
the  journey,  184;  his  ari'ival  at  the 
Holy  City,  186 ;  his  address  to  the 
conference  of  Christians  in  Jeru- 
salem, 188  ;  public  recognition  of 
his  mission  to  the  heathen,  191 ;  his 
meeting  with  John,  191 ;  returns  to 
Antioch,  192 ;  rebukes  Peter  for 
his  weak  conduct,  195 ;  Paul's  per- 
sonal appearance,  195  ;  Peter's  rec- 
onciliation with  him,  196 ;  he  pro- 
poses to  Barnabas  to  visit  the 
churches,  200  ;  quarrels  and  sepa- 
rates from  Barnabas,  217,  218; 
takes  Silas  with  him  into  Cilicia, 
220 ;  takes  Timotheus  into  com- 
panionship, 227;  reaches  Iconium, 
230  ;  journeys  through  Phrygia, 
232 ;  arrives  at  Galatia,  234 :  his 
sickness,  234 ;  his  reception  there, 
235  ;  journeys  to  the  ^Egean,  237  ; 
arrives  at  Alexandria  Troas,  240 ; 
is  joined  by  Luke  at  Troas,  241 ; 
they  sail  from  Troas,  242  ;  arrive  at 
Samothrace,  243 ;  reach  Philippi, 
245  ;  Paul  preaches  the  gospel  for 
the  first  time  in  Europe,  249  ;  the 
demoniac  slave,  252  ;  Paul  scourged 
and  cast  into  prison,  254 ;  his  con- 
version of  the  jailer,  257  ;  released 
from  prison,  260  ;  leaves  Philippi, 
263  ;  arrives  at  Thessalonica,  268  ; 
visits  the  sj'nagogue  at  Thessalon- 
ica, 269  ;  subjects  of  his  preaching, 
278;  his  own  labor  for  the  means 
of  support,  273;  leaves  Thessalon- 
ica for  Bercea,  280 ;  arrives  there, 
281 ;  leaves  the  city,  284 ;  his  ar- 
rival on  the  coast  of  Attica,  287 ; 
lands  at  Athens,  290 ;  his  reflections 


amidst  the  idolatry  at  Athens,  297 ; 
'^eft  in  Athens  alone,''  297;  ad- 
dresses the  Athenians  in  the  Agora, 
306;  goes  up  to  the  hill  of  the  Are- 
opagus, 308 ;  his  speech  to  the  Athe- 
nians, 311 ;  departs  from  Athens, 
314;  takes  up  his  abode  at  Corinth, 
314;  his  address  to  the  Jews  in  the 
synagogue  there,  320 ;  rejoined  by 
Silas  and  Timotheus,  320 ;  writes 
his  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalo- 
nians,  321 ;  he  turns  from  the  Jews 
to  the  Gentiles,  338  ;  his  vision,  330; 
writes  his  Second  Epistle  to  the 
Thessalonians,  331 ;  continues  to 
reside  in  Corinth,  334 ;  brought  by 
the  Jews  before  Gallio,  proconsul 
of  Achaia,  343 ;  who  refuses  to  hear 
the  charges,  343 ;  departs  from 
Achaia,  345 ;  takes  his  farewell  of 
the  Church  of  Corinth,  345;  sails 
from  Cenchreas  by  Ephesus  to  Cae- 
sarea,  346 ;  visits  the  synagogue  at 
Ephesus,  346 ;  reaches  Ca^sarea,  348; 
leaves  Caesarea  for  Jerusalem,  348 ; 
visits  Antioch  for  the  last  time,  349 ; 
departs  from  Antioch,  384;  arrives 
at  Ephesus,  391 ;  the  magicians  of 
Ephesus,  393  ;  burning  of  the  mys- 
tic books,  394 ;  the  apostle  pays  a 
short  visit  to  Corinth,  396 ;  returns 
to  Ephesus,  398;  writes  the  First 
Epistle  to  the  Corinthians,  402 ;  his 
future  plans,  425 ;  Demetrius  and 
the  silversmiths,  436 ;  Caius  and 
Aristarchus  seized  by  the  mob, 
437 ;  tumult  in  Ephesus,  438 ;  Paul 
bids  farewell  to  the  Christians  of 
Ephesus,  438;  departs  from  the 
city,  438 ;  arrives  at  Alexandria 
Troas,  442 ;  preaches  the  gospel 
there,  443 ;  sails  from  Troas  to 
Macedonia,  443  ;  lands  at  Neapolis, 
443  ;  proceeds  to  Philippi,  443  ;  his 
love  for  the  Philippian  Christians, 
443  ;  passes  over  to  Macedonia,  444; 
state  of  his  bodily  health,  444;  re- 
joined by  Titus,  444;  writes  his 
Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians, 
447 ;  collects  contributions  for  the 
poor  Christians  in  Judtea,  461 ;  he 
journeys  southward,  469 ;  his  feel- 
ings on  approaching  Corinth,  470 ; 
state  of  the  Galatian  Church,  473 ; 
writes  his  Epistle  to  the  Galatians, 
475 ;  convinces  the  Corinthians  of 
his  apostleship,  485 ;  he  punishes 


INDEX. 


761 


the  disobedient  by  publicly  casting 
them  out  of  the  Church,  485 ;  sends 
a  letter  by  Phoebe  to  the  Roman 
Church,  487;  his  Epistle  to  the 
Romans,  489 ;  conspiracy  of  the 
Jews  to  take  his  life,  518  ;  flies  from 
Corinth  to  Macedonia,  518;  visits 
Luke  at  Philippi,  519 ;  they  leave 
there  together,  519 ;  arrive  at  Troas, 
519 ;  Paul  restores  the  life  of  Euty- 
chus,  521 ;  leaves  Troas  and  arrives 
at  Assos,  521 ;  at  Miletus,  525 ;  his 
speech  to  the  Ephesian  presbyters 
there,  526 ;  he  departs  from  Miletus, 
527 ;  arrives  at  Patara,  531 ;  sails 
for  Phoenicia,  532 ;  arrives  at  Tyre, 
533 ;  leaves  Tyre,  534 ;  arrives  at 
Caesarea,  535;  meets  with  Philip 
the  evangelist,  535 ;  warned  by 
Agabus  of  danger  to  be  apprehend- 
ed at  Jerusalem,  535 ;  sets  out  for 
Jerusalem,  536;  his  reception  by 
the  presbyters,  540;  advice  of  the 
Christians  of  Jerusalem  to  Paul, 
543  ;  the  four  Nazarites,  543  ;  Paul 
seized  at  the  festival  of  Pentecost, 
547 ;  beaten  by  the  mob,  553 ;  res- 
cued by  Claudius  Lysias,  554;  his 
conversation  with  Lysias,  554 ;  the 
apostle  addresses  the  multitude  from 
the  stairs,  555 ;  their  rage,  558 ;  sen- 
tenced by  Lysias  to  "  receive  the 
lashes,"  557;  asserts  his  rights  as  a 
Roman  citizen,  557;  taken  before 
the  Sanhedrin,  558  ;  struck  by  order 
of  the  high  priest  Ananias,  558; 
tumult  in  the  judgment-hall,  560  ; 
the  apostle  taken  back  to  the  fort- 
ress, 560;  conspiracy  to  assassinate 
him,  561;  the  plot  discovered,  562; 
removed  by  Lysias  to  Cassarea  to 
be  judged  by  Felix,  563  ;  ordered 
to  be  kept  in  Herod's  prsetorium, 
565 ;  summoned  before  Felix,  573  ; 
charges  brought  against  him,  573 ; 
his  speech  before  Felix,  573 ;  re- 
manded, 575;  brought  up  again 
before  the  governor,  575  ;  imprison- 
ed again,  576  ;  brought  before  Fes- 
tus,  579  ;  his  "  appeal  to  Cajsar," 
579;  brought  before  Herod  Agrip- 
pa  IL,  581 ;  his  speech  to  the  king, 
581 ;  departs  from  Caesarea  for 
Rome,  592 ;  puts  into  Sidon,  593  ; 
reaches  Myra,  597;  Cnidus,  598; 
anchors  at  Fair  Havens,  599 ;  sails 
from  Fair  Havens,  602 ;  the  storm. 


603 ;  leaky  state  of  the  vessel,  Paul's 
vision,  606 ;  his  address  to  the  sail- 
ors, 606  ;  they  anchor  for  the  night, 
607 ;  wrecked  on  the  coast  of  Melita, 
611 ;  his  miracles  at  Malta,  614 ; 
sails  from  Malta,  616;  puts  into 
Syracuse,  616 ;  visits  Rhegium,  617 ; 
reaches  Puteoli,  617;  journeys  from 
Puteoli  towards  Rome,  622;  reaches 
Rome,  627 ;  his  interview  with  the 
Jews  there,  634;  his  occupations 
during  his  imprisonment  at  Rome, 
639 ;  Onesimus,  640 ;  the  apostle 
writes  his  Epistle  to  Philemon,  641; 
writes  his  Epistle  to  the  Colossians, 
644 ;  writes  his  Epistle  to  the  Ephe- 
sians,  652 ;  visited  by  Epaphroditus, 
668 ;  writes  his  Epistle  to  the  Phi- 
lippians,  670 ;  he  makes  many  con- 
verts in  Nero's  household,  675 ;  his 
trial  before  Nero,  682 ;  charges 
brought  against  him,  683 ;  acquit- 
ted, 686 ;  he  goes  to  Asia  and  Spain, 
686;  writes  his  First  Epistle  to 
Timotheus,  689  ;  writes  his  Epistle 
to  Titus,  695  ;  his  second  imprison- 
ment at  Rome,  698;  first  stage  of 
his  final  trial,  702 ;  is  remanded  to 
prison,  703 ;  writes  his  Second  Epis- 
tle to  Timotheus,  705;  his  death, 
705. 

Pausanias,  his  visit  to,  and  descrip- 
tion of  Athens,  286. 

Pedalium,  the,  of  Strabo  and  Ptol- 
emy, 131. 

Pediffius  River,  131. 

Pel  la,  264. 

Pentecost,  feast  of,  at  Jerusalem,  545. 
Perga,  65. 

Pericles,  statue  of,  at  Athens,  294. 
Peripatetics,  the,  295. 
Persis,  513. 
Pessinus,  567. 

Peter,  71,  112;  in  captivity,  123;  his 
address  to  the  conference  of  Chris- 
tians at  Jerusalem,  188;  his  weak 
conduct  at  Antioch,  194;  openly 
rebuked  by  Paul,  195 ;  Peter's 
personal  appearance,  195 ;  his  reqt 
onciliation  with  Paul,  196. 

Petronius,  109. 

Pharisees,  the,  40;  in  Jerusalem,  198. 
Pharisaic   Christians   at  Jerusalem, 
186. 

Phaselis,  promontory  of,  146 ;  battles 

of,  146. 
Phenice,  185. 


762 


INDEX. 


Philemon,  392;  Epistle  to,  642. 
Philip,  son  of  Ilerod  the  Great,  36. 
Philip,  tetrarch  of  Gaulonitis,  60. 
Philip  the  evangelist,  the  companion 

of  Stephen,  81,  202;  his  family,  81, 

202. 

Philippi,  description  of,  174. 
Philippians,  Epistle  to  the,  670. 
Philo,  44,  109. 
Philologus,  513. 

Philomelium,  city  of,  153;  identified 

with  Ak-Sher,  153,  232,  233. 
Philosophy,  Greek,  notice  of  the  older, 

300;  later  schools,  304;  spread  of, 

306. 
Phlegon,  513. 
Phoebe  of  Cenchrece,  487. 
Phoenicians,  the,  19. 
Phoenix,  harbor  of,  268. 
Physicians  among  the  ancients,  262, 

263. 

PiriBus,  the,  287-289. 

Pisidia,  262,  263;  robbers  of,  262,  263; 

violence  of  its  flooded  rivers,  149 ; 

mountain-scenery  of,  150,  152. 
Platjsa,  battle  of,  146. 
Plato,  philosophy  of,  301. 
Pliny  on  the  conventusj  or  assize-town, 

434. 

Pnyx,  the,  287,  291,  293. 
Poiemo  II.,  king  of  Pontus,  33,  34, 
215. 

Politarchs,  the,  of  Thessalonica,  277. 
Pompeiopolis,  31. 

Pompey  the  Great,  31;  in  Damascus, 

33 ;  at  Jerusalem,  34. 
Pontine  Marshes,  624. 
Pontus,  last  king  of,  34. 
Pontus,  description  of,  215. 
Poppsea,  670,  749.  • 
Posts  established  by  Augustus,  667. 
Praetorian  guards,  570. 
Proetorium,  665. 
Praxiteles,  620. 

"  Presidents  of  the  games,"  435. 
Priam,  palace  of,  520. 
Prion,  Mount,  74,  90. 
Proconsuls,  132,  et  seq. 
Propraetors,  132,  et  seq. 
Proselytes,  Jewish,  28. 
Proselytes,  female,  at  Damascus,  29, 
155. 

Proseucha  at  Lystra,  172. 
Proseuchse,  248. 
Ptolemais,  534. 
Pudens,  704. 
Puteoli,  617,  622. 


Pydna,  283. 

Pythagoras,  philosophy  of,  301. 

Q. 

Quadratus,  governor  of  Syria,  568, 
Quartus,  514. 

R. 

'^Rabbinism,"  61. 

Record-house  of  Athens,  292. 

Remond  on  the  Jewish  dispersions,  28. 

Rhegium,  616. 

Rhodes,  notice  of,  529. 

Rhodian  fleet  at  Phaselis,  146. 

Rhyndacus  River,  237. 

Roman  Church  of  Gentile  origin,  142 ; 
name  of  founder  not  known,  142. 

Roman  amphitheatre,  22 ;  army,  the, 
569 ;  commerce,  590  ;  fleet  at  Pha- 
selis, 146 ;  power  in  the  East,  21 ; 
growth  -and  government  of,  22. 

Rome,  description  of,  626. 

Rufus,  513. 

s. 

Sadducees,  the,  40. 

Sadducees,  71. 

Sagalassus,  149. 

St.  Paul's  ]3ay,  view  of,  614. 

Salamis,  127,  131 ;  copper-mines  at, 

132;  destroyed,  132;  battle  of,  146, 

286. 

Salonica,  Gulf  of,  284. 
Samaria,  563. 

Samaritans,  the,  43,  81,  82. 

Samian  shipbuilders,  660. 

Samos,  390. 

Samothrace,  240,  243. 

Sangarius  River,  237. 

Sanhedrin,  the,  61,  64 ;  its  power  over 

foreign  synagogues,  84,  261. 
Saronic  Gulf,  286. 
Sarus  River,  224. 

Saul.  See  Paul,  "  Saul,"  and  "  Paul," 

the  words,  52. 
Sceva,  sons  of,  the  exorcists,  394. 
Schools,  Jewish,  64;  customs  in,  66. 
Shamraai,  Jewish  school  of,  61. 
Schoenus,  port  of,  340. 
Scio,  523. 

Secundus  of  Thessalonica,  278. 

Seleucia,  foundation  of,  118,  129 ;  im- 
mense excavation  at,  129 ;  its  excel- 
lent harbor,  129. 

Seleucus  Nicator,  118. 

Selge,  149  ;  robbers  of,  149. 

Seneca  the  philosopher,  306,  342. 


INDEX. 


763 


Sergius  Paulus,  132,  135,  136. 
"Seven  Capes,"  the,  531. 
Sharon,  plain  of,  563. 
Sheba,  queen  of,  29. 
Shipbuilders  of  Samos,  340. 
Ships  of  the  ancients,  586,  et  seq. 
Side,  146. 

Sidon,  notice  of,  594. 

Silas,  192,  194;  accompanies  Paul  to 
Cilicia,  220;  scourged  and  cast  into 
prison  at  Philippi,  255 ;  released 
from  prison,  260  ;  leaves  Philippi, 
263 ;  visits  the  synagogue  at  Tiies- 
salonica,  265;  left  behind  with  Ti- 
motheus  at  Beroea,  282 ;  accompanies 
Paul  to  Beroea,  281 ;  joins  Paul  at 
Corinth,  320;  accompanies  the  apos- 
tle to  Ephesus,  Caesarea,  and  Jerusa- 
lem, 346-349  ;  remains  at  Jerusalem, 
883. 

Silversmiths  of  Ephesus,  436. 
Simeon,  father  of  Gamaliel,  62. 
Simeon,  son  of  Gamaliel,  62. 
Simeon,  surnamed  Nigel,  125,  126. 
Sinuessa,  623. 
Slave-trade  of  Delos,  30. 
Smyrna,  390. 

Socrates,  character  of,  628. 

Soli,  town  of,  31. 

Solomon,  temple  of,  548. 

Solon,  statue  of,  621. 

Sopater  of  Beroea,  278, 

Sorcery,  Jewish,  394. 

Sosipater,  514,  518. 

Sosthenes,  chief  of  the  Corinthian 

Jewish  synagogue,  330;  beaten  by 

the  Greek  mob,  343. 
Stachys,  513. 

Stadium,  Isthmian,  note  on  the,  171. 
Stadia  in  Asia  Minor,  516. 
Stagirus,  207. 

Stephen,  71,  72;  his  trial,  74;  his 
martyrdom,  77;  his  prayer,  77;  his 
burial,  80. 

Stoa  Poecile,  the,  296. 

Stocks,  the,  256. 

Stoics,  296  ;  their  philosophy,  302. 
Strabo  on  Pamphylia,  145. 
Strato's  Tower,  571. 
Stromboli,  617. 
Strymon  River,  264. 
Students,  Jewish,  66. 
Sulla  at  Athens,  290. 
"Sultan  Tarcek"  road,  152. 
Sunium,  Cape  of,  286,  287. 

Synagogue  of  the  Libertines,"  26; 

the  first,  65;  number  of,  in  Jeru- 


salem, 65  :  in  Salamis,  131 ;  in  An- 
tioch  in  Pisidia,  155;  ancient  and 
modern,  155,  156;  the,  at  Thessa- 
lonica,  270;  at  Athens,  298;  at 
Corinth,  320. 

Syntyche,  670. 

Syracuse,  615. 

T. 

Talmud,  the,  63. 
Tallith,  the,  156. 

Tarsus,  32;  coin  of,  32;  named  "Me- 
tropolis," 32;  condition  of,  under 
the  Romans,  33;  not  a  municipium, 
52;  scenery  of,  54. 

Taurus,  Mount,  30,  147,  222. 

"Taverns,  the  Three,"  252. 

Tempe,  Vale  of,  284. 

Temple,  position  of  the,  213;  temple 
of  Solomon,  214;  that  of  Zerub- 
babel,  214;  that  of  Herod,  214;  the 
Outer  Court,  214;  "Porch  of  Solo- 
mon," 215;  the  "Beautiful  Gate," 
215;  the  Sanctuary,  215;  Court  of 
the  Women,  215 ;  the  Treasury,  215 ; 
the  Court  of  Israel,  216;  the  Court 
of  the  Priests,  216;  the  hall  Gazith, 
216;  the  Altar,  216;  the  Vestibule, 
216;  the  Holy  Place,  216;  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  216;  connection  of  the  tem- 
ple with  the  fortress  Antonia,  219. 

Teucer,  kingdom  of,  131. 

Tertullus,  572. 

TetrapoHs,  the,  119. 

Thales,  philosophy  of,  301. 

Thamna,  521. 

Theatre,  the,  of  Athens,  293. 
Thecla  of  Iconium,  163;  legend  of, 
163. 

Themistocles,  tomb  of,  288;  his  forti- 
fication of  the  Piraeus,  617. 

Therapeutae,  the,  43. 

Therma,  268. 

Thermopyla),  286. 

Thessalonian  letters,  the,  274. 

Thessalonians,  First  Epistle  to  the, 
321;  Second,  331. 

Thessaly,  264. 

Thessalonica,  256;  description  of,  268. 
Tiberias,  36;  city  of,  60;  Sea  of,  85. 
Tiberius,  108,  136. 
Tigranes,  129. 

Timotheus,  172,  226;  becomes  the 
companion  of,  Paul,  227;  his  cir- 
cumcision, 229;  reaches  Iconium, 
230;  accompanies  Paul  to  Galatia 
and  to  the  iEgean,  234,  237;  sails 


764 


INDEX. 


from  Troas,  242,;  arrives  at  Samo- 
thrace,  243;  at  Philippi,  245;  left 
behind  at  Philippi,  261 ;  again  with 
Paul  at  Beroea,  281 ;  left  behind  at 
Beroea,  282;  joins  Paul  at  Corinth, 
320 ;  accompanies  Paul  in  his  sub- 
sequent journeys,  345,  et  seq. ;  des- 
patched by  Paul  from  Ephesus  to 
Macedonia,  399 ;  First  Epistle  to, 
689  ;  Second  Epistle  to,  705. 
Titus,  184, 1 87 ;  visits  Paul  at  Philippi, 
94;  his  account  of  the  state  of  the 
Church  of  Corinth,  95 ;  directed  by 
Paul  to  return  to  Corinth,  96;  his 
character,  120;  Paul's  Epistle  to, 
695. 

Troas,  description  of,  519.    See  Alex- 
andria Troas. 
Triopium,  promontory  of,  529. 
Trogyllium,  523. 
Tryphena,  513. 
Tryphosa,  513. 
^^Tullianum,"  the,  256. 
Tychicus,  443,  641,  649. 
Tyrannus,  391. 

Tyre,  its  situation  and  maritime  su- 
premacy, 534,  535. 

u. 

Urbanus,  193. 


Urbs  libera,  constitution  of,  276  j  its 
privileges,  277. 

V. 

Ventidius  Cumanus,  553. 
Vestments,  the  sacred,  553,  568 
Via  Appia,  621 ;  Via  Egnatia,  265. 
Vitellius,  83,  109. 
Vulturnus  River,  623. 

w. 

"Walls,  Long,"  of  Athens,  289. 

Women,  influence  of,  over  the  relig- 
ious opinions  of  the  ancients,  161; 
their  holy  influence  in  early  Chris- 
tianity, 250. 

X. 

Xanthus  River,  531;  valley  of  the, 
150. 

Y. 

"  Yailahs,"  150  ;  that  of  Adalia,  153. 

z. 

Zea,  289. 
Zealots,  the,  42. 

Zeno,  school  of,  289 ;  his  philosophy, 
302. 

Zerubbabel,  temple  of,  548, 


